Seeking The Fountain

by: bamf 1 year, 7 months, 4 weeks, 1 day, 6 hours, 50 minutes ago

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Bamf here rematerializing from the void...

The end is the beginning is the end, or the beginning is the end of the beginning.  I’m not sure if I would call this a review of The Fountain, it is more so my reaction to it.  As the credits rolled and the crowd thinned out there were chuckles and nervous laughter.  One guy commented that he thought it was going to be an action film.  How he got “action” from a film titled THE FOUNTAIN is beyond me.  Yes there was rumbling in the masses as the theatres arteries emptied but I stayed seated and took in the afterglow of the films under appreciated conclusion.  Stars filled the screen as the music underscored the journey complete and the credits came like a curtain call.  I’m still wrapping my head around the experience that The Fountain offers, and I am not fully lucid on what I think it all meant.  So here we go.

Kubrick. Should I even say it?  Does Aronofsky intentionally evoke Kubrick or is it a natural progression of genius?  From his static stage shots to the font of the poster, he has created a film that will be dissected for years to come.  This director seems a little more open to discussing his work when compared to the Wachowskis or even the aforementioned Kubrick so with luck when the right question is asked an answer should spark even more questions to be pondered.

Aronofsky has a certain playhouse setting to his epic, but offers a fluid and organic texture, rich with abstraction and subtle angles that make every frame devastate my inner film geek.  I do take issue with the Conquistadores scenes but I do see an out.  They take place during the Spanish Inquisition yet everyone is speaking English.  Its nit picking sure, and the fact that this story is told through Izzys manuscript forgives this, but it is a detail that slightly annoys.

The undertones breached between a religions forced answers and faiths fortitude to find your own, questions the foundations of spirituality.  Atonement, communion, the holy trinity (look to Orion’s belt), these are all themes explored throughout but show vastly different approaches towards the same ends.  The Inquisitor flogs his earthly body hating his spirits shell believing that by doing this he is closer to God.  Tom (Jackman) suffers greatly for his love; he endures isolation, professional deprecation and commits his body, his souls vessel, to be closer to his God, a woman. With such questions posed of God, Man and spirituality I wonder if this would be shown in the religion classes of tomorrow.


Hints of the directors past work are like a signature on the film and seeing Mark Margolis and Ellyn Burstyn back is a treat.  There are surprises to be had in the supporting cast that really compliment the film in its whole.  But this story is about the star-crossed love between a man and a woman that Shakespeare could never comprehend.  Every person around Tom and Izzy part like seawater on the prow of a moving ship.  No one matters and they only bare witness to the journey taken by the lovers. Not one could truly understand what destination lie ahead, this including the travelers.


I’m going to see this again, and most likely again. I wish to understand this more a little at a time.  I need more questions. I am not going to pretend I found all the answers. While the awe of it all overtook me I was not alone.  Those people who giggled during the credits and guffawed at not knowing what they were going to see were completely silent through out the entirety of the screening.  This film is captivating and no amount of nervous half ass attempts to deflect thought had me convinced.  This Rorschach of a film will have many viewers thinking long after the uncomfortable has passed.  The story of The Fountain provides a cognizance draught to drink deep.