Aronofsky's Tree of Life

THE FOUNTAIN (2006)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

(Original review from 2008)

I have said that Darren Aronofsky is a force to be reckoned with. After seeing "The Fountain," no apt description could make it less apropos than to call Aronofsky a force to be reckoned with. "The Fountain" is a beautiful, luscious, often compelling film that is severely limited in the dramatic and emotional departments. It has a story of epic proportions but the running time limits any epic appeal.

Another force to be reckoned with is Hugh Jackman (an actor whose whole state-of-being belongs in this kind of story), who plays Tom in three alternate timelines. In one timeline set 500 years earlier, he is Tomas, a conquistador who wants to kill a and has a love for Queen Isabella (Rachel Weisz). He is willing to do anything for her, including finding the Tree of Life (the one tree that God did not inform Adam and Eve about) that will allow one for immortality if you drink the tree sap.

It seems, however, that the conquistador is part of a novel called "The Fountain," which is written by Izzy (also played by Rachel Weisz). Izzy has a brain tumor and is close to death while her husband, Tommy Creo (also played by Hugh Jackman), is trying to develop a drug that may cure her (he is also conducting experiments with a monkey). Izzy hasn't finished her novel and hopes that Tommy will write her last chapter. A strange wish since he is a doctor, not a writer.

Flash forward to the 26th century where Tommy Creo is a bald man, practicing presumably tai-chi, who has a tree of life that he sleeps next to inside a bubble of sorts. He also travels in a ship that looks like a golden orb, and hopes to connect with Xibalba, the nebula that Izzy spoke of that the Mayans believe is the origin of life. Speaking of presumptions (and some interesting explanations from avid watchers of this film), the 26th century element may be well be the final chapter of the book that Tommy has written.

"The Fountain" has little visual grandeur, overall, containing several blindingly lit close-ups of the fascinating faces of Weisz and Jackman. This makes it tough to digest any of the emotional connections in the story, especially with a towering actor like Jackman. I say this with great respect to the actor but he is not meant to be squeezed into a pretty love story. Jackman is too larger-than-life, too energetic and fanciful a performer to be restricted to shallow depths of despair. He comes off best as the Spanish conquistador or as the bald Buddhist Tom of the future because he is allowed to break free and pounce. The central, present-day story comes off weakest when he appears. I just can't fathom or believe Jackman as a doctor who yells at his staff when a cure isn't found quickly enough.

Rachel Weisz is the soul of the film and brings the yearning for an ethereal woman whom Jackman pines for. She has fragility and vulnerability in her that you almost feel she is about to break. Ellen Burstyn briefly appears as Tom's supervisor, and her eulogy for Izzy is heartbreaking and one of the emotionally sensitive scenes in the film.

"The Fountain" is a noble and savvy experiment by Aronofsky but, as an epic, it loses much momentum and it is dwarfed in its ambitions by the 90 minute running time. This is one time when I wish for a director's cut.