User reviews

Such a beautiful film that goes so, so deep. For me, it was a truly spiritual experience to watch this film again after 8 years. The images are beautiful, unique and the thousands of match cuts connecting the film's inner spiritual layer with the real life of the characters (in a non-linear manner) is just sublime. For me, this is poetry and a beautiful testament to love, pain, life - and the never ending cycle of life.

Fantastic in every sense. This film is indeed poetry, and a beautiful testament to love and the cycle of life, and the impermanence of death. Wow. The script is tight, and the non-linear presentation works very well. The scene compositions were exquisite. The score enhanced without being overbearing, which is so often the case in contemporary film.

The acting is absolutely superb, but then it's got Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz. I can't imagine Brad Pitt doing any sort of justice to this film. Darren Aronofsky lucked out in the long run by getting someone who has the range to portray the vast emotions required for Tomas/Tommy/Tom. Weisz has the depth for regal intrigue and spirited grace. Their chemistry makes their stories even more entrancing.

This film does require a thinking brain to be appreciated.

'The Fountain' is one fascinating film. I don't think there's enough words to describe what it's like. After watching the film, I've read several different interpretations and can only conclude that don't make a decision on what you've read, simply watch the film. It's a unique movie-watching experience.

Aronofsky took me by complete surprise. I loved his 'Requiem for a Dream' but I did not expect him to come up with something so different. Man, is that a big difference, not only in content but also in technique and pretty much everything. All I knew beforehand was that the film was a science fiction and that it starred Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz (actors whom I like). After watching it, I can safely say that 'The Fountain' is much more than just a science fiction flick.

I won't mention much of the plot as I do not want to ruin the experience by giving any spoilers. I would love to discuss the film with people who have already seen it. Aronofsky uses of symbolism, colour, and spectacular visuals to tell a story of life, death, love and rebirth. The visuals are simply breathtaking and the special effects are phenomenal. The use of different camera angles is particularly excellent as it gives the viewer (well at least me) the feel of the moving time and space. He cleverly uses lighting and colour to distinguish between the atmosphere of the different times as he does with the zoomlens. And, of course the soundtrack which is very underused but beautifully noticeable.

Hugh Jackman is terrific in a multidimensional character and Rachel Weisz is phenomenal. She's particularly outstanding as she plays her part with a subtle intensity. Ellen Burstyn has a smaller role but she is splendid to watch.

It's really difficult to describe what the experience is like in just a few words. I haven't yet understood every single aspect of 'The Fountain' and am going to be rewatching it, but it does stay in mind long after the end credits have rolled. It's a complex theme but the basis is simple. It won't be liked by many as so many of it is left to interpretation with a lot of questions but for me it's fascinating and is all a movie-watching experience should be.

There's a lot going for this film. The CGI is exceptional as are the performances. There's beauty in every part from the actors' performances, direction and CGI/visuals.

So why not a higher score? The message of the film isn't ludicrous but it has been explored before many times. Is death a necessary part of life? Can we conquer it? Should we even be trying? It's not a bad set of questions to ask. But as the film develops you're repeatedly pounded on the head by a weak analogy with a tree of life. When you get to the last twenty minutes of the film the analogy becomes actively irritating.

It's definitely worth a watch. Just don't expect anything hugely thought provoking.

"TheFountain" is a story tackling three different time periods. Tomas (Hugh Jackman) is a 16th century Conquistador on a bloody hunt though a hidden Mayan temple to retrieve sap from the mythical Tree of Life for his queen (Rachel Weisz), who is desperate for immortality. In 2005, Tom (Jackman) is a doctor frenetically searching for the cure to cancer to save the life of his wife Izzi (Weisz), who is in the final throes of her battle with death. Five hundred years later, Tom travels through space on a quest to reach the place of tranquility that Izzi spoke fondly of, using the Tree as a device to get him to the answers he needs to rest his weary mind....

In performances that can only be described as exquisite, Jackman and Weisz assist their director in opening up this knotty story through their soulful and romantic interpretations of desperation and peace. Essentially playing one lost soul, Jackman foams with remarkable anguish as he performs three separate interpretations of duty, handing in career-defining work. Weisz is the face of love in "The Fountain," lending the film a flowering emotional core of the film.

