Line #70 Film/TheFountain


1	[[quoteright:343:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fountain_poster.jpg]]
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3	''The Fountain'' is a 2006 SpeculativeFiction film written and directed by Creator/DarrenAronofsky, starring Creator/HughJackman and Creator/RachelWeisz.
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5	The movie follows Jackman as the protagonist in three different settings. In ThePresentDay Tommy Creo is an oncologist searching for a cure for his wife's brain cancer, and is [[WhoWantsToLiveForever obsessive in his pursuit]] to the point of leaving his wife to deal with her illness on her own most of the time. He stumbles [[FountainOfYouth across an extract]] from a Central American tree that has promising results. Meanwhile, his wife comes to terms with her fate and is trying to finish a book which also happens to be about the second storyline.
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7	In the second storyline, Tomás is a Spanish soldier during the Age of Exploration trying to defend his queen, Isabel, (again played by Weisz) from the [[UsefulNotes/TheSpanishInquisition Spanish Inquisition]], when she sends him on a quest to South America where he is to find the [[WorldTree Tree of Life]].
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9	In the third storyline, Tom, "the Astronaut," is a [[HermitGuru bald, monk-like man]] in a space bubble containing land and a tree. He is sustaining himself off of an extract of the tree but at the same time is rationing to avoid having the tree die. It seems he believes the tree holds some connection to his wife, who visits him in visions. We learn eventually that he is headed towards a star that his wife told him about in the present day timeline. He tattoos an elaborate pattern up his arm to mark the [[TimeAbyss passage of time]], like tree rings.
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11	In each of the three storylines, he is dedicated to his mission to the neglect of all other things. The relationships between the three storylines are up for debate as there seem to be [[RecursiveReality indirect interactions]] between the three versions of Jackman's character that suggest that they might be the same person or that one or two of the characters [[SugarWiki/FictionIdentityPostulate might be imaginary to the third]].
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13	The story explores the [[WhoWantsToLiveForever themes of mortality]] and the natural cycle of life as well as the [[FiveStagesOfGrief stages of loss]].
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15	Darren Aronofsky also wrote a graphic novel based on his original script, which was illustrated by artist Kent Williams and published by Creator/VertigoComics in November 2005, a full year before the film was released. Contrary to popular belief, the graphic novel isn't an adaptation of the film: Aronofsky wrote it during a period when the film was stuck in DevelopmentHell, and it looked like it wasn't going to be made; he envisioned the graphic novel as an alternate way of bringing his vision to fruition.
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17	If you're looking for a certain Creator/AynRand book, that's [[Literature/TheFountainhead here.]]
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19	----
20	!!This film provides examples of:
21	* AdaptationExpansion: Sort of. The story is ''somewhat'' easier to follow in the graphic novel adaptation, as it includes a running narration by Tommy that clarifies a few plot points that were merely alluded to in the movie. It also includes scenes of Izzy's spirit visiting Tommy while he's in the spaceship, and a few flashbacks to the early days of their relationship.
22	* AdaptationalModesty: In Aronofsky's graphic novel version, Tom the Astronaut and Izzy are both naked in all of their scenes together in the spaceship (which is understandable, considering Tom spends all of his time alone, and Izzy is either a spirit or a hallucination in those scenes). In the movie, Tom the Astronaut stays clothed, and Izzy only appears as echoes of Present!Izzy and Queen Isabella during the future scenes.
23	* AlliterativeName: Moses Morales, the South American guide that gave Izzi the "Death is the road to awe" speech.
24	* AnachronicOrder: You could say that.
25	* AnAesop: [[spoiler:Accept the inevitability of death, because it merely opens the door to ''your'' life being passed on so other living things]], and thus life itself, can continue from it.
26	* AlternateTimeline: [[spoiler:The end of the film opens one up]], [[RecursiveFiction folding the story in on itself]] in ''Film/DonnieDarko''-like fashion.
27	* ArcWords: "Together we will live forever," "Death is the road to awe," and "Finish it."
