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IMDbPro

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

  • 2009
  • PG-13
  • 2h 3m
IMDb RATING
6.8/10
152K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
3,398
33
Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Christopher Plummer, Tom Waits, Heath Ledger, Colin Farrell, Verne Troyer, Andrew Garfield, and Lily Cole in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)
A story-telling doctor's deal with the devil sends him scrambling to save his daughter on the eve of her 16th birthday.
Play trailer1:45
12 Videos
99+ Photos
AdventureComedyFantasy

A traveling theater company gives its audience much more than they were expecting.A traveling theater company gives its audience much more than they were expecting.A traveling theater company gives its audience much more than they were expecting.

  • Director
    • Terry Gilliam
  • Writers
    • Terry Gilliam
    • Charles McKeown
  • Stars
    • Christopher Plummer
    • Lily Cole
    • Heath Ledger
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    6.8/10
    152K
    YOUR RATING
    POPULARITY
    3,398
    33
    • Director
      • Terry Gilliam
    • Writers
      • Terry Gilliam
      • Charles McKeown
    • Stars
      • Christopher Plummer
      • Lily Cole
      • Heath Ledger
    • 272User reviews
    • 283Critic reviews
    • 65Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 2 Oscars
      • 5 wins & 23 nominations total

    Videos12

    The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
    Trailer 1:45
    Watch The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
    The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus: Love Scene On The Boat
    Clip 1:03
    Watch The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus: Love Scene On The Boat
    The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus: Clip 3
    Clip 1:08
    Watch The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus: Clip 3
    The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus: Clip 1
    Clip 0:59
    Watch The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus: Clip 1
    Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus: Heath Ledger Helps Lilly Cole
    Clip 1:26
    Watch Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus: Heath Ledger Helps Lilly Cole
    The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus: Little Boy Goes Into The Imaginarium
    Clip 1:51
    Watch The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus: Little Boy Goes Into The Imaginarium
    The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus: Jude Law Escapes And Turns Ladder Into Stilts
    Clip 0:46
    Watch The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus: Jude Law Escapes And Turns Ladder Into Stilts
    The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus: Evil Man Interviews Dr. Parnassus
    Clip 1:25
    Watch The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus: Evil Man Interviews Dr. Parnassus
    The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus: Evil Comes To Collect
    Clip 1:15
    Watch The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus: Evil Comes To Collect
    The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus: Johnny Depp Dances With The Lady In The Shoes
    Clip 0:48
    Watch The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus: Johnny Depp Dances With The Lady In The Shoes
    The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus: Clip 2
    Clip 0:59
    Watch The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus: Clip 2
    The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus: Dr, Parnassus Makes A Deal With Evil
    Clip 1:31
    Watch The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus: Dr, Parnassus Makes A Deal With Evil

    Photos144

    Terry Gilliam and Heath Ledger in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)
    Christopher Plummer and Lily Cole in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)
    Heath Ledger in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)
    Heath Ledger in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)
    Lily Cole in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)
    Verne Troyer in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)
    Christopher Plummer and Tom Waits in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)
    Heath Ledger in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)
    Heath Ledger and Andrew Garfield in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)
    Andrew Garfield and Lily Cole in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)
    Christopher Plummer, Heath Ledger, Verne Troyer, Andrew Garfield, and Lily Cole in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)
    Lily Cole in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Christopher Plummer
    Christopher Plummer
    • Doctor Parnassus
    Lily Cole
    Lily Cole
    • Valentina
    Heath Ledger
    Heath Ledger
    • Tony
    Andrew Garfield
    Andrew Garfield
    • Anton
    Richard Riddell
    Richard Riddell
    • Martin
    Katie Lyons
    Katie Lyons
    • Martin's Girlfriend
    Richard Shanks
    • Friend of Martin
    Verne Troyer
    Verne Troyer
    • Percy
    Bruce Crawford
    Bruce Crawford
    • Face Changed Martin
    Johnny Harris
    Johnny Harris
    • Policeman
    Lorraine Cheshire
    • Mum
    Mark Benton
    Mark Benton
    • Dad
    Lewis Gott
    • Diego
    Sian Scott
    • Linda
    Simon Day
    • Uncle Bob
    • (as Simon Daye)
    Moya Brady
    • Aunty Flo
    Charles McKeown
    Charles McKeown
    • Fairground's Inspector
    Tom Waits
    Tom Waits
    • Mr Nick
    • Director
      • Terry Gilliam
    • Writers
      • Terry Gilliam
      • Charles McKeown
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, and Jude Law gave all the income they received for this movie to Heath Ledger's daughter Matilda, so that her economic future would be secure.
    • Goofs
      At the temple, bird feces lands on Mr. Nick's right shoulder. In the next shot, his jacket is clean.
    • Quotes

      Tony: Nothing is permanent, not even death.

