The Fountain (2006)

an unusual film featuring three parallel stories in three different eras

Director: Darren Aronofsky

 

An unusual film that consists of three stories that take place simultaneously in three different eras and feature the same two actors, Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz.

 

In the earliest story, Tomás (Jackman) is a conquistador who was sent by Queen Isabella of Spain (Weisz) to battle with the Mayans to gain access to the Biblical Tree of Life.  He is finally confronted by a priest who stabs him, but the priest notices he is carrying a dagger which fulfills a Mayan prophecy. Tomás finds the Tree of Life and when he drinks of its sap, flowers burst forth from him and he gives birth to new life.

 

The second story takes place in the year 2000. Jackman portrays Tommy, a neuroscientist who is doing research on degenerative brain diseases. His wife Izzi (Weisz) is suffering from a brain tumor and he is attempting to find a cure from her problem before she dies. She is writing a book which tells the story of Tomás the conquistador.  Death is about to overtake her and she convinces him to finish the last chapter of her book.  As a final act, he plants a seed for a tree at her grave in the manner of a story she told him relating how a Mayan guide's dead father lived on in a tree nourished by the organic nutrients of the buried body.

 

In the third story, we are in the future and Tom is a space traveler inside of a clear bubble, trying to reach the golden nebula of the nebula Xibalba with a large tree and a few personal effects inside his ship.  He meditates and performs tai chi during this journey. The result is a touching emotional ride. He hallucinates that there is an apparition of Izzi, and there is another  connection here with The Tree of Life.

 

Some of the most interesting aspects in the film are the moments that look like CGI, however they are from a far more unusual source. Aronofsky hired a chemist who could make the designs with chemical reactions which were filmed inside a Petri dish. They provide some of the most unique footage of the movie.

 

Music is by Clint Mansell, performed by the Kronos Quartet.