Not for everyone

Rating: 9/10 (10 January 2013)

As this site demonstrates The Fountain is a movie people either love or hate, although personally I think most people are left pretty confused by it, whether they liked it or not. It really is a movie you should watch at least twice and also have a good think about between the viewings. The visuals are very impressive in all the three parts of the story being told; the main part which features Tom/Jackman trying to invent a cure for his dying wife, Izzi/ Rachel Weisz; a renaissance part which features him as a conquistador searching for the Fountain of Youth on behalf of her as the Spanish Queen, which is the novel Izzi is writing, perhaps intentionally as an allegory of their "real" struggle; and a third part which is possibly his subconscious interacting with some form of tree of life, although various New Age/religious interpretations are, I'm sure, plausible as well. Some striking cinematography at least makes sure The Fountain doesn't look like any other movie. Overlaying this is some very evocative music by Kurt Mansell, and although I am usually pretty iffy about movie music in general as a cheap way to manipulate an audience more than something you specifically need it works great here. Tired as I am of this American movie convention, I never got my customary annoyed thoughts of "where the hell is the 60 piece orchestra seated in this medieval battle and had the cello even been invented yet?" moments while watching The Fountain. Perhaps it helps if you like the music though, which I generally don't in movies. When it comes to the plot there really isn't much of one, and what I wrote above is basically all there really is to it externally. However it is full of depth as well, and invites symbolic and allegorical interpretations. Naturally this is the part of it that won't appeal to everyone though, since most people generally prefer simple, linear narratives to exposition and symbolism. Some people will dismiss it because of this and think it's pretentious, which perhaps it is. But then it's arrogant in my view to insist that movies must be made in a specific way, with simple narratives and no depth to the viewing experience of any kind. Who's to say there needs to be linearity or even real people in movies at all? Why not archetypes and representations of time and space telling something different instead?
Not saying they should be but for people who like it simple and "unpretentious" there are about a billion other movies to watch.