Review of The Fountain (2006) by Joseph S — 18 Oct 2012

Fascinating story with great actors and excellent screenplay, this film consists of either three storylines or simply one storyline, depending on which way you see it.

One may consider the conquistador's quest for the Tree of Life and the sci-fi storyline both as internal part of the movie's larger storyline, as the novel written by Isabel. One may alternatively see three temporally separated storylines interconnected to each other, but if one does so, where should one place the novel? I thus came myself to the conclusion that the main story is the one happening in 'real life' so to say, and the two other stories are both Hugh Jackman's character's continuation of Rachel Weisz's character's book vis a vis Isabel's request.

The movie has excellent special effects which greatly amplify the two other storylines, both the historical and the futuristic. The film's plot is touching and I found certain wisdom hidden in it. The only two weaknesses in my opinion were the relatively slow pace of the storytelling - relative taking into account the movie's short duration - and the unlikeliness of how similarly Isabel's passing away and the medical discovery take place in the movie.

Both Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz are my favorite actors, and despite the slowness of the storytelling I found the movie quite charming with it's story, historical, biblical and astronomical themes.