28	* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence
29	* AuthorAppeal: The film features numerous allusions to [[Literature/TheBible the Old Testament]], and it's centered on a character [[{{Determinator}} obsessively devoted]] to achieving a transcendent experience--two of Creator/DarrenAronofsky's favorite subjects.
30	* BeardOfSorrow: Tommy the doctor grows stubble of sorrow.
31	* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: People dying of brain tumors do ''not'' look like Rachel Weisz.
32	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Izzy dies as does Tommy Creo. However, the story is about them coming to terms with death as an inevitable part of life and Tommy and Izzy both accept this as part of the natural cycle. In Tommy's case, he had been unnaturally extending his life.]]
33	* BlessedWithSuck: Humans.
34	* BluebirdOfHappiness: Another Aesop.
35	* {{Bookends}}: Izzy tries to convince Tommy to spend time with her, time he insists he needs for his cancer research (which he performs for her sake but, ironically, draws him away from her.) [[spoiler:At the end of the movie, [[MyGreatestSecondChance the timeline gives Tommy another chance at this scene]], but this time he accepts the invitation and joins her]].
36	* TheBookOfTheFilm: An interesting case. When Aronofsy didn't think the movie would ever get made, he wrote it as a graphic novel and got Creator/VertigoComics to publish it. The film was eventually greenlit, so the book and the film were published simultaneously. Receiving great acclaim for its art (done by Kent Williams) it was arguably better received than the movie.
37	* CameraTricks: See Motif.
38	* {{Chiaroscuro}}: The film's art direction is very chiaroscuro. One wonders what eccentric doctor designed that hospital, with its violet walls, deep blue shadows and silver and gold accents? And all those Moorish screens, golden clouds of star-dust, and pitch black backdrops? One of the most chiaroscuro films ever made; just look at the poster.
39	* ComicBookAdaptation: Kent Williams illustrated a graphic novel for Creator/{{Vertigo\|Comics}}.
40	* CoolStarship: Tom's bubble-like spaceship. WordOfGod insists that it ''is'' an actual spaceship, and that these [[SubvertedTrope don't always]] [[ISOStandardHumanSpaceship have to look like giant trucks in space]].
41	* ChekhovsGun: Izzy's story about the first man in Myth/MayanMythology. In the end of the film, it's suggested that Tom is [[spoiler:the last man]] and the story about the conquistador Tomas is "about" him. Then he appears in the story to help the conquistador, and is recognized by the Mayan priest as First Father.
42	* ColorMotif: The main colors in the film are gold (wealth and beauty, materialistic but hollow), white (truth and mortality), silver (space and stars), and green and red (nature, respectively life and death).
43	* CorruptChurch: The Inquisition, of course.
44	* CosmicPlaything: Tomás.
45	* CrossoverCosmology: Many Buddhist concepts, especially during the Astronaut plot, are intermingled with the decidedly [[MayIncaTec Mayan]] setting of the Conquistador storyline. The star that Tom is traveling to is even named Xibalba, after the realm of the dead in Myth/MayanMythology. And they combine the story of the Mayan First Father (adding in a touch of UsefulNotes/{{Pandeism}}) with the story of Genesis (note the flaming sword bit). The Tree of Life also combines the magical trees and tree beings of Myth/MayanMythology with the Christian story of the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden and the fabled Fountain of Life (hence the name of the film). [[spoiler:And yes, the tree itself ''is'' The Fountain.]] Oh, and Aronofsky is a Kabbalist (see ''Film/{{Pi}})''.
46	* EasterEgg: When Tom wipes the snow off the grave at the end, we see [[spoiler:his wedding ring on his finger]]! Suggesting that the last scene really ''did'' alter the timeline.
47	* EldritchLocation: Xibalba. [[spoiler: One interpretation is that the conditions present within the nebula as it collapsed in on itself when the star went supernova, may have been what allowed Astronaut!Tom to [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence transcend reality]] and [[RecursiveReality cross the timelines]].]]
48	* FadeToWhite: One of Aronofsky's trademarks, and one he'd already become known for from ''Film/{{Pi}}'' and ''Film/RequiemForADream''.
