Netflix Self-Torture Experiment Trilogy #37: The Fountain
This was a suggestion from @The_Real_Atom.
Synopsis from Netflix: In this sci-fi drama that spans a millennium, a man (Hugh Jackman) searches for a tree believed to grant eternal life in 16th-century Spain; seeks a cure for his wife’s (Rachel Weisz) cancer as a present-day scientist; and traverses the universe as a 26th-century astronaut. As he travels through time in an epic struggle to save the woman he loves, he also comes to understand some of life’s murkiest mysteries.
My thoughts (some spoilers included): Holy fuck, that was confusing. I don’t really know how to describe this movie because, as you can tell from the synopsis, it’s kind of all over the map. First Hugh Jackman is a Spanish conquistador looking like a pudgy George Harrison, then he’s some sort of bald futuristic monk doing tai chi in an outer space orb, and then he’s back in the present day doing surgery on monkeys and looking dreamy.
The story continues to alternate amongst these vastly different scenarios with the only possible connection being a book Rachel Weisz is writing (titled The Fountain), but I was never able to grasp exactly how it all fit together. Was Hugh Jackman actually time-traveling or was he just vicariously experiencing his wife’s book?
As mind-boggling as the majority of the film was, at least I was able to connect with the modern-day storyline. Parts of it were emotionally touching and I could empathize with the plights of both Jackman and Weisz’ characters. Unfortunately that wasn’t enough to salvage the entire movie, though, because I became instantly lost whenever the scene suddenly switched to the past or the future. [Two out of five stars.]