The Fountain" is masterful on so many unique levels, presenting a demanding filmgoing experience that should elicit a grand sense of awe on an emotional and spiritual level unlike anything you've seen this year.

Aronofsky has out done himself again....

Continuing my plan to watch every Hugh Jackman movie in order, I come to The Fountain (2006)

Plot In A Paragraph: As a modern-day scientist, Tommy is struggling with mortality, desperately searching for the medical breakthrough that will save the life of his cancer-stricken wife.

This movie is very Kubrick-like, which, given I'm not a fan of Kubrick, probably explains why it does not really work for me. The acting by Jackman and Weisz, is fine, and the visuals are stunning, but it just doesn't work for me.

The movie abruptly jumps between its three timelines, but it is easy enough to know what timeline you are in, just by looking at How much hair Hugh Jackman has. But I actually think there is only one timeline, the modern day one, at least it's the way I viewed it.

Too many blinding lights. Too many transitions for their own sake. Abrupt changes of tone. I believe I have not seen the real film. When a $75 million production goes into turnaround and is made for $35 million, elements get eliminated. When a film telling three stories and spanning thousands of years has a running time of 96 minutes, scenes must have been cut out.

Director Darren Aronofsky initially cast Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett in the central leads of Tom and Izzi with a budget of $75 million dollars. During pre-production, Pitt and Aronofsky were having major creative differences, so Pitt left and Blanchett followed. Warner Bros cut the budget to $35 million dollars, both Weisz and Jackman agreed to work on the film at a reduced rate, to ensure the movie went ahead.

Warner Bros. refused to do a director's commentary for the DVD release, so Darren Aronofsky recorded one in his living room and released it on his website. I think I will need to listen to that, as there could be some great insight in there.

The Fountain grossed $10 million at the domestic box office to be the first Hugh Jackman movie to lose money, since he became a star.

It is essential to let go of needs and allow for something new, something more peaceful, to take its place. The main issue for people is not to advocate any specific worldview or philosophy, but rather to show that death is natural to life and something that everyone has to face. It is when people find some way of reconciling with mortality that they can fully be present and not be too worried about the world around them. Our lives are brief and are at the mercy of forces beyond our control, which can suffocate consciousness and delude people into falsehood.

I don't really mind seeing a movie that's just outright bad, but a movie like this, that is so promising and contains so many excellent elements but doesn't pull through in the end, is worse! So much about this movie is great - the "modern day" story is excellently written and acted (mostly acted; Hugh Jackman is phenomenal) and really got me emotionally involved, and the Mayan mythological elements seemed surprisingly uncontrived. But every segment involving "Tom" positively ruins the effect. These sequences are so New Age-y and ridiculous that it totally detaches you from any kind of emotional involvement in the film, and it's really painful how ridiculous they are. It doesn't help that Mogwai lay on the cheeze as thick as it comes with their contributions to the score. To top it all off, the movie absolutely REFUSES to end, so that even though it has a short running time (hardly over an hour and a half), it feels like Aronofsky was actually the one who found the formula for eternal life (and gave it to his movie!). There's a lot of waste here - wasted acting, wasted writing, wasted visuals - because in the end, you will laugh at how ridiculous some of the scenes are, and at how godawful and inconclusive the "ending" is. I really hope that the graphic novel is better, but until then, just go watch Solaris (either version) - it deals with all of these themes much more gracefully and with great subtlety.

Visually stimulating but frustratingly disconnected from its viewers, The Fountain establishes director Darren Aronofsky as one of our most daring and adventurous directors – but his ambitions are ultimately what cause The Fountain to sink beneath its own heavy-handed pretensions.

Aronofsky has a way of making the most everyday events thrilling and beautiful, but his clinical approach to the characters of the film – portrayed by Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz – creates a cold distance. A film such as this requires us to invest our emotions in the characters, which is impossible to do when they are so haphazardly presented. While the art sequences are mesmerizing, every time Aronofsky spends time focusing on his characters the movie hits a brick wall and becomes incredibly tiresome.

