Product Details

• Released on: 2007-05-15
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: AC-3, Dolby, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC, Import
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Dubbed in: French
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 96 minutes

Review
It should go without saying but it seldom does: people who don't like abstract art shouldn't see non-narrative films. The Fountain is a beautiful and triumphant success as an impressionistic take on the circular nature of life, love, and human frailty, but its achievements may be lost on moviegoers looking for a clear story that they can follow from beginning to end. Where most movies are works of prose, The Fountain is a work of poetry, and the fundamental artistic principles that will endear it to lovers of the abstract style will probably make it tough to swallow for the mainstream crowd. It traces the events of three "timelines" that should not be taken literally (as this would result in a nonsensical jumble), but rather as representations of the paths we may take in both terror and acceptance of death. Darren Aronofsky employs the same perspective here as he did with Pi, applying a subjectivity to the spiritual and existential answers we seek, proposing that even the most profound truths will still be shaped by the limited portal of the human mind. Aronofsky is unapologetic in his almost singular use of symbolic material, but his choices still show that he's aware of the audience's experience. In order to keep the viewer from becoming lost in a clutter of conceptual images, he builds the film around a central story that, while still allegorical, also closely resembles a literal narrative. This part of the film is written in a more common artistic language, providing a cognitive foothold for the audience so they don't get tired of translating the more complex messages. This central story, concerning a neurological research scientist on a fanatical crusade to cure his dying wife's brain tumor, provides Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz with the chance to tap into raw cinematic alchemy, excelling both as characters and as representations. Aronofsky's sum-total statement in The Fountain could surely fill volumes and fuel much debate, but his primary theme is clear: that while there may be no escaping death, we each still drink from the fountain of youth when we breathe our own contribution into the earth's everlasting cycle: eternal life in perennial life. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide

On the DVD
Inside The Fountain: Death and Rebirth - Gallery of 6 featuretts exploring the movie's various periods and settings
Theatrical trailer
Languages: English & Fran�ais (Dubbed in Quebec)
Subtitles: English, Fran�ais & Espa�ol (Main feature. Bonus material/trailer may not by subtitled).

Synopsis
Requiem for a Dream director Darren Aronofsky switches gears from drug-induced urban malaise to abstract science fiction with this time-tripping symbolic tale of a man's thousand-year quest to save the woman he loves. Moving between representational stories and images, this meditation on life and death focuses on the concept of the mythical Tree of Life that is said to bestow immortality to all who drink of its sap. In one of the film's allegorical timelines, a 16th century Spanish conquistador played by Hugh Jackman sets out to find the tree in order to save his queen (Rachel Weisz) from the Inquisition. Another conceptual story finds Jackman centuries later, struggling with mortality as a modern-day scientist desperately searching for the medical breakthrough that will save the life of his cancer-stricken wife, Izzi. The third and most abstract concept finds Jackman as a different incarnation of the same character-idea, this time questing for eternal life within the confines of a floating sphere transporting the aged Tree of Life through the depths of space. Still more avant-garde than his breakthrough film Pi, The Fountain finds Aronofsky almost completely abandoning conventional story structure in favor of something more cinematically abstract. Though the film was originally slapped with an R by the MPAA, Aronofsky & co. re-edited it to conform to a PG-13 rating. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Customer Reviews

Great Movie
I had to write a review after seeing what's already here. The Fountain might be the best movie I've seen. It is both visually stunning and has a very powerful message. It is a cohesive film, but it takes a bit of effort to get into. I was still thinking about it for days after I saw it. If you don't like things on the abstract side, and are looking for easy entertainment, don't see this film. If you're after something a bit more cerebral and artful, give it a try, it is extremely rewarding.

