Artful Sci-Fi Love Story

Rating: 10/10 (11 November 2007)

The Fountain is very artful film and simply gorgeous to look at. Hugh Jackman is excellent as the struggling husband  a man who simply can't bear even the thought of the death of his seriously ill wife played by the beautiful Rachel Weisz.
The chemistry between Weisz and Jackman is luminous. The fantasies that wrap The Fountain are existential explorations. They are an emotional catharsis for Jackman's character, Thomas, as he works through his loss.
I took the film to be an artful portrayal of love that becomes mythic in scale after the death of a loved one. And the fantasies depicted are excerpts of the story that Weisz's character was writing to help her work through the inevitability of her illness  a fantastic 16th quest for the "tree of life" to a thousand years in the future to the lonely edge of the universe. She left the last chapter unwritten -- a charge for him. Her last wish is that he finishes their tale. And it is this conceit that takes us to the film's most fantastic images as we journey to the Xibalba nebula. Jackman's alter ego travels a thousand years all the way to the lonely edge of the universe. And in his most despairing moments he learns that he will be able to move on. That she will always be part of him. The tree metaphor is complete as he plants a seed of tree upon her grave.
Also worth mentioning is The Fountain's art direction and the palette -- gold light against darkness. The characters are always moving from dark spaces into gold light. Moving forward through passages, tunnels and doorways. Lines of the sets always converge on the lovers, making a visual connection, a center. The set design and lighting constantly reinforce the theme of moving forward towards the inevitable. Death. And eventually coming to peace with it. Part of the process of life.
Essentially, The Fountain is a "cancer" movie. I hate cancer movies  too much despair for me. But I really loved this picture.