The cycle of Life and Death is a mystery

Rating: Null/10 (28 May 2007)

The only thing I know for sure about The Fountain is that it was breathtakingly gorgeous. Forgive the capitalizations but I wrote those words to represent Archetypes on purpose.
My best interpretation of the story is that it is about the (re)birth of mankind through the actions of one Man who is "chosen" to sow the seeds of a new world. Accompanying this Man is the Woman who acts as his Muse and Great Motivator. Their stories span 3 different lifetimes that interconnect in the sub-consciousnesses of the Man and the Woman. It could be argued that the Present and the Future are the same lifetime (because the Man might be Immortal in these stages), but it would detract from the triumvirate that the story describes individually. The Man's wedding ring (a cyclical representation) is present in each lifetime and seems to be the Artifact (to use a Donnie Darko device) which allows him to briefly interact with real life at key moments in each of the 3 threads. In these (let's call them) moments of clarity, the Man is able to share Knowledge amongst the different time lines in order to facilitate that particular incarnation's Man and Woman to move the cycle of Life and Death towards its goal. His motivation and love for the Woman ultimately help him complete the cycle by guiding The Tree of Life to the nebula where the supernova will (re)create a cosmic event that will become the new (or perhaps an additional) cradle of life.
We've seen this before in other films (i.e: that Death begets Life; 2001, The Seventh Sign, Solaris) and this movie presents a good artistic interpretation of this plot device. Well that's my interpretation anyway based on a first viewing. My rating: 8