This could hang in an art gallery as a video art installation
I take to task the various reviewers that lambaste this film due to it's non-linearity and apparently confusing storyline. Aronofsky does not make films that are easy to watch, or easy to figure out the deeper themes of for that matter. The Fountain is purely an abstract hypothesis, or rather three, that are woven together in a glorious cinematic representation that is so beautiful to watch that the need for a defined narrative takes a bow in favour of the visual splendour. If you are so inclined, you can get the general idea of what the character motivations of Jackman and Weisz are in their triptych representations. When peeled back, it's actually not that complicated - love is an engine that if you let it, will drive you to do anything for whom you bestow it upon. This theme is interwoven through three time periods, all photographed by third time Aronofsky DOP collaborator Matthew Libatique. There are enough films out there to fulfill the mainstream's insatiable desire for easily digestible, instantly forgettable, high-carb, low substance genre fare. The Fountain, on the other hand, and other films such as Michel Gondry's The Science of Sleep, Spike Jonze's Being John Malkovich, and the entire catalogue of Peter Greenaway, fulfill a vastly different mandate. These film-makers are artists painting from a different cinematic palette, whose films may work better when played on a white wall in the contemporary wing of an art gallery. A setting such as this would most likely find an audience more in tune to the non-mainstream dynamics that films such as these represent. Not to say the average cinema go-er shouldn't try to expand their horizons every now and then, it's just that The Fountain wasn't made to be an average film for the average viewer, so people should keep that in mind when they view then review it.

To love forever
Darren Aronofsky has never made movies that were easy viewing. Examples? Just watch "Pi" and "Requiem For a Dream," and you'll see why this underrated director has made one of the most astounding sci-fi movies in ages.

"The Fountain" is basically a sprawling tale that is half "real," half outside the mind -- love, immortality, death, grief and a tangled plotline that may take a few viewings to get right, but is exquisite in its simplicity. Not satisfied with depth, Aronofsky also makes it an absolutely stunning visual experience.

Research oncologist Tommy (Hugh Jackman) is trying to find a cancer cure by animal testing, so he can save the life of his dying wife Izzie (Rachel Weisz), including an unsanctioned test from a mysterious tree. As she hopes for a cure, Izzie has been writing a book about a Spanish conquistador who is seeking the immortality-granting Tree of Life.

As we see in other flashbacks, that conquistador is a version of Tommy (and Izzy as Queen Isabella). And far in the future, Tommy still struggles with his wife's loss, as he travels to a distant nebula to revive the tree. But as he finally gives in to his wife's last wish, he becomes enmeshed in a mysterious rebirth that stretches through the ages.

"The Fountain" got a royal whupping from critics, and was even booed by test audiences, who presumably couldn't understand the three storylines -- or rather, one non-linear storyline, in which the lines between reality and imagination are blurred. Perhaps all of it is true, or perhaps Tommy's mind is creating the 1500 and 2500 scenarios to help him cope.

As befits a movie that tackles so many deep themes, Aronofsky weaves mythology, creation beliefs, religion and the fear of death together, and binds it together with the universal theme -- love that even death can't overcome. The dialogue tends to be more spare than the story, rather than loading it down with unnecessary ponderings.

And he does it beautifully and surreally. The whole movie is tinged in gold -- gold light, gold costumes, gold Tree of Life, gold nebula, gold deserts. The camerawork is filmed poetry: there are sweet moments like planting a seed in a grave, the Tree lit by the sun, and the sight of Tommy inside the nebula. The most exquisite moment comes when Tommy kneels before Izzy, under the Tree, with drops of golden light falling around them.

This is undoubtedly Jackman's best movie, making us feel Tom's love and sorrow for Izzy ("There's no hope for us here. There is only death"), and the lifelong struggle against death. Your heart really breaks for him. Weisz is sweet and wilting as Izzy, and the chemistry between the two leads makes their time-busting love seem entirely reasonable.

Aronofsky has made a story that is pure art, exquisite in theme, and while you might have to watch "Fountain" a few times to really "get it," but you won't regret the experience. Even if you don't like it, in an era of bland popcorn movies, its ambition is worth praising.