The Fountain

Darren Aronofsky’s vision has come unstuck in time. The young auteur’s highly divisive and staggeringly ambitious pet-project, The Fountain, could be looked at as a younger sibling, meta-physical film-as-poetry version of Kurt Vonnegut’s classic novel. Weaving together three timelines, from past to future to present, and phasing between them over the course of the narrative, the film reflects upon how people accept mortality, referencing karmic cycles, myth making, modern medicine and the dissemination of linear time in the process. Huge Jackman weighs in with the performance of his career as a man experiencing multiple time periods: Tomas, a Spanish conquistador sent by his Queen Isabel (a softly smouldering Rachel Weisz, also multitasking as the eternal lover) on a quest for the Tree of Life; Dr. Tom Creo, a scientist desperately searching for a cure to his wife Izzi’s brain tumour; and Tommy, possibly the last man in existence, floating through space towards a nebula in a large biosphere bubble, snacking on the bark of his only companion, the Tree of Life, between bouts of meditation, tai-chi, self-tattooing and visions of Izzi from his life’s past (or is it his past life?). The only special feature, "Inside The Fountain: Death and Rebirth,” is a highly informative "making of” featurette detailing the project’s conception and the fitting cycle of incarnations it went through before finally reaching the triumphant creativity of the independent spirit in the actual filming process. Amongst the most fascinating elements is a look at how the stunningly original visuals were created. In lieu of pricey CGI, the special effects team employed the ingenious practice of microfilming chemical reactions and reassembling the images to resemble outer space as depicted in photos captured by the Hubble telescope. A bold and unique achievement, The Fountain has made a strong bid for the timeless status of classic film art.