Monty Pythons Meaning of Life Part 2- The Serious Version

Rating: 9/10 (1 June 2014)

Aronofsky is one of the most innovative filmmakers in Hollywood today. With each passing film he tries different stories and styles that makes each distinct and memorable. His films won't always be for everyone, but like many great filmmakers he will constantly try new ideas for both his stories narrative and their visual style. Luckily in the case of The Fountain his style flourishes exploring themes of death and immortality. Whilst it did not originally get its money back on release I have no doubt that in time this will go on to be one of his best remembered films.
Largely this is because the way the film is shot has a timeless feel. Just like you can watch something like 2001: A Space Odyssey and feel that it could have been made today, through this films practical effects and unique visuals it feels as though it is unlikely to become outdated over time. Each passing visual is a pleasure to look at with the films vivid use of colour and varying set pieces ensuring each passing shot has something new to interest us and no two shots feeling alike.
This visual style is effective within the film as it follows 3 different narratives, which the shooting style separates through different styles and set pieces to better distinguish the stories that are set across a thousand years. The only thing that does link the stories are the themes of escaping death, the lead actors (Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz) and the similar symbols such as trees symbolising life in all three stories.
All of these stories are done in a similar style to something like Cloud Atlas, in that the plots are mixed with no real sense of narrative with events happening non linearly to better build upon the themes of the story. The first of the time lines sees Jackman travelling to a Mayan temple during the renaissance, attempting to become immortal through the tree of life spoke of within the bible. The second follows him as a doctor in the modern day attempting to find a way of curing his wives tumour using a tree that has been found to reverse the ageing progress. And the third is set in the future where he transcends to the stars as just like the Mayan gods intends to become a seed on which the planets may grow.
In each of these stories Jackman searches for immortality in a different route. Whether he looks for it through journeying through the forest, through science or travelling the stars, Jackman demonstrates the ways in which a person may search for meaning in life. It's a difficult thing maintaining all 3 different roles, but luckily Jackman's perfect for it using an effective emotional and physical change for each story. It's these distinctions that ensure the story works because we can contrast the different pains that Jackman goes through in each story with each one seeming original rather than just a rehash each time.
These different stories can be seen in many ways, with Aronofsky deliberately being vague of its meaning so just like any other great piece of art may be interpreted in many ways. Personally, whilst watching it, I realised that whilst he has been searching for a way of escaping death, he has barely had any time to be with his wife and thus by the end is left with only a few fleeting memories. Furthermore in various scenes we see his attempts at immortality backfire and cause him great pain and suffering, with the entire hour and a half seeing him experience little joy. It thus raises the question of why extend life if it cannot be enjoyed.
But this is just my interpretation of the film.The way the film is done it is very open to interpretation, which is one of the main reasons it is so great. I've only just watched it but I know that I'll be wanting to watch it again soon to see what else I can learn from it, because the film seems to have that much to say that I feel I can gain even more from a second viewing. There's so much in the film that I couldn't possibly explain it all in this short review and would strongly recommend watching it to see what you can get from the film. As long as you're open to the depressing tone of the story, you should be able to enjoy the interesting themes and stunning visuals of this underrated masterpiece.