"The Fountain" (2006)

"The paths of glory lead but to the grave." -- Thomas Gray

Darren Aronofsky's third feature, The Fountain (2006) traverses a span of thousands of years, ostensibly to examine man's eternal struggle with death and dying, but not surprisingly, ends up--like most examinations of this kind do--being about life and living. I saw it only recently on DVD, unfortunately. I say unfortunately because the movie's visual effects (done in-house as I understand it, by a division of Aronofsky's production company, Protozoa Pictures) are astounding to say the least. I'm hoping that the IFC Center will program it as part of their midnight movie series so that I can bathe in the film's sumptuous ambers and golds in a proper theatrical setting. This film received mixed reviews when it was released, maligned by some critics as a "pretentious" showpiece and adored by others. I think critics accused The Fountain of being "pretentiousness" or "overly-ambitious" because Aronofsky takes the risk of contriving a dynamic marriage between form and content in such a way that he allows the form to give the appearance of overshadowing the content. This is done deliberately to prove a major point in the film. The lyricism and beauty of the images are intended to simultaneously detract the viewer from and lead him to the core concept of the film, intoned repeatedly throughout: "Death is the road to awe."


Note that for all that death is talked about in the film, it is actually the dying part that takes up most of the movie's screen time. Dying and guilt. The film comments on one's tendency to place disproportionate emphasis on futile and inconsequential tasks that may (or may not) lend one's name to posterity while neglecting one's anonymous, but nonetheless essential commitments as a husband, wife, child, etc to loved ones. Kind of like blogging. It is the problem of one's not being able to see the forest for the trees or a world in a grain of sand or what one has until it is gone or a number of other well-worn cliches that are well-worn because they also happen to be true. None of the three protagonists played by Hugh Jackman recognize the inherent contradiction that exists in their negation of life for the pursuit of immortality. Their grand search for the unattainable prevents them from fully experiencing the small, unobtrusive and ultimately, irretrievable fragments of a life. For what is a life, but an accretion of tiny, seemingly unimportant moments? Yet, if you've seen the film, you know that its cinematography is anything, but tiny. Aside from the fact that Aronofsky and Handel intended to make a sci-fi movie, I think it was necessary for them to couch their most prominent idea in elaborate spectacle as a way of showing how the seduction of grandiose and all-consuming quests for immortality, fame, fortune, glory or what have you, are nothing more than death's ruses. To borrow from Celine, it is "death on the installment plan."

But as Levarr Burton would say, don't take my word for it. Go watch it for yourself. Be forewarned, this is one of those films that requires repeated viewings.



Clint Mansell, former member of Pop Will Eat Itself and the composer on all of Aronofsky's features to date, produced a terrific score for The Fountain. Check back to listen.

[Update] Listen to the full soundtrack to "The Fountain" below.
[Update] Here's an interesting 2006 interview with Aronofsky on seedmagazine.com about some of the ideas that went into the making of the film.
[Update] When the studio refused to put a director's commentary feature on the "Fountain" DVD, Aronofsky released a commentary track on the internet. Download the commentary track for "The Fountain" here.



[Download] "First Snow" from "The Fountain" OST (2006)
[Download] "Death is the Road to Awe" from "The Fountain" OST (2006)
[Download] "Together We Will Live Forever" from "The Fountain" OST (2006)