Time Travails

You'll have to excuse me if I go easy on Darren Aronofsky's beautifully absurd, time-tripping fable "The Fountain". I'm one of the many who were floored by his debut one-two punch of 1998's "Pi" and 2000's "Requiem for a Dream". And therefore I have also been following with rapt anticipation the on-again off-again journey of this troubled follow-up. Stars (notably Brad Pitt) came and went, scripts languished on the shelf, the director himself lost interest for a time. It seemed as though Mr. Aronofsky's ambitious project would never see the light of day. Now, after six years, we have it - a spiritual meditation of love and death throughout time, with all the headiness that goes along with it. "The Fountain", it turns out, is a mixed bag - visually stunning and narratively challenged - but as interesting and unique as anything we've seen from this visionary director. And, despite its flaws, it's still worth watching.

"The Fountain" tells three intersecting stories set five hundred years apart. In one, Spanish conquistador Tomas (Hugh Jackman, in a scraggly beard) is sent by Queen Isabel (Mr. Aronofsky's real-life partner, Rachel Weisz, looking radiant) to discover the Fountain of Youth (represented here more as a Tree of Life, but whatever). In another story set in present day, Dr. Tom Creo (Hugh Jackman, clean-shaven) tries to discover a cure for the disease that ails his wife Izzi (Rachel Weisz, still radiant). And in the third, most out-there story, set five hundred years hence, Tommy (Hugh Jackson again, this time hairless) floats in space bubble with a large tree and the presence of Ms. Weisz somewhere in the ether.

You're welcome to ignore the above paragraph because, though you will draw links as the stories unfold in aggressively non-linear style, you'll end up no closer to an explanation that you are now. Along the way, there is all manner of talk about love, time, mortality and other fine thesis topics, none of which should be explained here. But the - dare I say it - fun of "The Fountain" is Mr. Aronofsky's complete investment in his vision, which is at times as beautiful as a classic painting and as depressing as a long stare into the abyss.

The actors, who aren't given enough time to really create characters, are clearly excited to be working with a quality director. Like Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman in "Eye Wide Shut", Mr. Jackman and Ms. Weisz may not entirely understand their own film, but they're game enough to give themselves over to it completely. And they need to, since Mr. Aronofsky shoots them in extreme, morphing close-ups for much of the film. Mr. Jackman, given the most to work with, does some fine work here. Ms. Weisz, for her part, must simply radiate. And she does.

"The Fountain" is mercifully short. What could have been a self-indulgent, masturbatory, over-directed mess turns out to be by turns captivating, melodramatic and just plain interesting. Say what you want about the film, but it's unlike anything you're likely to see - at least until Mr. Aronofsky's next film, which I'm already waiting for. I can't completely recommend "The Fountain", but like any mystical journey you're likely to get out of it what you put in. For some, it just won't work. For others it'll be worth seeing and - depending on your obsessiveness and dedication to the director's vision - seeing again.