“Death turns all to ash, and thus, frees every soul.”
The Fountain marvelously modernizes the story of Adam and Eve. The Garden of Eden is continually referenced; the Fountain of Youth is persistently sought after; and, the continuation of the couple is ultimately in question. While Adam (meaning “man”) and Eve (meaning “life”) cultivated the Garden, created 56 children, and disobeyed God, a biblical mention of romance between “man” and “life” is absent.
The Fountain is a metaphysical love story between two destined companions determined to display and extend their emotions into the afterlife. The Fountain takes place in three different, yet connective, centuries: the 16th, the 21st, and the 26th. In the 21st century, Tommy (Hugh Jackman) is a clinical researcher who fervently attempts to invent a drug that will cure his wife Izzy’s (Rachel Weisz) terminal brain tumor. Interwoven are scenes circa the 16th century that feature Tommy and Izzy as a Conquistador and Queen respectively from Izzy’s unfinished book entitled The Fountain. In addition, scenes from the 26th century are mingled into the mix—depicting an immortal Tommy and his love rising to be reborn.
The Fountain centers on the existence of the Fountain of Youth and stresses the sentence, “Death is the road to awe.” Director, Darren Aronofsky, chooses to symbolize this paring in the Tree of Life—from the Book of Genesis. Hidden by God, the Tree of Life is said to possess sap that can heal all wounds, cure all diseases, and grant all eternal life.
By balancing this Christian iconography along with a sense of science-fiction and Mayan religiosity (including Shebalba and a gorgeous fable about planting a seed over a grave), The Fountain is reminiscent of Kubrick’s 2001. It’s an earthly, celestial, and almighty force for the human mind, heart, and soul.
Leaving out the picture’s visual perspicacity would be a sin in itself. The Fountain is a visually magnificent, mind-bending mediation on love, life, and death. As a result of compiling original footage of chemical reactions in a Petri dish, and then blowing them up to proportionally fill the background of the universe, Aronofsky creates an intense tone and a unique vision of the future.
What’s more, Aronofsky beautifully gels the three separate timeframes together in a similar overhead camera shot that begins upside-down and follows the focal point toward an awaiting destination. Additionally, a tastefully done sex scene (that retains the clothes and overflows the water), a cluster of stars (that traces the flux capacitor courtesy of Back to the Future), and a perfectly executed sequence in terms of sound (that features Tommy walking over a set of creaking boards) all stand out.
With Aronofsky’s ardor behind the camera, Clint Mansell’s ever-intriguing score, and Jackman and Weisz’s exquisitely emotional performances, The Fountain is an experience to behold. It’s a powerful tale of a loving husband and his dying unafraid wife—fighting for eternal love in three timeframes. The story is sexual, sensual, and sensory. All-in-all, The Fountain is so inspiring, passionate, and forthright that it makes your hair stand on end.
