Prudence and Madness

Love and the Quest For Immortality must have been the most overused themes in the history of movie-making. Anyone could have ticked off on his fingers and toes and his friends’ fingers and toes the number of love stories he has watched in his lifetime. But never love and death had been so beautifully and spiritually rendered in one movie as it has been in the movie, “The Fountain”.

What if you could live forever?

The Fountain is an odyssey of one man’s eternal struggle to save the woman he loves from inevitable death.

The epic journey begins in 16th-century Spain when Tomas the conquistador was entrusted the mission to search for the Fountain of Youth rumored to be in the Mayan Temple to save the life of his Queen Isabel, who was being threatened by a vengeful enemy. As a modern-day scientist, Tommy desperately struggles to find a cure for the cancer that is slowly killing his beloved wife, Izzi. For him, death is but a disease that can be cured. And in his quest for this ultimate cure for Death, he lost the time to spend with Izzi on her remaining days. As a 26th-century astronaut, Tommy, who has lived well past the normal human life span, travels to Xibalba, a distant nebula said to give rebirth to souls through its death, with the Tree of Life, to which he has transferred all his love for his dead wife, in persistent hope that he’ll be together with her in the end. He continues to push on and the movie presents scene after scene, interlinking the 3 stories of the 3 different time periods. Tomas, Tom, and Tommy…one man with one struggle and with one hope. In the end, all these three realizes what Izzi has known all along: One cannot escape Death but Love can surpass it.

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Notice the progression from darkness to light? The progression of the stories show how Tomas/Tom/Tommy came to his enlightenment.

Darren Aronofsky, director of the film, made the right choice in casting Hugh Jackman in this very complex role of Tomas/Tom/Tommy. The character is physically and emotionally demanding, but Jackman’s experience with the theater has given him the tools to bring the characters to life. Watching him, I felt his pure loyalty for Queen Isabel that he almost worships her (notice how Queen Isabel, played by Rachel Weisz, is put in a high pedestal and shot with shining bright light, as if she’s a Goddess and not a Queen), his pure love for Izzi as they cradle in bed, and his sensual connection with the tree he represents his wife with (you should see the way he touches that tree; you’d almost wish that’s how your bf/husband touches you).

Tomas and Queen Isabel

Tommy and Izzi

Tom and The Tree Of Life

I believed that he is each character that he portrayed. Hugh Jackman is the embodiment of pure passion.

The Queen Isabel of 16th-century Spain or the Goddess?

“Tommy, it’s the first fall of snow!”

Rachel Weisz’ (Queen Isabel/Izzi) performance is equally outstanding in this film. You should take note of the scene in the bathtub. No, don’t pay more attention because she’s naked in it. Pay attention to her face when she realizes that she has lost her sensation to changes in temperature. It’s haunting. And in this movie, she’s always portrayed as the one enlightened. Notice the paleness, the white colors of her costumes, her paleness, and the shining bright light that always seem to envelope her. Contrast this with Hugh Jackman’s dark clothes and his character being enveloped in shadows.

Add to the charm and beauty of this film is the richness of the whites and golds. It makes the world of Tom and Izzi seem fantastic, but at the same time, real and dense that you could almost hold and touch it, let alone immerse yourself in it and you’ll feel alive in it.

The Fountain is really a gorgeous film. If I have to rate it using stars, with 5 stars being the best, I’d rate this as having 6 stars. Really. I urge you to watch this film. It is poetry that you can hear the heart beating.

See the trailer if it suits you:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA2IpUTZkls]