The Fountain- Darren Aronofsky
I have to say that this is a beautiful film. Everything about this movie is a work of art, from the acting, to the music, to the amazing cinematography.
The Fountain is a story about a doctor (Hugh Jackman) who is desperately trying to find a cure for his wife’s brain tumor (Rachel Weisz). In the process his wife is writing a book called the Fountain, where she contemplates the meaning of life and death through the eyes of a Mayan myth about a dying star.
The movie is full of symbolism. There are recurring themes of life, death, and rebirth that are bound together in a non-linear fashion, and rooted in the tree of life. This is the fabled tree of life, that is supposed to possess the ability to give transcendence beyond death.
The story jumps between three time periods that are connected by the tree, past, present, and future. In every time-line the male character is on a quest to save his love. I won’t tell much more about the story, because it is a movie that should be experienced, and not told. One of the aspects of the Fountain that struct me so hard is the acting. This above all is a love story. Weisz and Jackman bring this story home. The main struggle for Tom is Isabel’s slow journey to death. Aronofsky focuses on their love and how they both differ in the way they approach her dying.
What I enjoyed most about this movie is that it’s meaning is not necessarily clear. The underlying themes are there, but they aren’t spoon fed to the audience. This is usually the aspect that can make or break a movie with the average viewer. It was definitely one of those movies that left me thinking, and that’s the sign of a good movie to me. -Tony