49	* FanDisservice:
50	** We're introduced to the Inquisitor shirtless...while he's flogging himself and visible cuts are already on his back.
51	** Rachel Weisz naked in the bath...while she's so affected by brain cancer she can't feel the water's heat. This then gets subverted when it turns into a passionate love scene between her and Tommy (complete with ShirtlessScene from Hugh Jackman).
52	** Tomas gets an open shirt moment [[spoiler: as he's being turned into a tree!]]
53	* FirstSnow: Plot point at the beginning and end. "It's the first snow!"
54	* FisherKing: The Tree of Life's apparent relationship to the health of Izzy / mankind / the world.
55	* FiveStagesOfGrief: Tommy goes through these over the course of the film (notably, he seems to set a world record for the longest time moving between stages- it takes him ''[[spoiler:about five-hundred years]]'' to finally get from Depression to Acceptance):
56	** Denial: I'll find a cure and you won't die!
57	** Anger: This isn't working! argh
58	** Bargaining: (with the hospital staff) I'll just need to run a few more tests!
59	** Depression: After Izzy dies.
60	** Acceptance: When he arrives at Xibalba.
61	* FountainOfYouth: Combined with the Tree of Life and Tree of Wisdom.
62	* FreudianTrio: The three Toms.
63	** Id: Tomas
64	** Ego: Tommy
65	** Superego: Tom
66	* GaiasVengeance: A subtle example of [[spoiler:WhenTreesAttack]].
67	* GainaxEnding
68	* GeniusLoci: The [[WorldTree Tree of Life]], which apparently either outlives Earth or is capable of sustaining itself without it (but not forever - [[spoiler:everything must die for it to be reborn]]).
69	* GoIntoTheLight: Emphasized. All three Toms experience looking upward into a tunnel of bright light: Tommy the doctor looks up into a skylight filled with snow right before the lights go out, whereupon it cuts to Tom the astronaut looking up into the exploding nebula, whereupon it cuts to Tomas the conquistador looking up into the literal light at the end of the tunnel after [[FantasticDrug ingesting the sap]] of the Tree of Life, whereupon [[spoiler:he dies]]
70	* {{Gorn}}: The Spanish Inquisition; the Mayan Temple (what can be seen of it).
71	%%* GrayAndGrayMorality
72	* HairTodayGoneTomorrow: Izzy has her hair short as a result of her cancer treatment (or possibly wearing it that way out of convenience). There is a flashback to before she was ill when we see her hair long.
73	* HermitGuru: Future Tom.
74	* HeroicBSOD: In addition to Tommy's [[spoiler:reaction to Izzy's death]], if one goes by the "Tommy the MD = Tom the Astronaut" theory, the entire Astronaut persona is essentially a HeroicBSOD for him.
75	* HopeSproutsEternal: [[spoiler:The story of Moses Morales' father, Tomas's fate, and Tommy planting the seed from the tree at Izzy's grave all partake of this, by suggesting even if an individual life ends, life itself goes on, which provides that necessary hope.]]
76	* HotterAndSexier: The graphic novel adaptation contains much more nudity and explicitly-shown sex than the film. Tom and Izzy are both naked when they're seen in the spaceship, and there's a sex scene between Tomás and Isabella, as well as a brief flashback to the first time that Tommy and Izzy made love.
77	* HowsYourBritishAccent: Izzy is an American played by the British Rachel Weisz. In the book Izzy writes, Rachel Weisz also plays Queen Isabella, this time using her natural English accent.
78	* HungryJungle: Between how it's filmed and depicted, and the fact all of Tomas' men [[spoiler:die or kill each other]], this is what the tropical jungles of the Mayans becomes in the past storyline.
79	* InelegantBlubbering: Tommy [[spoiler: after Izzy's death.]]
80	* IronicEcho:
81	** The [[ArcWords phrase]] "together we will live forever" has an ultimate meaning that Tomás certainly did not expect.
82	** Tommy / Tom reassuring and caressing Izzy and the tree. "You'll make it... We're almost there." [[spoiler:They both die before he gets there]].
