Review of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009) by Matthew O — 10 Jul 2012

Blessed with the extraordinary gift of guiding the imaginations of others, Doctor Parnassus is cursed with a dark secret. An inveterate gambler, thousands of years ago he made a bet with the devil, Mr. Nick, in which he won immortality. Centuries later, on meeting his one true love, Dr. Parnassus made another deal with the devil, trading his immortality for youth, on condition that when his daughter reached her 16th birthday, she would become the property of Mr Nick.

Terry Gilliam has never had an easy ride with making films. 'Brazil' is famous for the director falling out with the film studio, and right up to his previous film 'The Brother Grimm' also had issues with the studio over the production of the film. With his come back film 'The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus' the worse possible thing happened the death of the films lead, Heath Ledger. The director had a choice either abandon the picture or re-tweak, thankfully Gillam decided to carry on and finish the film, as he felt it is what Ledger would of wanted, the result is a dare I say it a better film, the film is enriched with what will now become legendary cameos of some of the biggest young actors around, Jonny Depp, Jude law and Colin Farrell.

The way the gap of Heath Ledger is created is every time Tony (Heath Ledger) enters the mirror into a fantasy world, one of the three actors takes his place, the new idea works very well, so much so that if you didn?t know of Ledgers death all would look normal.

The film will always be famous for the death of its lead, still Heath Ledgers swan song is not his greatest performance as people may hope, his legacy will be with his work in 'Brokeback Mountain' and 'The Dark Knight'. With The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Ledger is part of a good ensemble, including a fine performance from Christopher Plummer as Parnassus, also a great supporting role by Tom Waits as the devil, Waits hams his role up well, starring in a number of the most memorable scenes including, a cloud hoping scene, a mechanical Russian lady scene and a nice scene of Waits sun bathing is a murky river whilst smoking.

The films two young leads Lily Cole and Andrew Garland both hold their own against Ledger, Plummer and Waits. Also of course the added leads of Jonny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell, all three manage to take the spirit of Ledger brilliantly, but still adding each actors own acting style to the film. The Jonny Depp scene of Tony (Heath Ledger) talking about dead soles, that will never been forgotten is a very touching and poignant piece of script and acting. Overall these added scenes though the mirror and the fantasy world that Gilliam is famous for are highlights and really allow both director and actors run wild.

The film may not best Gillams best film, it follows the same floors as 'The Adventures of Baron Munchausen' had, with at times too many ideas for one film to handle and can get a bit messy with visuals and story. Still the vision, passion, and originality of the film are second to none and you won't see anything like this in 2009.