The Fountain of proof that still waters run deep

A lot of attention is currently focused on film director Darren Aronofsky because of his latest film The Whale, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival and is now available for public viewing. That’s what inspired me to dive deeper into one of the lesser known films of the director named The Fountain.

The motion picture had the potential to be the young director’s defining work, as it addressed major themes such as life and death, reincarnation, and love. Alas it had a lot of stumbles on its way, from resignation of the lead actor to problems with production and budgeting, which led it to become forgotten after the big success of Darren’s other movies such as Requiem for a dream or The Black Swan.

Nonetheless, I couldn’t help but notice Darren’s rich movie culture by recognizing the movie quotes used throughout the film. In the director’s commentary, he acknowledges that The Matrix and Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey influenced the film’s philosophical themes. The Holy Mountainand Aguirre, the Wrath of God‘s jungles, the fantasy elements of Memories of Fire, and the epic scope of Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America were also mentioned by the director as major influences on The Fountain. Furthermore, I’d like to emphasize the use of CGI in the movie. Due to budget constraints, Darren devised the brilliant idea of filming organic chemical reactions in a microscopic Petri dish to create the visual splendor of outer space.Stories do not always have to be complicated in order to be deep or to elicit introspection from their audience. In its attempt to be “abstract,” this story left no room for reflection. With the idea of the ocean in mind, Aronofsky portrayed a fountain.