83	* LastOfHisKind: In his quest for immortality, [[spoiler:Tom apparently outlives humanity and becomes the Last Man,]] a fate ''he'' certainly did not expect. And the Mayan priest recognizes him as the First Man reincarnated in a story within a story/vision (of the end/rebirth of the world, presumably).
84	* TheLadysFavour: The ring given Tomas by Queen Isabella of Spain. He frequently clasps it to remind him of her.
85	* LiteralGenie: How the Tree of Life grants immortality. "Together we will live forever."
86	* LivingMacGuffin: The Tree of Life in Izzy's book. Tomas is sent on a quest to find it, so he and Queen Isabella can live forever together.
87	* LivingRelic: Tom the Astronaut, [[spoiler:if he is indeed the same character as Tommy Creo]], since he would have survived the destruction of Earth (or at least has left behind all of present-day civilization) by surviving in the spaceship-bubble via the Tree of Life en route to Xibalba. While he hasn't exactly gone insane, his 500-year lifespan and obsession with saving his wife has certainly made him abnormal and uncannily detached, and in the end he does have to overcome his SurvivorsGuilt if he is to move on.
88	* LevitatingLotusPosition: Performed by Future Tom near the end. Hugh Jackman practiced yoga for a whole year to be able to achieve that.
89	* MacGuffinEscortMission: Tom's mission to return the Tree of Life to the exploding nebula [[strike:from whence it came]].
90	* MatchCut: Most of the transitions are match cuts, including a painting of a Mayan temple in Tommy's house.
91	* MayIncaTec
92	* MeaningfulEcho:
93	** "We're almost there."
94	** "You'll make it. I won't let you die."
95	** "You do. You will."
96	** "Finish it."
97	** "Death is the road to awe."
98	* MeaningfulName: "Creo" is a Spanish homonym for both "I create" and "I believe." St. Thomas is the famous doubter of Christ's resurrection. Isabel is of course the name of Queen Isabella of Spain.
99	* MementoMacGuffin: Tommy's wedding ring is the same as the ring given [[TheLadysFavour by the Queen]] to conquistador Tomas, but he [[spoiler:takes it off for work and then loses it]]. Once [[spoiler:Izzy passes away, a grief-stricken Tommy takes Izzy's fountain pen and tattoos a "replacement" on his skin. Future Tom has that same tattoo slightly faded, plus a multitude others that show the passage of time]]. At the end of the film, he [[spoiler:plucks it out of the conquistador timeline]] using his [[MindScrew third eye]].
100	* MindScrew: There are numerous ways of interpreting the relationships between the multiple timelines, and a few recurring plot elements blur the lines between them.
101	** A relatively straightforward explanation would be that [[spoiler: Future Tom is Present Day Tommy several hundred years in the future by way of the mystical life-prolonging plant, the tree in the spaceship formed from the seed that Tommy planted over Izzy's grave, and all scenes with Past Tommy are part of Izzy's book]].
102	** On the other hand, it is equally straightforward to say that [[spoiler: Tommy finished the novel with the scenes in space, since by planting the tree he already accepted Izzy's death,]] though this depends on whether or not you believe Tommy was really at peace during his final scene, since the funeral scene has him insisting that he will refuse to accept death, and this would require him essentially reaching enlightenment in the fraction of seconds between the first and the last scene.
103	** Then you have present Tommy's [[MementoMacguffin wedding ring]] which Tomas got from [[TheLadysFavour Queen Isabella]], which future-Tom plucks out of Tomas' hand [[spoiler:after Tomas was bodily absorbed by the tree]] after Tommy lost it down the drain in the present. Once future-Tom attained enlightenment, he could apparently see all possible versions of his own story.
104	** Future Tom not only [[RecursiveReality bodily intervenes]] in Izzy's story, he convinces present Tommy (via MentalTimeTravel?) to change the [[AlternateTimeline present timeline]] to go for a walk with Iz at the very start of the film instead of staying in the lab, changing the plot. At the very end of the film, Izzy gives Tommy a seed-pod from a tree they visited on this walk (which never happened in the present day timeline), and Tommy [[spoiler:plants it over her grave]] where it grows into a tree -- the same kind of tree as the Tree of Life!
