A Beautiful Symbol

Rating: 10/10 (14 December 2008)

The Fountain compounds exquisitely beautiful visuals with a richly complex narrative in order to create a style that is entirely fresh and unique. Three parallel stories unfold, each following a separate plot line. The filmmaker allows the archetypal fear and mystery surrounding death to stitch the three stories together, even though they exist as separate entities until the very last moment. The stories cross at key points when the metaphoric importance of all three transcends the individual reality of any given story. The result is mesmerizing to the point of distraction but if careful thought is applied the three stories blend more closely and combine to illustrate the potential for beauty to be found in death.
Hugh Jackman plays the lead role in each of the three subplots: Tommy is a medical researcher who searches desperately for death's cure in hopes of saving his wife from an anonymous and fatal disease. He utilizes elements taken from trees to formulate a medicine to counteract the aging process. Tomas is a conquistador who must discover the tree of life in the name of his queen at which point she will be released from captivity and her fears of being overtaken will subside. In the third story, Jackman travels through space in a bubble that carries both him and a dying tree toward a dying star. If his love can prolong the trees life until the star is reached than both the star and the tree will discover eternity. Rachel Weisz plays Jackman's counterpart in all three stories: Izzi seeks the answers to her unrelenting questions about death in ancient Mayan legends as her husband's research pulls him further away from her own spiritual journey. Isabel is a queen who beseeches her beloved conquistador to find the tree of life and to save her kingdom from destruction. And in the third story, Izzi appears as a figure from a memory yet it is also assumed that her spirit thrives within the tree.
In each of the three narratives, Jackman's character fails to accomplish his apparent goal. As a doctor he discovers a cure for his wife's ailment too late and is forced to bury her. The conquistador faces warring tribal forces that eliminate his men and kill his religious leader. The tree within the bubble dies just as the star is to be mounted. In each of the stories Jackman enters a period of mourning as he begins to doubt both himself and the stability of the world around him. At the end of the film, the conquistador fights his way into the temple where the tree of life is held captive. As he enters the sacred place he is consumed by the tree and is reborn as part of the earth.
In practical terms, the film can be viewed as the plight of two characters dissecting their feelings toward death. Each of the subplots conveys their perspectives, represented by imagined narratives that are easier for each troubled character to dissect. Izzi writes the story of the conquistador and queen as a gift to her husband that he might better understand her comfort toward dying. The story within the bubble metaphorically represents Tommy's desire to protect his wife as she dies; his doubts and fears are symbolized by the great emptiness of space. As Tommy reads his wife's book he battles his own demons so that, at the end of the film, all three stories are resolved at once. When the conquistador becomes a part of the world he fulfills the Mayan legend that Izzi was so infatuated with. All three of Jackman's characters are eventually able to overcome the fears that exist when one is faced with death as death is eventually viewed as a rebirth. The three stories converge at this point to illustrate that Tommy is finally able to accept his wife's death as something beautiful as it allows her to become part of the world for all time. The film is not merely poignant in terms of its honesty toward human emotions but it is a rarity in its metaphoric depiction of life. The three stories are shown to follow the same path since life and death are entirely universal experiences. The Fountain is a mesmerizing and thought provoking experience that is highly recommended although two screenings are suggested given the complexity of the film.