The Fountain

[Samurai Jill]

Yeah, that film by Darren Aronofsky. Three intermeshing storylines set in the past, present, and future, dealing with the themes of love, death, and immortality.

I was just wondering what people thought of it. Personally speaking, it's a film that I actually found very effective, but at the same time, I can see why people wouldn't.

Basically, I thought of it as an exercise in pure thematic symbolism- and in that respect, I reckon it's flawless. The problem, of course, is that it makes little or no damn sense in the context of literal cause-and-consequence. The thread of narrative connection is pretty damn tenuous, obscure, or tangential in places.

One theory I've heard is that there are actually no supernatural or sci-fi elements per se- that these are just fictions within a fiction, relating a story begun by Weisz's character and finished by Jackman's. This would account for a lot of things- including the slightly sloppy scripting during the 'historical' sequences- but that's hard to reconcile with the miraculous recovery of their experimental monkey subject just before his wife's death.

Still, it has great production values, excellent acting, and music by the formidable Clint Mansell. You'll probably either love it or hate it, but it's worth a look.

[Mauther]

I’ve heard The Fountain described as the greatest student film ever made. Its beautiful to look at, has striking images, great concept, imagination out the yin yang, and makes almost no sense to the casual viewer. I think Aronofsky is a genius, but I think he out-storied his audience with this film. Which sadly makes it a failure in my book, since the whole point of the exercise is to tell the audience a story. If the audience can’t follow the story, I don’t think they can honestly enjoy it. I disagree with the love/hate dichotomy. Most of the (admittedly few) people I know who have seen it were ambivalent about the film because they thought there was probably a great film in there.

If you liked The Fountain, I’d recommend checking out Tarsem Singh’s The Fall (don’t let the director’s name scare you off, this isn’t an import – of course, if you sat through the Fountain you probably aren’t the sort to be scared off by subtitles anyways). Similar to what you interpreted The Fountain being: an injured man relates a fairy tale story to a little girl. But its two intertwined stories, as the real world relationship changes between the two, it effects and changes the fairy tale. Like Aronofsky’s film, The Fall has amazing images, surreal vistas (almost all of which are real), and a great score (a version of Beethoven’s 7th). The film itself is so beautiful looking, it’s the main reason I bought a Blu-Ray player. Don’t read any of the plot summaries though, half the enjoyment is figuring out the narrative tricks. As you pointed out about The Fountain, this is either a movie you will love or hate.

[Haruki-kun]

I was just wondering what people thought of it.

Well, as long as you're openly asking for opinions.... I didn't like it much. It was played on a bus ride once and I saw it there (in spanish, to top it off :smallsigh:). My logical conclusion was that the movie did nothing for me. I could have not seen it and it wouldn't have affected my life whatsoever.

*scratches head* It just felt rather.... unnecessary. Most of it did, anyway.

[Samurai Jill]

Well, as long as you're openly asking for opinions.... I didn't like it much. It was played on a bus ride once and I saw it there (in spanish, to top it off :smallsigh:).
...Was it subtitled? I think that pretty-well every scene actually serves a purpose, just not a strictly logical one. But like Mauther said, I can't blame people for not liking it if the connections aren't made clear.

An aspect that I found quite clever was the use of a supernova as a metaphor for rebirth. Unfortunately, it's exactly the thing an audience is likely to miss, since it's never explained why a supernova would symbolise that concept. (All the complex elements of the universe, neccesary for life, were fused in the hearts of large stars and disseminated when they went nova.... Ergo, life from the throes of death.)

[eeyoredragon]

This is one of those movies I want to suggest to everybody but don't because I know most people wouldn't sit through it >.<

I loved the movie. Loved the soundtrack (really loved the soundtrack).

The movie was supposed to be "open ended", and I normally don't like that as it seems to demonstrate laziness or lack of vision. But, I liked the symbolism and visual enough to overlook that for this one. In all fairness, normally when people actually fully describe their vision of such large/important topics, I tend to be quite disappointed by them.

The conquistador: fictional (or partially remembered past life) story written by Izzy.

The doctor: Real. He eventually uses the tree he was working on earlier to end aging (at least for himself).

The astronaut: Real. Tommy has been alive all this time, and humans eventually develop the technology to reach Xibalba where he finally accepts death.

Very simplistic interpretation :)

As far as the supernova... I don't know... if you have to explain that sort of thing to people, they're not the kind of people that would have appreciated your symbolism in the first place in my opinion. That would demonstrate basically total ignorance to cosmology which is kind of sad in this day. That almost has to be willful ignorance. :-/

[The Vorpal Tribble]

Finally. I've mentioned this as one of my top 3 favorite films ever on many a movie thread and mostly get 'Never heard of it'.

However, yeah, it's one of those movies that isn't going to go over well with those who just want a light watching. This is a deep, hardcore philosophical film.

I love these kind of films and it still took me three watchings before I caught on to all the nuances. Personally that's what made it fun for me.

It was gorgeous to boot, and the romance and love in it was very real, unlike most films. It was incredibly realistic and gritty but also possessed a surreal air that together made a fantasy that didn't have to suspend disbelief because it could, technically, happen.

All in all I was entranced and intrigued.


Oh, and soundtrack was amazing, yeah. I bought it and also have the sheet music for Death Is the Road To Awe for piano.

Edit: OH! It inspired me to make my first fanvid as well. Take a look:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZT2ToT4Cyr0


The astronaut: Real. Tommy has been alive all this time, and humans eventually develop the technology to reach Xibalba where he finally accepts death.
Well, was it technology or had humans developed mental faculties from the length of years they could now live and he was forming the bubble about himself?

[Samurai Jill]

I loved the movie. Loved the soundtrack (really loved the soundtrack).
Love the soundtrack. My personal favourite is Stay With Me (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZDpqDpIsfs).

The movie was supposed to be "open ended", and I normally don't like that as it seems to demonstrate laziness or lack of vision. But, I liked the symbolism and visual enough to overlook that for this one. In all fairness, normally when people actually fully describe their vision of such large/important topics, I tend to be quite disappointed by them.
"I tried to create a visual experience, one that bypasses verbalized pigeonholing and directly penetrates the subconscious with an emotional and philosophic content. I intended the film to be an intensely subjective experience that reaches the viewer at an inner level of consciousness, just as music does; to "explain" a Beethoven symphony would be to emasculate it by erecting an artificial barrier between conception and appreciation. You're free to speculate as you wish about the philosophical and allegorical meaning of the film- and such speculation is one indication that it has succeeded in gripping the audience at a deep level- but I don't want to spell out a verbal road map for 2001 that every viewer will feel obligated to pursue or else fear he's missed the point."
-Stanley Kubrick

2001 was similarly panned by critics on release (and had a great soundtrack, outstanding visuals, etc.) But the thing about the end sequence for 2001 was that it was surreal enough that almost any interpretation could reasonably fit (including the book's.) Unfortunately, I think part of the problem is that any literal explanation of The Fountain tends to bump into an inconsistency or plot gap somewhere.

The main symbolic cycle is relatively straightforward, but unless you invoke time travel, magic, reincarnation and gods-know-what other miscellaneous plot devices, it's not going to make literal sense. But again, it's possible that's missing the point.

* Conquistador finds Tree of Life ->
* plant/seed samples from central america ->
* seeds planted on Izzie's grave ->
* second Tree, containing Izzie's 'essence' ->
* Tommy's voyage to Xibalba ->
* Tommy's sacrifice as First Father ->
* Supernova explosion as genesis of Earth's life-chemistry ->
* Mayan world-creation myth ->
* Conquistador finds Tree of Life