The fragmented story structure certainly doesn't help much in this regard. While it is no doubt an excuse for some awe-inspiring visual creations, every time Aronofsky cuts to another storyline more distance is drawn between the audience and the characters in the movie.

The plot, if you can follow this, involves a driven doctor (Jackman) trying to develop a cure for death. He claims it is just a disease, like anything else, and that he will be the one to give humans infinite life.

He is not driven by greed – his wife (Weisz) is dying of cancer and so he feels obligated to deliver her a cure.

Meanwhile, the film veers off onto two different paths – one involving a Spanish conquistador and his quest for the Fountain of Youth, the other about the doctor from the first storyline (I think?) being trapped in a bubble in outer space with a dying tree (which his wife is apart of because it grew from her corpse – yes, honestly) and his struggle to…umm…preserve the tree and himself so they can live together forever.

The film's soundtrack, composed by Clint Mansell (Requiem for a Dream), is perhaps the highlight of the entire picture. Mansell is quickly establishing a name for himself as one of Hollywood's greatest composers.

And certainly the movie will wow audiences looking for something pretty. But it is not a very enjoyable experience, for the most part, and the scenes involving human conflict dragged on seemingly forever.

And so as an art-house picture this is wonderfully bizarre, beautifully haunting and utterly captivating; I just wish Aronofsky had chosen a film that did not require more emotional involvement than he was willing to develop.

...and here I shall attempt to review what will one day be a classic in the hopefully near future. The Fountain is many things. It's a touching film. It's not long, though, clocking in at around 80 or 90 minutes, but it does manage to pack in enough emotion to out-do every single lame, candy-assed Hollywood romance ever created, or almost. More movies should cut down their running times like this; because there is not a wasted moment in The Fountain from start to finish, despite the movie still moving at an gregariously slow pace. You won't find any blitzed, seizure-inducing cut-and-paste editing scenes here, and there are no epic explosions and battle scenes either. What you will find, though, is an entire treasure trove of realistic passion and jaw-dropping emotion, and that's the strong point of this movie. Nothing here feels contrived or derivative or fake at all - this is a story of a woman with a lot of love in her heart and a passion for life in general, and a man who would do anything to preserve the same love for all eternity. That's the Fountain.

The Fountain is a simple movie. While at first it's repertoire of lazily abstract images and slow plot construction may seem intimidating and might even turn off the average moviegoer, a deeper voyage into The Fountain's layers reveals something not hard to comprehend at all. I mean, honestly, this film is a love story at it's core, there are no mind-bending plot twists and secret meanings. It's just a passionate, intricately woven romance about how far a man would go to let his love live on forever. If you're looking for super slick plot twists and drama, then look elsewhere, because The Fountain is not your typical modern flick at all. As I said, average moviegoers probably won't be able to get into this one. It's just too abstract and weird, and I won't blame anyone for disliking it on the basis of it's obvious inaccessibility. But regardless, the shimmering majesty of this movie is evident to those who are willing to try and find it. It's clear after the film sinks in - The Fountain is a straightforward and simple film disguised by multiple layers of artistic refinement and glorious imagery. Oh, it's not all clear cut for you, there is one other sticky point for some people - the fact that The Fountain takes place in three different time-spans all at once, weaving them together into a rich, complex tapestry of master-class storytelling. Yet somehow, despite the winding complexity of it all, The Fountain remains a pretty basic story once you get your head around it's eccentricities. Simplicity and complexity go hand in hand here to create a plethora of beauty and sorrow, a perfect oxymoron.

There's a very deep, broad contrast between the beautiful simplicity of the film's plot line and the absolutely jaw-dropping grandeur of the special effects and graphics utilized here. The directing here is through the roof, and the cinematography on display here is probably amongst the five or six best from any movie I've ever seen, if not the very top of the goddamn list. Just watch the last few minutes of the movie, and you'll understand. One of the things I really love about The Fountain is that it's beautiful and touching without trying to be anything it isn't. It's an honest film, and it does everything it wants to do effortlessly and flawlessly, with graceful, sweeping movements that etch a stunning caricature of rich, luscious aesthetics into an otherwise simple story. Marvelous.

Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain follows the story of a man who seemingly travels across three worlds. One as a conquistador, another as a scientist, and the last one as a monk. The proper plot of The Fountain is perhaps up to interpretation, but it is definitely a film worth watching at least a couple of times. While the multiple-world storyline is not new, Aronofksy's use of it make for a surreal yet beautiful experience of a tale of love, death, meaning, and acceptance. The Fountain is without a doubt, a very unique film in that its meaning is almost obscure and abstract yet quite concrete. As the film progresses, we can see changes in the characters and more specifically their views on certain subjects, Hugh Jackman's three-roles will also stay in your mind for quite some time after watching the film as The Fountain is another film that shows his remarkable range. The film itself is a work of art, a narrative-commentary on perhaps the meaning of life and death. It features a somewhat simple, yet very memorable score composed by Clint Mansell which does a fantastic job of alleviating the storyline. From a narrative point of view, The Fountain is a film that you are not meant to be explained to. The film asks you as the viewer to find the meaning yourself. Furthermore, the cinematography of The Fountain is gorgeous and artistic, it really felt as if every shot carried so much weight and meaning, this accompanied with the three-world-storyline and surreal dialogue do a great job of wrapping up together an unexpectedly joyful and bittersweet experience of a film. Ultimately, if you want a film that will make you continuously think about its meaning, attach you to delicate yet detailed characters, and also make you question your own worldview, the Fountain is a movie worth watching. Do not let the 2006 release date fool you, for the film itself still holds up to the current day, largely in part because of its complexity and curious storyline.

This is not a film for any one public. Americans, often ignorant of philosophy and mythology (by and large) would stumble awkwardly through much of the film, wondering what the hell is going on. Others still would prefer to call the film pretentious and drenched in metaphysical bull----. Woe it is to the archetypes. No one knows how to reach the elemental, the archetypal arena of human experience anymore; a fact proved by so many other reviewers penchant for searching for the "realism" within the movie. (cf. Roger Ebert's review; this is a thoroughly stupid and ignorant way of viewing such a film...it seems that the Divine Comedy would be cast aside today, because Dante does not describe Paradise in a "realistic" fashion. Which of course is worse than nonsense...its f---ing stupid.)

The problem many people have with this film is that they see it as a story about two people, and not two archetypes that are elemental within human mythology (first man and first woman). It is interesting to note how Jackman becomes Western man (furious and daring, he hopes to reach beyond nature, to become a 'superman,' while not understanding that he is not simply a product of nature but very much a PART of nature) and Weisz becomes the embodiement of Eastern thought (her submission to the truth of nature (death) is not a submission, but an understanding of the tide of life, an understanding Tom, in all his embodiements, does not possess). I see a purity in the representation of first man and first woman, a purity that allows me to see the characters as archetypes that resemble the spiritual forces that have driven us for our eternity.

Ebert said that it is a standard critical practice not to create a fiction that was not implicit within the film; but with a film like The Fountain, there are so many interpretations and meanings...deep thoughts linger in me while I watch, an ocean of experiences that dwells inside me, calm and enveloping. Interpretaions can, in their own rights, be works of art, if what they interpret, in itself, is beautiful. I will not pretend that my interpretation is right, complete, or a work of art; but what I have seen and felt from this film has filled me with something I cannot describe--if the definition was not insufficient, I would call it God--yet so many pass by it with scorn and rolling eyes. I hope some will see in it what I have felt pass through so many times...or at least to understand, at the very least, that just because a movie doesn't touch you, it does not mean that your perception of the movie is, in itself, truth; it is merely an opinion like mine. On art there is no truth, except the pieces we craft ourselves.

Having watched Pi, The Whale and Black Swan, I was curious and intrigued to watch Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain. A movie set in three different centuries centering around a tree of life, was probably a premise that could have only been handled by Aronofsky. But I have to say that I was let down.

