A masterpiece

Rating: 8/10 (7 May 2007)

It wouldn't be wrong to say that here in the UK "The Fountain" has had mixed reviews.
The Bad. The Metro called it a "spectacular mess". The Independent called it a "towering, tumultuous folly".
The Good. Empire Online called it a "complex and gorgeous mini-epic". Everybody on IMDb, who's bothered to review it, thinks that it's one of the greatest films ever made.
I'm with the latter bunch. I thought that even in it's compromised form (there is a bit later about what "The Fountain" could have been), it was just wonderful. Absolutely fantastic. I was speechless at the end. (This has been a very difficult film to write about. I have started this pitiful review several times.) Forget the nonsense about this being a science fiction film about the search for the Tree Of Life. It's like saying that Soderbergh's "Solaris" (another film I really loved) is about George Clooney meeting aliens in outer space. "The Fountain" is way more than just a science fiction film. It's a beautiful and ambiguous meditation on life and death. Specifically it's about the all encompassing obsession, anger and frustration of a man unable and unwilling to accept the death of his wife and his eventual journey to acceptance and peace. It's easily the best performance, by a country mile, that Hugh Jackman has ever given. He should have been Oscar nominated. It's a scandal that he has been ignored.
"The Fountain" has had a troubled genesis.
It was supposed to have gone into production in 2002, with Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett in the lead roles, but Pitt bailed days before the $70 million production was due to begin, citing that great old standby "creative differences" with Director Darren Aronofsky. Aronofsky went on to work on several other projects (a "Batman: Year One" film, that to be honest sounded fascinating because it would have been a realistic and gritty take on the Batman story, with much of the familiar back story jettisoned, and "Watchmen"), none of which made the screen, before securing a much reduced $35 million budget to crack on with "The Fountain" It meant a compromised movie. Less on special effects, huge sets and set pieces.
"The Fountain" was probably never going to be a huge financial success. It is an art film. It was booed at the Venice Film Festival (which was strange) and it died on it's release at the box office in the States. It is way too strange and obscure and good for the multiplex audience.