105	* {{Motif}}: See also Chiaroscuro.
106	** The Moorish patterns and screens in Izzy's apartment / the intensive care unit / Isabel's throne room.
107	** A circular pattern on the floor seen from above in Izzy's hospital bed / Isabel's throne room.
108	** Tom / Tomas / Tommy looks up and sees a tunnel into a [[GoIntoTheLight vision of bright light]].
109	** The star field in space / the lanterns in Isabel's throne room / a lights and mirror scene in Tommy's apartment.
110	** Various patterns and closeups on organic matter, fluid, etc. all look like fractal images of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Void_(astronomy) Deep zoom simulation of the map of the universe showing the intergalactic "void"]]: these were all done intentionally with microphotography. Or else they look like an exploding supernova (Xibalba). Which itself looks like a giant rose.
111	*** The opening image is an extreme close-up on a very large pearl in a crucifix.
112	*** The light shining through the snow in the skylight. Cut to Tom looking up at the supernova.
113	*** The closing credits image is a time-lapse which looks like an expanding universe collapsing into foamy bubbles.
114	** An [[CameraTricks unusual shot]] of each of the three Tom's traveling at high speed towards the camera -- upside down -- with the camera {{tilt}}ing rightside up to follow him -- first on horseback, then by car, then by space bubble.
115	* MortonsFork: Future Tom's efforts to keep the tree alive while sustaining himself off it.
116	* MultipleChoicePast: Whether or not Tom the Astronaut is actually a future version of Tommy Creo, for starters; also, since he intervenes in the past so as to take Queen Isabella's ring to replace the one Tommy lost down the drain, and influences Tommy to [[spoiler:choose to take the walk with Izzy instead of focusing on his research, then planting a seed from the Tree of Life over her grave]], there definitely seems to be several different versions of events, with it being unclear which is "real" or where the timeline goes from there.
117	* MyGreatestSecondChance: [[spoiler: Tommy appears to get the chance to go back in time to when Izzy was asking for him to join her at the first snow, and this time he goes with her. She gives him a seed that he then plants at her grave, which allows her to live forever as part of the tree that will grow from it]].
118	* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Grand Inquisitor Silecio.
119	* NeverTrustATrailer: For simplicity's sake, the trailer strongly gives off the impression that the multiple time periods are a straightforward case of {{reincarnation}}; in the actual film, it's a bit more complicated than that. Though never explicitly spelled out, it's strongly hinted that Brother Tomás (from the year 1500) is [[ShowWithinAShow just a fictional character]], and that Tommy (from the year 2000) and Tom the Astronaut (from the year 2500) are [[Really700YearsOld actually the same person]].
120	* NoOntologicalInertia: Tom takes the Tree to the distant Xibalba nebula so that it can be reborn.
121	* PimpedOutDress: Isabel's (Izzy's Spanish counterpart) RequisiteRoyalRegalia.
122	* ThePollyanna: All things considered, Izzy must have an iron will or an indomitable spirit. Sadly, it doesn't rub off on Tommy. She, unlike Tommy, apparently got through the FiveStagesOfGrief. If you know you're going to die, there's not much point in moping around, now is there?
123	* TheQueensLatin: Queen Isabella and Tomas are Spanish and speak with English accents.
124	* RealLifeWritesThePlot: It's no secret Aronofsky considers the film to be a very personal reflection on recent events in his life. The whole exploration of the life/death motif came about after his parents were diagnosed with cancer in 1999. He had to start coming to grips with the fact that our time on this world as living beings is always limited.
125	* RecurringCameraShot: Several of them:
126	** One with Tom/Tommy/Tomas looking up at a light source over his head.
127	** A shot of him passing by the camera at high speed, Tom in his bubble ship, Tomas on a horse and Tommy in his car.
128	** One with him kneeling before the camera as she puts her hand on his head.
129	** One of Tommy/Tom whispering to Izzie/the tree.
130	** Tom/Tomas reaching his fingers toward the tree.
