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Title: The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Andrew Garfield | ... | Anton | |
| Christopher Plummer | ... | Doctor Parnassus | |
| Richard Riddell | ... | Martin | |
| Katie Lyons | ... | Martin's Girlfriend | |
| Richard Shanks | ... | Friend of Martin | |
| Lily Cole | ... | Valentina | |
| Verne Troyer | ... | Percy | |
| Bruce Crawford | ... | Face Changed Martin | |
| Johnny Harris | ... | Policeman | |
 |
Lorraine Cheshire | ... | Mum |
| Mark Benton | ... | Dad | |
|
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Lewis Gott | ... | Diego |
|
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Sian Scott | ... | Linda |
|
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Simon Day | ... | Uncle Bob (as Simon Daye) |
|
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Moya Brady | ... | Aunty Flo |
In London, the sideshow troupe of Doctor Parnassus promises the audience a journey to the "Imaginarium", an imaginary world commanded by the mind of Doctor Parnassus, where dreams come true. In the stories that Doctor Parnassus tells to his daughter Valentina, the midget Percy, and his assistant Anton, he claims to have lived for more than one thousand years; However, when he fell in love with a mortal woman, he made a deal with the devil (Mr. Nick), trading his immortality for youth. As part of the bargain, he promised his son or daughter to Mr. Nick on their sixteenth birthday. Valentina is now almost to the doomed age and Doctor Parnassus makes a new bet with Mr. Nick, whoever seduces five souls in the Imaginarium will have Valentina as a prize. Meanwhile the troupe rescues Tony, a young man that was hanged on a bridge by the Russians. Tony was chased until he finds and joins the group. Tony and Valentina fall in love with each other and the jealous Anton discovers that his ... Written by RubyRed, Seattle, Washington USA
It is impossible to write about this entry into Terry Gilliam's oeuvre without acknowledging the tragic death of Heath Ledger. Cast as the film's inciting character, Heath Ledger's untimely death spawned and air of sadness that blankets the film, especially considering the tragic nature of his character.
Of course, as they say, the show must go on, so "The Imaginarium" did as well. in an outpouring of cinematic industry kinship, Johnny Depp ("Fear and Loathing"), Colin Farrell ("In Bruges"), Jude Law ("A.I.") stepped in to play Heath Ledger's character, Tony's, alter ego when he is in the mirror world. What this film would have looked like had Ledger not departed can never be known. How much film had to be scrapped, how many scenes were restructured, what funding fell through as a result, I do not know.
For these reasons, the film, in all of its imperfection, seems to get a pass from me, as I find myself wondering how a film production would recover from such a blow. The only even somewhat similar circumstances I can think of off the top of my head is Brandon Lee's death during the filming of "The Crow," and the massive reshoot efforts undertaken to remove Kevin Spacey from the film "All the Money in the World," coincidentally played by Christopher Plummer ("The New World") who co starred with Ledger ("A Knight's Tale") in "Imaginarium."
So those are my caveats for a film plagued by problems. I watch this film with a wave of sad forgiveness and dream of its original intentions.