The Fountain (2006): 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.

The director of this movie is Darren Aronofsky. His previous film, Requiem for a Dream, is in my top 10 favorite movie of all time, so obviously I was eagerly waiting for this new movie. When it was released it received very mixed reviews, which made me a bit nervous. I wasn’t less interested in watching it, on the contrary I wanted to see what could split the critics so evenly.

In short, I wasn’t disappointed. Both negative and positive reviews agreed on one point: that the story was not easy to follow and was too confusing. So I went into this movie thinking that I would be totally lost. But this isn’t the case.

This is a story that takes place in 3 different eras: 15th century Spain, modern time, 26th century in space. All three stories star Hugh Jackman, who is actually playing the same character, even though he doesn’t really travel through time, and is not even aware of his other selves. It’s not easy to explain, but it makes sense if you watch the movie.

The three stories are actually connected to each other, it’s not just three separate stories that share the same theme. The one in the past is actually the book that Izzi is writing in the present. The future storyline has less screen time, but it is the ending to that book and to the present story. The more I think about it the more it makes sense to me.

There is obviously an overall message, about dealing with death and the loss of a loved one. About immortality, philosophy and love. It is a clear message that makes us think about life.

The style of the movie is obviously very important to this story. Aronofsky uses recurring movements or poses or shots to connect the three stories visually. Many of the scenes are stunning, almost poetic, which I am sure is what Aronofsky wanted to convey.

The score by Clint Mansell also helps a great deal to achieve this artistic almost surreal feeling surrounding this story. His previous collaboration with Aronofsky in Requiem for a Dream was more effective in my opinion, but he does a great job in the Fountain as well.

The performance by Hugh Jackman is outstanding, he totally manages to make me feel what he feels, in his eyes, his movements, his dialogs. Not to mention that he played three different characters, even though they were also one.

Rachel Weisz’ character was at first vulnerable, but then she became quickly at peace, and her scenes became ethereal, she was almost like an angelic figure, speaking with a calm that Tom (Jackman) lacked.
This is a movie that needs to be experienced, don’t think too much about it, just take all the visuals and words in and enjoy them for what they are. I certainly want to re-watch this movie and be taken by it again and again.

Rating: 4 Stars