While the premise is fascinating, the script lacks any kind of emotional depth. Even though the performances are up to the par, one couldn't feel emotinally connected to the characters. I feel that 1hr36min runtime was an injustice to the film, as a premise like this needs time to be developed.

However I did the production design and visual effects to be marvellous. The set pieces during Tomas' scenes were excellently crafted, that transported you to the medieval era. Also, the sky coloured in golden-hues was breathtaking to say the least.

The film further gets complimented by excellent score, which fits the tone of the film . There is a grand and regal feeling to it, which was perfect for a film like this.

I had the immense pleasure of viewing this film for its second screening ever, when it was showcased at Chicago's International Film Festival. Fans of Aronofsky who enjoyed the intensity of 'PI' and 'REQUIEM FOR A DREAM' will find that Darren's primary thematic focus has shifted yet again from the mind and gut ('PI' and 'REQUIEM', respectively) to the heart. However, don't take this to mean that 'THE FOUNTAIN' isn't intellectually engaging or visceral in its impact.

In a word, this film is warm. Aronofsky's palette for his third feature is a swirling miasma of golden yellows, and it sets the tone for the work. 'THE FOUNTAIN' is a life-affirming treatise on the eternity of love. Cynical hacks might decry this as a mawkish, facile rumination of saccharine proportions, but despite the sentimental themes, the film is never cloying, opting instead for a (sur)realistic portrayal of the nuances of one of life's most powerful emotions.

The casting was superb: Rachel Weisz and Hugh Jackman are outstanding in their roles, with both offering utterly believable performances. Weisz reveals the same depths she did in 'THE CONSTANT GARDENER', portraying myriad subtleties in a role that could've easily been misplayed, starring as Jackman's love throughout time. For those who've only seen Jackman in action-oriented mutant movies, his command of his character's strengths AND frailties is a welcome surprise. The supporting cast was excellent as well, with Ellen Burstyn standing out in particular.

Special effects were phenomenal, even without taking the film's halved budget into consideration. I won't spoil the surprise, but when you find out how Aronofsky and Co. achieved some of the extraordinary images, you're sure to be impressed (and reminded of a film classic from over 25 years ago). This is not a film to rely on FX, though. In fact, the segment (not scene; the story is split across three time periods) using the bulk of the effects is probably the shortest.

Aronofsky ambitiously tackles heavy themes and concepts and he does it in a little over 90 minutes. I didn't realize how short the film was until it was over. However, 'THE FOUNTAIN's brevity could also be perceived as an extension of one of its themes: learning to appreciate the world and its beauty in whatever time we are allotted.

If you think this movie was boring you didn't give it a chance to provoke any thoughts of love and mortality within yourself. Slow yes but powerful up to the end

Been meaning to see this for sometime. Heard someone say it was their favourite film recently and wax lyrical about it so though it was time.

I can understand why it is was averagely rated by critics and slated by some humans as tosh, others as amazing. It's several stories intertwined (3 in fact). Visual with effecting music. About love, and the efforts from Hugh Jackman to save his soul mate (Rachel Weisz) from death. It's ethereal and not light hearted, love, illness, death and the tree of life!

I enjoyed it, I am a generous audience. It was interesting and thought provoking in places. I liked the visuals and music. The leads were capable.

Favourite quote: Isabel: For every shadow, no matter how deep, is threatened by morning light.

If you like a slightly trippy, occasional head scratchy, but interesting films. Give it a whirl. If arty, visual, weird concept films, don't float your boat. Pass it by.

I've read, with great interest, the various interpretations and comments on The Fountain and while I appreciate that the film was open to interpretation and probably deserves re-watching to appreciate its finer points, I can't help feeling that it was left so open as to be almost utterly incomprehensible (assuming one was watching it without the synopsis to hand). I persevered in the hope that it would all become clear - it did to some extent but it was such a difficult and baffling experience that I can't say I would want to bother with it ever again. I thought it was pretentious in the extreme. For those of you who got something out of it, I'm pleased otherwise it would have been a complete waste of time, money and talent.