DVD reviews: The Fountain – Issue 65

The Fountain is a problematically arty film that is as baffling as it is obviously meant to be insightful. Basically a depressing flick about a young woman dying of a brain tumour and her husband’s inability to come to terms with it. The Fountain confuses the issue (and us) by flitting between an historical scenario set in Mayan times and a future sci-fi spaceship-in-a-bubble. If that sounds faintly ridiculous, it is. Hugh Jackman (as the grieving husband) and Rachel Weisz (as the dying wife) both play their central roles ably, but even their conviction can’t save the pretentious (and drawn-out) scenes in the spaceship bubble: with its tree of life and zen spirituality, it’ll have hippy haters gagging. Though deeply flawed, the film does have its moments. Director Darren Aronofsky (Requiem For A Dream, Pi) is courageous in attempting a film that certainly resembles no other, and on half the budget that was originally planned. The film was all set to shoot in 2002 with Brad Pitt in the lead, but when Pitt unexpectedly bailed, so too did the movie’s financiers. Hence this scaled-back 2004 attempt, in which expensive CGI of the space scenes was ditched in favour of macro-photos of science experiments. There is one particularly memorable scene, where Jackman drinks the sap of the tree of life, and his body sprouts a garden! While students of film design might find The Fountain arresting, most will find it more irritating than entertaining. The anamorphic transfer of the DVD has been widely criticised (even the director expressed disappointment) for poor shadow detail and fuzziness; personally, I thought that was just part of the intentional effect. The sound won’t knock you over but the surround effects are used with subtlety.

From: 20th Century Fox/US
Genre: Drama/fantasy
Rating: M
Sound: 3.5/5
Vision: 2.5/5
Overall: 2.5/5

GARY STEEL