Intro.
Spanning across 3 different time periods – 1500s, 2000s and 2500s – The Fountain is a fantasy-like symbol of (re)birth, living, dieing and accepting the inevitable. Hugh Jackman takes on the lead as Tomas, Dr. Tom Creo and Tommy during the 1500s, 2000s and 2500s respectively. Rachel Weisz plays Jackman’s love interest/wife during the first two time periods (as Queen Isabel/Izzi Creo respectively), and strangely enough a tree in the final 2500s, time period. The film switches between the three time periods extremely quickly at times, so to keep things legible, and to make things a lot easier for myself, I’ve split the film into three sections; covering the three time periods.
Plot.
During the 1500s setting, which is, in fact, the dieing Izzi’s story, Queen Isabel asks Tomas “Will you deliver Spain from bondage?” to which he promptly promises that, on his life, he shall. To be successful Tomas must eat from the Tree of Life, in the garden of Eden, then return to Queen Isabel so that she “can be his Eve”. The story ends, one chapter short, with Tomas being stabbed by Lord of Xibalba a guardian of the Tree and the entrance to Eden who proclaims to the dying Tomas that “Death is the road to awe.”
Mainly, the movies storyline follows that of Dr. Tom Creo’s actions during the 2000s time period. Here, Tom is trying in vain to cure his wife, Izzi, from a terminal brain tumour. During this setting, Tom finding it difficult to come to terms with his wife’s impending death, where as Izzi seems more than ready to let go. Upon looking for a cure to the tumour, Tom stumbles upon a tree which can halt the aging process. Although this discovery, in its own right is phenomenal, Tom realizes this won’t help his already dying wife and ignores its importance. After Izzi becomes hospitalized she asks Tom to help her “finish it”, her 1500s story. Eventually, she dies – leaving Tom in a world of hate and anger. He promises his colleagues that "Death is a disease, it's like any other. And there's a cure. A cure - and I will find it."
During the future setting of the 2500s we see that Tom, who is travelling towards the about-to-explode-and-create-a-star-system nebula, on a small part of land with a Tree, has now reached a higher form of understanding.
It’s possible that the he writes the final chapter of Izzi’s book – which shows Tomas (of the 1500s) survive and eat from the Tree of Life, only for him to die while doing so; plants, flowers and finally a tree sprout from his body, killing him –– to which we are then also shown the final part of the 2000s time line – Tom plants a seed where his wife has been buried, believed to be a seed from the Tree of Life that he discovered earlier – so in this final scene. Tom and his wife’s body (living through the tree) head straight towards the nebula. This is to symbolize the acceptance on Toms part of death, and how it is also the beginning of new life – just like the end of both the 1500s and 2000s time period storylines.
Final Thoughts.
The perspective to which this film can be viewed is open to interpretation, which will either have you annoyed or in awe of the film. Personally, I believed that the 2500 storyline was the present, with the Tom having illusions of his past – either because of his heightened understanding of life and the universe or because he had been alone for so long. The 1500s period was written by Izzi as pure fiction; a way of helping her husband understand and eventually deal with her death. The ending of the book was left blank because that part of the story hadn’t occurred yet; 1500s Tomas being stabbed by Lord of Xibalba was a clever metaphor of Tom losing his wife – and becoming, what it seemed at the time, the end for him.
Jackman was… OK. I’m usually a pretty good fan of his but I wasn’t completely convinced with his obsessive actions nor was I completely taken in by his loss. Rachel Wiesz on the other hand was fantastic during both the 1500 and 2000 time periods. I thought she was extremely diverse to play both the queen and the angelic and playful Izzi.
Visually, this film is stunning. The small portion of land and the nebula to which Jackmans 2500s character spent his time was beautifully created. Also, the throne room for Queen Isabel was extremely effective too, with the halo-like lightening behind her as she spoke, as well as the jagged screen which was used to hide her face, which contrasted well. However, as beautiful as the scene design turned out to be, some of it felt out of place. Because the film flashed forwards and backwards almost several times a second, it would sometimes become disorientating and you would become confused with what, where and when the current scene was supposed to be taking place.
I’ll be honest; I didn’t get this movie straight away, at least, not as a overarching symbol for the circle of life, but it’s such an interesting story riddled with fantastic metaphor which stimulates all the senses. It can, however, seem to be preaching at times and the film is basically a simple idea made rather complicated but other than that it is a highly enjoyable film. I was left a little empty at the end but once I had taken time to digest what it all meant, I was left feeling inspired and content.
