The Fountain (2006)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Darren Aronofsky

Writers (WGA):

Darren Aronofsky (screenplay)
Darren Aronofsky (story) ...

Release Date:

22 November 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

What If You Could Live Forever?

Plot:

Spanning over one thousand years, and three parallel stories, The Fountain is a story of love, death, spirituality, and the fragility of our existence in this world.

Plot Keywords:

Tree | Love | Queen | Tree Of Life | Conquistador

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 6 wins & 14 nominations

Cast

Hugh Jackman	...	Tomas / Tommy / Tom Creo
Rachel Weisz	...	Isabel / Izzi Creo
Ellen Burstyn	...	Dr. Lillian Guzetti
Mark Margolis	...	Father Avila
Stephen McHattie	...	Grand Inquisitor Silecio
Fernando Hernandez	...	Lord of Xibalba
Cliff Curtis	...	Captain Ariel
Sean Patrick Thomas	...	Antonio
Donna Murphy	...	Betty
Ethan Suplee	...	Manny
Richard McMillan	...	Henry
Lorne Brass	...	Dr. Alan Lipper
Abraham Aronofsky	...	Lab Technician
Renee Asofsky	...	Lab Technician
Anish Majumdar	...	Dr. Spencer

Also Known As:

The Last Man (USA) (original script title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some intense sequences of violent action, some sensuality and language. (edited for re-rating; originally R)

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Maya

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

UK:15 (original rating) | Ireland:15A | Australia:M | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12A (edited for re-rating) | USA:R (original rating) | Singapore:PG | France:U | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIA | Argentina:13 | Netherlands:16 | Sweden:11 | Finland:K-13 | Portugal:M/12 | South Korea:15 | Peru:14 | USA:PG-13 (edited for re-rating) (certificate #41776) | Brazil:14 | New Zealand:M

Filming Locations:

Cité du Cinéma, Montréal, Québec, Canada

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Hugh Jackman had to shave off all of the hair on his head and chest for scenes in the last third of the movie.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: The map used by the conquistadors to find the Tree of Life is erroneous. The priest says the three points which form an equilateral triangle on the map are Chichen Itza, Yaxchilan, and Tikal. However in reality, the three Mayan sites form an obtuse triangle, with Chichen Itza been the northern-most and the eastern-most point.

Quotes:

Tom Creo: All right, I trust you. Take me. Show me.

Movie Connections:

References Three Ages (1923)

Death is the Road to Awe

This is not a film for any one public. Americans, often ignorant of philosophy and mythology (by and large) would stumble awkwardly through much of the film, wondering what the hell is going on. Others still would prefer to call the film pretentious and drenched in metaphysical bull----. Woe it is to the archetypes. No one knows how to reach the elemental, the archetypal arena of human experience anymore; a fact proved by so many other reviewers penchant for searching for the "realism" within the movie. (cf. Roger Ebert's review; this is a thoroughly stupid and ignorant way of viewing such a film...it seems that the Divine Comedy would be cast aside today, because Dante does not describe Paradise in a "realistic" fashion. Which of course is worse than nonsense...its f---ing stupid.)

The problem many people have with this film is that they see it as a story about two people, and not two archetypes that are elemental within human mythology (first man and first woman). It is interesting to note how Jackman becomes Western man (furious and daring, he hopes to reach beyond nature, to become a 'superman,' while not understanding that he is not simply a product of nature but very much a PART of nature) and Weisz becomes the embodiement of Eastern thought (her submission to the truth of nature (death) is not a submission, but an understanding of the tide of life, an understanding Tom, in all his embodiements, does not possess). I see a purity in the representation of first man and first woman, a purity that allows me to see the characters as archetypes that resemble the spiritual forces that have driven us for our eternity.

Ebert said that it is a standard critical practice not to create a fiction that was not implicit within the film; but with a film like The Fountain, there are so many interpretations and meanings...deep thoughts linger in me while I watch, an ocean of experiences that dwells inside me, calm and enveloping. Interpretaions can, in their own rights, be works of art, if what they interpret, in itself, is beautiful. I will not pretend that my interpretation is right, complete, or a work of art; but what I have seen and felt from this film has filled me with something I cannot describe--if the definition was not insufficient, I would call it God--yet so many pass by it with scorn and rolling eyes. I hope some will see in it what I have felt pass through so many times...or at least to understand, at the very least, that just because a movie doesn't touch you, it does not mean that your perception of the movie is, in itself, truth; it is merely an opinion like mine. On art there is no truth, except the pieces we craft ourselves.