5/5 Fantastic Spiritual Allegory
  by CA Nightingale (Boston, MA)
If you ever have deep philosophical questions about the meaning of life, the point of everything here, what comes after death, where do we come from, do we see the people we love again -- this movie will at least talk about those same questions with you and imagine some of the possible answers. If you beleive the soul has everlasting life, here is one thought-provoking story of how living forever as spirit, incarnate in different forms, might be. It's an amazing movie, much deeper than I expected - and much deeper than I've seen anyone try to be with an actual story instead of a documentary or interviews with quantum physicists and religious philosophers.

If you like clear, straightforward movies, this is not for you. The viewer must interpret, and while you relate to the story and characters too, the whole experience becomes deeply personal because it is open to so much personal meaning to be taken from the underlying allegory and metaphors.

It's a beautiful film!

5/5 A Powerful and Stunning Film with Breathtaking Special Effects.
  by E. Godfrey (Eastish...)
The Fountain is one of the most brilliant films I have ever encountered. If you read the one-star reviews on Amazon, you will find a number of people who didn't understand the film. I suggest multiple viewings. It is not to be watched casually over popcorn.

For starters, this film gets me to cry EVERY TIME and I've seen it about 8 times now. This occurs at the end where Hugh Jackman's character "gets it" and I'm not one to get leaky when watching movies. This is my exception.

It is easy to get lost in the three layers of the film, so I strongly recommend watching this several times. Some subtle yet crucial points of the film slip by undetected on the first watching. To improve your odds of getting this film the first time around, you should keep in mind the following.

1.) Izzy is dying and her husband Tommy is in denial.
2.) The book is a koan or riddle that Tommy must solve in order to move on.
3.) The bubble is actually a spaceship 500 years in the future (so says Aronofsky).

If you can keep these three straight, you should have a better chance at seeing through the confusion into the brilliance below.

The special effects here are amazing. On a similar note, so is the commentary on the DVD. There's tons on neat info, one section of which is on the special effects. This is a must see. The visual effects are simply breath taking and I look forward to watching this film in HD. This is really quite a visual work of art.

The theme of the film focuses on death and how people cope with it, seemingly taking a page from Kübler-Ross's playbook. Her stages of dying are clearly spelled out in this film and may aid the moviegoer in getting deeper into this film.

Overall, I cannot fathom how anyone could not like this film, unless they didn't understand it. For all one-star nay-sayers, I strongly suggest re-watching it, or perhaps doing some research concerning the themes of this movie. Here are my brief thoughts on the matter...

Spoiler Alert!!!

2000's: Izzy is dying and her husband Tommy is a cancer researcher trying to save her life through research. Izzy is characterized by calm acceptance and a vague sense of spiritual contentment. On the other hand, Tommy is in utter denial of Izzy's condition as he is sure that he can beat death through better science. Through out the film he is in denial, in furious rage and sometimes seemingly bartering with death itself. While he is off at work, Izzy just wants him to be with her; right here and right now. This is the primary tension of the film (and Kübler-Ross's earlier mission), between acceptance and denial. One could look at the entire film as Tommy's path to acceptance.

1500's: Izzy then begins to realize that Tommy may never accept her mortality, so she begins to write a book about 16th century Spain where she and her husband are the figurative lead characters; Queen Isabella and the Conquistador, Thomas. This almost functions as a koan written specifically for Tommy's disposition. In the story, Spain is being crushed by the inquisition and Queen Isabella asks her brave Conquistador to go to Central America to find the tree of life. If he returns successful, she will be his wife, forever. This is clearly an analogy of Tommy trying to prolong their lives forever. But, Izzy has left the last chapter blank. This last chapter begs the question of how are we to view eternal life. Is this possible or even reasonable? Ultimately, what good is it to live forever if we cannot live in the present moment? This is the perversion that Izzy is trying to get Tommy to see past. After many centuries (see 2500's below) Tommy realizes that the story must end with the Conquistador dying. He finds the tree, drinks from its sap and perishes. The eternal life he sought was the re-birth of flowers springing up from his body. The moral, that Izzy tried to teach him in life, was that every death is a sacrifice so that life may continue.

2500's: We are to assume that Tommy beat death through scientific research. His wife is now reborn in a tree which Tommy has scooped up in a spherical, transparent spaceship bubble and is heading to a dying star of Mayan mythology in the hopes of rebirth. He is still, after all this time, completely oblivious to his feelings about his wife's death. The resolution of the film comes when he finishes the final chapter of his wife's incomplete book. Here, he finally confronts the idea that he is in fact going to die. The look on Jackman's face in this scene as his face beams in a smile with tears flowing down his face is absolutely amazing. "I'm going to die" he says. I'm getting shivers just writing about it.



3/5 A cool cascade
  by sft (UK)
Although The Fountain is impressive visually, and inventive in scope, the film fails to produce a cohesive whole that really gels. Because of this the movie is something of a cold exercise in form, and as such fails to engage the viewer in the way intended by the makers. It also seems a little pretentious at times, particularly towards the end when Jackman experiences a Buddha-esque transcendence. This is an interesting and highly creative tour-de-force but not the moving love story it sets out to be. In fact, the most moving aspect of he film is the score, without which the movie would come close to an emotional vacuum.

4/5 Finish It! Ambitious & Original SciFi
  by James "Scotman" April (Bakersfield, CA)
Darren Aronofsky definitely made a pretty film -- the play of light and dark, shadow and substance (aka Rod Serling) create a real Twilight Zone. Twilight Zone: The Complete Definitive Collection The film begins rather haphazardly and makes the viewer wonder what the heck is going on. After rewatching the beginning again and paying a bit more attention (vital skill for this film) you see (a) the beauty of the photography and (b) the metaphysical theories of life and death. Death being a journey to "awe", some Mayan mysticism Time & Transformation: A Novel of Mayan Mysticismand some grief. Some impossible purposes (finish the book, conquer death) and some interesting characters and chemistry. Having Hugh Jackman X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Two-Disc Special Edition + Digital Copy) here was an interesting choice: never seen a man cry so much.

Be prepared to wonder at the beauty of this film. No other word for it; pretty, aesthetic, almost steals the show. Jackman plays three people at once; a conquistador in the 16 century, a medical practitioner in the present century and some far off future he's a shaman in a bubble (reminiscent of the plants-in-a-ship from "Silent Running") heading towards Shaballa, the nebula worshipped by the Mayans and now reincarnated Jackman (Tommy) becomes First Father and recreates the Mayan creation myth -- uhm, I think so anyway.

Many conclusions, keeps you thinking, nearly as esoteric as 2001: A Space Odyssey 2001 - A Space Odyssey (Two-Disc Special Edition) in a lot of ways.



4/5 Has been done many time in Asian Film and TV shows.
  by B. Liao (USA)
I like the movie, but this type of "Theme of Reincarnation" has been done ALMOST too many time in Asian Film and TV shows..esp in Budduhism and Hinduism countries ....I just wish the bluray transfer is better. It is an insult to Kubric for drawing the comparison. Kubric is as original and provacative as it gets,, ala Eyes Wide Shut etc. I was gonna get it, but bluray transfer is too not well reviewed...