“The Fountain” is either innovative science fiction or overwrought melodrama; I can’t quite pinpoint which. I realize I’m charged with reaching an opinion here, but it’s not easy. The maddeningly brilliant director Darren Aronofsky crafts mesmerizing scenes of video and aural poetry, yet stumbles when it’s time for two people to have a real conversation in real time.
“The Fountain” is just a few edits away from being a memorable sci-fi oddity, but in the end there are too many close-ups of Hugh Jackman’s agonized mug to sustain all the overcooked emotion.
No one expected a straightforward swords-and-spaceships epic from Aronofsky, who plumbed the visual depths of depression and addiction in the squalid “Requiem for a Dream.” Writing his own script, Aronofsky said he began with the simple idea of a movie exploring someone’s quest for the fountain of youth.
In “The Fountain,” Aronofsky braids that metaphor from three main strands, all keying on Jackman.
In the present, Jackman is Thomas Creo, an animal surgeon and researcher experimenting with cutting-edge treatments of primate brain tumors. His wife, Izzi, played by Rachel Weisz, is slowly dying of her own brain tumor, and Creo pushes his animal research desperately in the hope it might render a cure for her.
In the 16th century, Jackman plays Tomas the Conquistador, striving to save Spain’s Queen Isabella (Weisz) from the predations of the Catholic Inquisitor. Rumor and parchment map have it that a tree of life grows deep in the New World, in or around Guatemala. If the brave captain could harness its power, the Spanish empire would endure.
Meanwhile, we cut frequently to a bald Jackman floating in a bubble in space, caretaker for a dying tree. The movie’s production notes tell us this is Tommy the astronaut on a quest to a distant nebula in the 26th century, but the average moviegoer may find this quite confusing. The space scenes are exotically beautiful, accompanied wondrously by composer Clint Mansell’s rich orchestral creations.
But the space scenes also look more than a little goofy, as Jackman assumes the lotus position and caresses the tree like a lover. To a cynic, the bubble comes across as a flying yoga mat with a dirt-eating pilot. Still, these scenes with the clean-shaven Jackman show his best acting range, as he’s finally free of the moppy hair that dominates so many of his roles.
I wish Aronofsky had kept the convictions of his original mythology and gone further with all three stories. He seems to hesitate at the audience’s potential confusion, allowing Weisz’s character to tie everything together by having her pen an unfinished novel called “The Fountain.” These clunky turns have the scent of studio panic about them, as if they saw all their millions frittered away on a concept too challenging for mass audiences.
Like “Requiem,” “The Fountain” puts scenes in your head that won’t go away, even if you don’t “like” the overall movie. Aronofsky certainly has things to say – exactly what form works best for his stories is an answer still floating a few light years away.
“The Fountain” | ** RATING
R for profanity, some violence, adult situations | 1 hour, 33 minutes | FANTASY/SCI-FI | Written and directed by Darren Aronofsky; starring Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz and Ellen Burstyn | Opens today at area theaters.
