Ironically enough, Tom receives the news of his wife’s passing just moments after he discovers he has made a breakthrough in his search for a cure. Through this analogy and the analogy of a dying star going supernova to give birth to a new star, Izzi tries to make Tom realise the inevitability of her death, even indicating that they’ll live forever when they meet in the afterlife; that is, the possibility of life after death, the possibility that a person may live on even after death, in one manifestation or another. 25. Surging forward another few millennia into the 26th century, the film finds Tom (Jackman) as a kind of zen astronaut hurtling through space in a big bubble with a dying tree and the ghost of 21st century Iz (Weisz) on their way into a mysterious nebula. So I was motivated to write my own explanation of the film’s story and symbolism. If Darren Aronofsky's "The Fountain" is an ambitious folly, that's hardly inappropriate because the movie itself is about one of humankind's most grandiose follies, the quest for eternal life. Ultimately Aronofsky cut it because he wanted to keep the film from Tommy’s perspective. © 2020 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. 29. Local Acts of Terror: The Legacy of ‘The Town That Dreaded Sundown’, 10 Best Final Horror Movies by Great Directors, Humans are the Scariest Monsters in Genre Television, The 50 Best Netflix Original Movies, Ranked, New House, New Horrors: Cinematographer James Kniest on the Visual Distinction of ‘The Haunting of Bly Manor’, 10 Most Eye Poppin’ Moments of Eyeball Horror, An Oral History of the Time Ridley Scott Burned Down Pinewood Studios, ‘French Exit’ is an Absurd Satire Better Enjoyed at Another Time. The ‘future’ storyline, may be interpreted in two different yet uniquely engaging and satiating ways. ‘The Fountain’, does all that and more. And "The Fountain" isn't so much about the quest for eternal life as it is about the will to stave off death. Does that sound a little silly? The original script only featured the past and the future. 18. The film deals with man’s mortality, his feeble attempts to overcome it, maim it, or in ways change or delay the obvious outcome that accompanies birth, and his eventual coming to terms with it. They realized early on Hugh Jackman is a better stuntmen than most stuntmen. 6 Responses to “The Fountain explained” I read the article you linked above. 15. Aronofsky offered Hugh Jackman the three parts after seeing him in “The Boy from Oz” on Broadway. There are some movie experiences that awe you, some make you think; some make you bow at the sheer brilliance of them, while some may evoke a melancholy strain. After collapsing at a museum, Izzi tells Tom the story of her Mayan guide who planted a seed over his dead father’s grave, allowing him to live on after his death. You see a glimpse of it when Tommy comes to the hospital and sees Dr. Lillian Guzetti and Izzie speaking with each other. Video. “Death, as an act of creation”, as remarked by one of the protagonists in the film; “omnis cellula e cellula”, proposed by the physicist Rudolph Virchow (meaning all cells come from cells) and penned and interpreted by John Green as “life comes from life” in his novel, ‘The Fault in our Stars’, are important and overarching themes in Aronofsky’s film. A loyal Tomás sets out on the journey, promised by his queen that she shall be his Eve when he returns, and both of them will spend an eternity together, also giving him a ring to remind him of his promise. “Those are all real wounds on Stephen McHattie. Hold on a second…”. Libatique shot it very realistically, which was quite different from how the actual set looked. I would be interested to hear your thoughts. 11. Izzi is shown picking a sweetgum from the tree, and handing it over to ‘present’ Tom, who then plants it in her grave as an act of acceptance, (as told above) bidding her a hearty farewell. 6. To this day that remains a shame because it’s Aronofsky’s most emotional, complex, and rewarding film. Its character must accept the singular rule of the universe: everyone dies. A young director's ungainly and overwrought folly? Darren Aronofsky’s 2006 epic-fantasy-science fiction-romantic drama (If you have watched the film, you will agree it is hard to put it under a single genre), divided critics and polarised viewers, and has continued to do so eleven years hence, even after having gained a cult following. It’s a shame that type of sentimentality isn’t represented in film. 9. The old man in the hospital bed who looks to Tommy is a very personal scene for Aronofsky. Once again, no CGI necessary. Commentator: Darren Aronofsky (writer-direct0r). You pointed out things I hadn’t noticed in the film. It was Jackman who recommended Rachel Weisz. There are some movie experiences that awe you, some make you think; some make you bow at the sheer brilliance of them, while some may evoke a melancholy strain. 19. That scene, and the rest of the movie, could’ve been cut so many different ways because of the variety of emotions Jackman and Weisz gave Aronofsky. Read on! 10 min read . Tomás does so, slitting his throat and proceeding towards the tree of life, applying its sap on his wounds, astonished to see them cured in an instant. © 2019 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. Tom however, refuses to accept that she may be no more and struggles to find a cure not only for her, but for death itself, calling it a “sickness” like any other that needed to be cured. While Tom is in denial and refuses to finish the book saying he doesn’t know the end to it, Izzi reassures him, saying that he will. While it may have benefited from having another participant, diehard fans of The Fountain should hear it if they haven’t already. For all its interpretations and theories, it remains an experience to be cherished by every cinephile, for it is embellished with such intricacies that may be discovered, and the experience of it made even more visceral on multiple viewings. Sap of a different kind inevitably seeps into the story, particularly the contemporary episodes, but Jackman and Weisz commit to their roles as deeply as Aronofsky does to his concept. Upon reaching its supposed location, a mayan pyramid, Tomás engages in combat with a group of pagans, is overpowered, and directed to the top of the pyramid where he meets a mayan priest with a flaming sword. Yes, "The Fountain" overreaches on every level, and that's exactly what I like about it. Aronofsky, director of the relentless "Pi" and "Requiem for a Dream," dares to hurl himself, and his movie, way "out there" -- in three narrative directions at once. June 16, 2017. 27. Admittedly, there are times where it’s easy to clock out of Aronfosky’s commentary. 13. Director Darren Aronofsky’s 2006 sci-fi mini epic is a movie about facing death. The film took “six or seven years” to make, but that long period of time trying to get a movie made isn’t new to Aronofsky. 23. They're all bold attempts -- some more successful than others -- by passionate young filmmakers in their late 20s to mid-30s to sum up their own sensibilities and experience, to cram just about everything they know and feel, about life and about movies, on the screen at once. For all we may make out of this, or what Aronofsky wanted to portray (seldom actually commenting on how he intended the film to be viewed as) ‘The Fountain’ could be the tale of Tommy’s realisation of the true nature of death over three lives, or a manifestation of the same story in three different ages, of man’s initial resistance, denial and subsequent acceptance, offering multiple and unique interpretations, and therein lies the beauty of Aronofski’s underrated gem of a film. 7. The tree then flourishes back to life, another manifestation of Izzi’s “life after death” belief. Also, through the recurring scene where Tom bluntly refuses to go out for a walk with Izzi to enjoy the first snow, denying her of a simple pleasure she seeks in her final days, Aronofsky tries to express the cycle of regret that Tom goes through for not having spent enough time with his ailing wife, eventually grieving his way to the bitter realisation and coming to terms with it, when he plants a sweetgum seed in her grave that she gave him in an apparition from the ending of the ‘future’ storyline.
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