I've seen Better Aronofsky Films

Rating: 5/10 (9 November 2008)

I feel rather ambivalent towards The Fountain. The structure is somewhat cold and melancholy, yet there are also subtle moments of inspiration and hope. The story seems to mourn over the loss of spirituality in today's culture and tries to resurrect hope in the existence of man as an eternal race. However, I didn't feel compelled to lead a more spiritual life after watching it. This is not to suggest that the film lacked spiritual undertones; indeed, the film had many. I only felt that it could have been portrayed more powerfully if it didn't really so much upon the surreal and abstract. Granted, I understand that expressionistic films often rely heavily upon both. It just for some reason didn't leave me feeling satisfied. In short, it's not my favorite Aronofsky piece but I appreciated his efforts to search for spirituality in a seemingly lost and hopeless world.
I think the film tries to emphasize that death is not something that people should fear. Hope ought to override death; hope for a better tomorrow and better existence in general. Death is what eats away at this hope in most people's lives. The film at first depicts death as inevitable, and since no one escapes its jaws, life should be held as something extremely preciousas if to imply that there may not be an afterlife. To live with the belief that life does not perpetuate beyond the grave is a terrible reality for most people to embrace, including Jackman's character. He, like most of us, fears death because of the attachments he has made on earth. In particular, he develops a special bond with his significant other. The mere thought of losing her to the unknown brings only pain because his soul longs to be with her forever.
In this sense, the film does a good job at promoting the human hope to live for the people we love and for a better world, rather than selfishly squander it to ourselves. Jackman's character helps display the struggle that most of us have between wanting to save our loved ones from death, versus spending time with those who inevitably will die.
Jackman plays an obsessive doctor/conquistador who sees death as a curable disease. He stops at nothing to find this cure so he can save the life of his dying wife. Though his cause is stalwart and even noble, he becomes too preoccupied with his work and loses the meaning of his lifehis wife. By sacrificing his life to search for eternal life, he neglects his wife to a degree and fails to save her before she dies. Consequently, his soul becomes harrowed up as he replays a regretful memory in his mind of ignoring her when she asks him to go on a walk. For Jackman, a hope for reconciliation with his wife in some posthumous world seems bleak.
The overarching story juxtaposes three distinct time periods in which Jackman is on a mission to find the cure for death. The only time period sketch that suggested the transcendence of earth and into the sublime was the one where Jackman is floating within the tree of life bubble. As he tries to save the tree from dying completely, he continues to float heavenward until he reaches the ultimate enlightenment. Though I think I understood what Aronofsky was trying to do, I wish he would have executed the film without heavily relying upon the abstract. Then again, who am I to criticize a personalized vision of eternity that was born out of one of the more talented filmmakers in our society?