Fridae

Darren Aronofsky, the celebrated young director of Pi and Requiem for a Dream, returns with a film that took six years to produce � and maybe just as long for the audience to understand. It is ambitious, exquisite and very mind-boggling, and you may come out of the theatre either absolutely loving it or absolutely hating it.

The Fountain is a sci-fi love story that cuts back and forth between three different time periods: 16th-century Spain, modern-day America and outer space circa 2500. In the modern-day setting, Hugh Jackman play a scientist searching for a way to prolong the life of his wife (Rachel Weisz) who is dying of cancer.

Though very ill, she is working on a novel set in 16th-century Spain where she imagines her husband as a brave and loyal conquistador who is tasked by his beloved Queen to search for the Fountain of Youth. Fast forward to the 26th century, we see Hugh floating in space in an oxygen bubble and still searching for a way to defy death and prolong life.

Though The Fountain is visually mesmerizing, many people have found the story too confusing. In essence, it is a love story about a man who refuses to give up on his dying wife, and even after she dies, he insists that her death is not the end but a different state of her existence, and that he can somehow be reunited with her. Ultimately, this metaphysical tale fails more than it succeeds, but it isn't like anything you've ever seen before.