Spanning across 3 different time periods – 1500s, 2000s and 2500s – The Fountain is a fantasy-like symbol of (re)birth, living, dieing and accepting the inevitable. Hugh Jackman takes on the lead as Tomas, Dr. Tom Creo and Tommy during the 1500s, 2000s and 2500s respectively. Rachel Weisz plays Jackman’s love interest/wife during the first two time periods (as Queen Isabel/Izzi Creo respectively), and strangely enough a tree in the final 2500s, time period. The film switches between the three time periods extremely quickly at times, so to keep things legible, and to make things a lot easier for myself, I’ve split the film into three sections; covering the three time periods.
Plot.
During the 1500s setting, which is, in fact, the dieing Izzi’s story, Queen Isabel asks Tomas “Will you deliver Spain from bondage?” to which he promptly promises that, on his life, he shall. To be successful Tomas must eat from the Tree of Life, in the garden of Eden, then return to Queen Isabel so that she “can be his Eve”. The story ends, one chapter short, with Tomas being stabbed by Lord of Xibalba a guardian of the Tree and the entrance to Eden who proclaims to the dying Tomas that “Death is the road to awe.”
Mainly, the movies storyline follows that of Dr. Tom Creo’s actions during the 2000s time period. Here, Tom is trying in vain to cure his wife, Izzi, from a terminal brain tumour. During this setting, Tom finding it difficult to come to terms with his wife’s impending death, where as Izzi seems more than ready to let go. Upon looking for a cure to the tumour, Tom stumbles upon a tree which can halt the aging process. Although this discovery, in its own right is phenomenal, Tom realizes this won’t help his already dying wife and ignores its importance. After Izzi becomes hospitalized she asks Tom to help her “finish it”, her 1500s story. Eventually, she dies – leaving Tom in a world of hate and anger. He promises his colleagues that "Death is a disease, it's like any other. And there's a cure. A cure - and I will find it."
During the future setting of the 2500s we see that Tom, who is travelling towards the about-to-explode-and-create-a-star-system nebula, on a small part of land with a Tree, has now reached a higher form of understanding.
It’s possible that the he writes the final chapter of Izzi’s book – which shows Tomas (of the 1500s) survive and eat from the Tree of Life, only for him to die while doing so; plants, flowers and finally a tree sprout from his body, killing him –– to which we are then also shown the final part of the 2000s time line – Tom plants a seed where his wife has been buried, believed to be a seed from the Tree of Life that he discovered earlier – so in this final scene. Tom and his wife’s body (living through the tree) head straight towards the nebula. This is to symbolize the acceptance on Toms part of death, and how it is also the beginning of new life – just like the end of both the 1500s and 2000s time period storylines.
Final Thoughts.
The perspective to which this film can be viewed is open to interpretation, which will either have you annoyed or in awe of the film. Personally, I believed that the 2500 storyline was the present, with the Tom having illusions of his past – either because of his heightened understanding of life and the universe or because he had been alone for so long. The 1500s period was written by Izzi as pure fiction; a way of helping her husband understand and eventually deal with her death. The ending of the book was left blank because that part of the story hadn’t occurred yet; 1500s Tomas being stabbed by Lord of Xibalba was a clever metaphor of Tom losing his wife – and becoming, what it seemed at the time, the end for him.
Jackman was… OK. I’m usually a pretty good fan of his but I wasn’t completely convinced with his obsessive actions nor was I completely taken in by his loss. Rachel Wiesz on the other hand was fantastic during both the 1500 and 2000 time periods. I thought she was extremely diverse to play both the queen and the angelic and playful Izzi.
Visually, this film is stunning. The small portion of land and the nebula to which Jackmans 2500s character spent his time was beautifully created. Also, the throne room for Queen Isabel was extremely effective too, with the halo-like lightening behind her as she spoke, as well as the jagged screen which was used to hide her face, which contrasted well. However, as beautiful as the scene design turned out to be, some of it felt out of place. Because the film flashed forwards and backwards almost several times a second, it would sometimes become disorientating and you would become confused with what, where and when the current scene was supposed to be taking place.
I’ll be honest; I didn’t get this movie straight away, at least, not as a overarching symbol for the circle of life, but it’s such an interesting story riddled with fantastic metaphor which stimulates all the senses. It can, however, seem to be preaching at times and the film is basically a simple idea made rather complicated but other than that it is a highly enjoyable film. I was left a little empty at the end but once I had taken time to digest what it all meant, I was left feeling inspired and content.
Reccomended for those looking for a movie to discuss and one that is open to several different interpretations
4/5
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