Underplayed Gems

The Fountain (2006)

The Fountain poster
Directed by
Darren Aronofsky
Genre
drama film, fantasy film, science fiction film, adventure film, romance film, melodrama
Country
United States
Runtime
1h 36m
Rated
PG-13
Rating
6.9 of 10 from 3,130 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

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The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

The film follows three sets of lovers across different time periods: a conquistador in the 1500s, a modern scientist, and a space traveler. Each story explores a man wrestling with the loss of the woman he loves and his search for immortality.

meditativemelancholicvisually lushdreamlikepoeticphilosophicalslow-burnbittersweet

What happens

The Fountain is a 2006 American epic science fiction romantic drama film written and directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz. Blending elements of fantasy, history, spirituality, and science fiction, the film consists of three storylines involving immortality and the resulting loves lost, and one man's pursuit of avoiding this fate in this life or beyond it. Jackman and Weisz play sets of characters bonded by love across time and space: a conquistador and his ill-fated queen, a modern-day scientist and his cancer-stricken wife, and a traveler immersed in a universal journey alongside aspects of his lost love. The storylines—interwoven with use of match cuts and recurring visual motifs—reflect the themes and interplay of love and mortality. Aronofsky originally planned to direct The Fountain on a $70 million budget with Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett in the lead roles, but Pitt's withdrawal and cost overruns led Warner Bros. Pictures to shut it down. Aronofsky rewrote the script to be sparser and was able to resurrect the film for $35 million with Jackman and Weisz in the lead roles. Principal photography ran from November 2004 to February 2005, and mainly took place on a sound stage in Montreal, Quebec. Aronofsky used macro photography to create key visual effects for The Fountain at a low cost. The film was released theatrically in the United States and Canada on November 22, 2006 by Warner Bros. Pictures, with 20th Century Fox releasing in other territories. It was a box office bomb, only grossing $16.5 million worldwide against a production budget of $35 million, and received generally mixed reviews from critics, but it has gained a cult following since its release. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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