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Tommy Creo (Hugh Jackman) is in a race against time. Each day, the medical researcher goes to work and tries to discover a drug that will heal brain tumors. Meanwhile, his wife, Izzy (Rachel Weisz) is suffering from the effects of a tumor. And while his friends and coworkers urge him to go home and be with his wife, Tommy keeps going to work, determined to find a cure before he loses his wife.
In a parallel story, Tomas (Jackman) is a conquistador during the Spanish Inquisition. His queen (Weisz) sends him to New Spain, where, according to legend, he’ll find the Tree of Life—the tree that God hid after banishing Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. She sends him away with a ring—a symbol of his promise to find the Tree, as well as a symbol of her promise that, once he finds it, she’ll be his wife, and they’ll both live forever.
And, in another parallel story, Tom (Jackman) is traveling through time and space, caring for the Tree of Life. The Tree is dying—but if he can make it to Xibalba, a nebula that Mayans believed to be the location of their afterlife, the Tree will once again flourish.
The Fountain spans thousands of years, telling, in a non-linear fashion, three separate but connected stories. The problem, however, is that it’s never clear how, exactly, they’re supposed to be connected—or what they’re all supposed to mean. Throughout the film, there are hints about what’s going on—and if you sit around and dwell on it for a while after you finish watching it, you’ll most likely come to your own conclusions about it. But the manner of storytelling makes everything more complicated than it needs to be—and that makes for a very long and perplexing 96 minutes.
Visually, The Fountain is breath-taking. It’s a beautifully artistic film. But the story is lacking—and that will most likely keep you from being able to appreciate its beauty. I realize that there will be plenty of film snobs out there who will say that anyone who doesn’t love The Fountain just isn’t smart enough to see its brilliance. Foregoing discussions of IQ, I’ll just say that it’s entirely possible to create a brilliant film that won’t totally baffle the entire audience. It’s actually been done before. And while The Fountain may have the makings of an interesting—and beautiful—story, it doesn’t manage to come together in a way that makes sense. Save yourself the headache and skip this one.
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