Millenial masterpiece. Aronofsky is Kubrick for a new generation.

Rating: 10/10 (24 November 2006)

I was utterly moved to tears by this film. The Fountain is a breathtaking masterpiece in the sentimental vein of 2001: A Space Odyssey as it boldly seeks to answer the great mysteries of life, love, death and re-birth transgressing the metaphysical boundaries of the universe. It's epic non-linear narrative spans the centuries with Hugh Jackman delivering an absolutely unforgettable performance as Tomas, a Spanish Conquistador in the 16th century who pledges his loyalty to Queen Isabella (Rachel Weisz) to find the mythical Tree of Life so that Spain will hold the key to the Fourth Paradise, Immortality, denounced as heresy by the Grand Inquisitor. Tomas' quest is interleaved between three converging narratives across time and space. As a modern-day neurosurgeon, Tomas struggles to find a cure for a tumorous disease that threatens the mortality of his beloved wife Izzi who is writing a fable called "The Fountain" chronicling the odyssey of their 16th century quest which can be interpreted as either a fictitious or biographical account of Tomas and Izzi's lives who have endured the centuries together or simply as mythical characterizations of Izzi's unfinished allegorical manuscript representing her husband's obsessive quest to find a cure for her terminal ailment that she has left for him to finish (the past representing Izzi's tale and the future representing Tomas' as he struggles to "finish it") both of which could be argued with equal measure. One of the beauties of The Fountain is its open-ended narrative construct left to speculation and interpretation and can be viewed from an entirely different perspective with each consecutive viewing. Tomas' quest ultimately takes him to the distant 26th century where he has projected himself and the dying Tree of Life across the great void of space in a transcendental bubble to reach Xilbalba, the name of the Mayan underworld given to a dying nebula the brings the creation of new life from the wake of its destruction like the yin and yang of the cosmos and beyond the confines of this mortal coil. "Our bodies are prisons for our souls. All flesh decays... death turns all to ash. And thus, death frees every soul... "
Darren Aronofsky's poetic film blossoms with rich cultural, biblical, mythical and spiritual imagery that speak the common language spoken by all religions and cultures that have asked the boldest philosophical questions about our place in the universe since time immemorial. For anyone who has ever looked to the heavens and stared in the face of mortality and beyond, The Fountain holds all of the answers to life like an epiphany raditing from the heavens. Drink from The Fountain and achieve the knowledge of truth and spiritual enlightenment on the road to Awe. One of the truly great cinematic masterpieces of this century and last, The Fountain will transcend the test of time and eternity.