    • Crazy credits
      The credits begin with "A Film from Heath Ledger & Friends", which is tribute to Ledger who passed away during filming, and a nod to his real life friends (Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, and Jude Law), who stepped in to finish his uncompleted scenes.
    • Connections
      Featured in Friday Night with Jonathan Ross: Episode #17.4 (2009)
    • Soundtracks
      We Are the Children of the World
      Written by Terry Gilliam

      Arranged by Mychael Danna & Jeff Danna

      Performed by Jam Theatre Company

      Choir Conducted by Jo Noel (as Jo Noel Hartley)

    User reviews272

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    6/10
    Imaginarium of Terry Gilliam
    I found this film interesting and visually stunning, but flawed. At least one of the flaws cannot be attributed to faulty writing/production, but several others can be. For example, there is nothing new or original in the story: it is a straightforward retelling of Faust, the man who makes a pact with the devil and discovers that the devil is smarter and has all the time in the universe to prove it. The ideas of a man who asks for immortality but neglects to ask for eternal youth, and of a child born with a curse on her because of a prior wager her father has made with divine powers to further his own interests, are taken straight out of Greek mythology. Still, one could do worse than borrow from Goethe and Greek mythology.

    The movie weaves in and out of mundane reality (the traveling freak show in modern England) and schizophrenic hallucinogenic scenes inside the Imaginarium, which is the carnival attraction into which Dr. P lures potential sacrificial victims in his attempt to outwit the devil. The scenes inside the Imaginarium show what happens when you give an ex-Python unlimited access to digital effects: quite stunning, but having little to do with the story. They show the fantasy of Gilliam running wild on a huge budget, more than effectively advancing the story of Dr. P and his accursed daughter. I ask myself what a 1930s producer/director, Fritz Lang or Tod Browning for example, might have done with this story and these characters, but without the digital effects- -the story might have benefited from leaving the hallucinogenic details more to the imagination of the viewer than brow-beating us with a pixel- barrage of details. The real horror of what Dr. P is doing is masked by the almost Dr. Seussian silliness of the visual effects (dancing policemen??): Dr. P is luring souls to eternal damnation in an attempt to free his daughter from a wager he made centuries ago. Dr. P is, in essence, trading in human souls. Dr. P himself is immortal, but his daughter is not, and time is running out for her; the horror of her situation, and the evil Dr. P is willing to perpetrate to undo the effects of his own damnable wager, could certainly have been ratcheted up by more subtle means than Gilliam employs here.

    The reality scenes sometimes interweave with the fantastical ones in schizophrenic confusion, indicating, so I suppose, Dr. P's own tenuous grasp on reality. The schizophrenic quality of the film is enhanced by the fact that several different actors play the part of one of the main characters, Tony. I ask myself whether any producer/director would have chosen this as his preferred mechanism to unfold this story, and the answer I come up with is, "no". It is a trick which doesn't quite work for this story; though it did work for "I'm Not There" (no one could play Bob Dylan). The film just barely manages to make the trick plausible by implying that the differences in the character's appearance are due to the perspectives of the different people who perceive that character within the Imaginarium. OK, it was made necessary by the death of the actor in the middle of production, otherwise the film would not have gone public; I can see that Gilliam made the best of terribly unfortunate circumstances. But it is still a dubious trick.

    The casting is excellent: Plummer is entirely convincing as the world- weary Faustian character, Miss Cole acquits herself well as the girl clueless as to her own impending doom, and Waits is superb as the devil. If I hadn't seen any other film with Heath Ledger in it, I would not have thought him an especially gifted actor based solely on this performance; maybe if he had completed the film, it would have shown his true abilities.

    6/10
    helpful•10
    3
    • moonbus-982-519398
    • Jan 2, 2013

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    FAQ4

    • Is "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" based on a book?
    • Is it true that Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell have decided to donate their earnings from this movie to Matilda Ledger?
    • Why does the first credit at the end of the film read "A film from Heath Ledger & Friends"? Shouldn't it read "A film by Terry Gilliam"?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • January 8, 2010 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • United Kingdom
      • France
      • Canada
    • Official site
      • Sony Pictures Classics (United States)
    • Languages
      • English
      • Russian
      • French
    • Also known as
      • The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
    • Filming locations
      • Vancouver Public Library, 360 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
    • Production companies
      • Infinity Features Entertainment
      • Poo Poo Pictures
      • Parnassus Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $30,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $7,689,607
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $415,233
      • Dec 27, 2009
    • Gross worldwide
      • $61,808,775
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      2 hours 3 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • SDDS
      • Dolby Digital
      • DTS
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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    Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Christopher Plummer, Tom Waits, Heath Ledger, Colin Farrell, Verne Troyer, Andrew Garfield, and Lily Cole in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)
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