131	* RiverOfInsanity: Tomas' journey to the Tree of Life. [[spoiler:Everyone else in the expedition dies or kills each other]], and Tomas staggers up the pyramid alone after being stripped of his possessions by Mayan soldiers.
132	* RecurringDreams
133	* RecursiveFiction: Izzy's book turns out to be about Tomas, and future Tom appears in it to get the ring.
134	* RecursiveReality: See Mind Screw, above. The three versions of Tom and Isabel are either [[MutuallyFictional imaginary]] to each other, {{reincarnation}}s of each other, or an actual character who attained immortality.
135	* {{Reincarnation}}: One possible interpretation of the plot.
136	* RuleOfSymbolism: The entire movie, but particularly [[spoiler: Tomás "living forever" with the Tree of Life by sprouting flora all over, the star Xibalba bursting into a supernova just as Tom has reached his final epiphany (and abandoned the Tree), Izzy reincarnating as the Tree, Tom appearing]] as Adam / Buddha / the First Man and [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence ascending in the lotus position]], and Tommy [[spoiler:planting a seed at his wife's grave]]. See Crossover Cosmology, above. The Inquisitor, overrunning Spain and seizing the queen (presumably ending her life) is a quite blatant metaphor for the tumor eating away the life of Izzy. Both Tomas in the past timeline and Tommy in the present has to let go of them.
137	* SageLoveInterest: Izzy is a really tragic example of this for Tommy.
138	* SceneryPorn: Any scene involving the Astronaut's spaceship as it travels across the nebula, as well as Tomás final arrival at the Tree of Life, and anything in the Queen's throne room.
139	* SelfInflictedHell: Tom the Astronaut lives a bleak, endless life in total isolation [[spoiler:because he refuses to acknowledge death, either his loved ones' or his own]]. As soon as he [[spoiler:accepts it, he frees himself from this hell.]] And, [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation if you believe]] that [[spoiler:the Astronaut is not the same as Tom, the Astronaut's acceptance allows his present-day counterpart to finally move on]].
140	* ShaggyDogStory: The [[spoiler:conquistador]] plotline. Future-Tom sees that Izzy's story must end and [[spoiler:Tomas]] can't live happily ever after.
141	* ShoutOut:
142	** According to WordOfGod--"Ground control to Major '''Tom'''..."
143	** The scene where Tommy is walking down the street deep in thought and a car almost runs him over is an homage to a similar scene in [[Creator/AkiraKurosawa Kurosawa's]] "Film/{{Ikiru}}".
144	* ShowWithinAShow: The book Izzy works on is called ''[[TitleDrop The Fountain]].'' According to most interpretations, [[spoiler: that's where the Tomás/Isabel storyline comes from.]] It's also possible that the future timeline is either Tom in the future or his addition to the book.
145	* SnowMeansDeath: The funeral is on a snowy day.
146	* SoleSurvivingScientist: The future in-a-bubble scenes appears to be this trope, although the oncologist is more concerned with staying alive until he reaches a far-off star than with restoring the Earth.
147	* TimeAbyss: The camera pans up from Tom's wedding-ring tattoo to show more and more tattoos, suggesting the passage of vast amounts of time. The tattoos up and down Tom's arm look like tree rings or the Mayan Long Count, or the logarithmic timeline of geological epochs, with each ring containing bigger and bigger intervals. (Even if it's only been 500 years, imagine 500 years alone in space.)
148	* TragicKeepsake: Future Tom keeps the quill pen that Izzy gave him on her deathbed and uses it to tattoo himself in remembrance of the ring he lost.
149	* {{Transflormation}}: The conquistador explodes in a burst of grass, tendrils and flowers at the end of his story, mirroring the Mayan creation myth mentioned earlier in the film.
150	* TreeVessel: The Tree of Life in the "space traveler" sections.
151	* UnfinishedBusiness: One possible interpretation of the plot is that future!Tom [[spoiler:is in Purgatory or a DyingDream]], where he must reconcile himself before moving on.
152	* ViewersAreGeniuses: If you were expected to get all the symbolism out of this film.
153	* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Tommy does and finds a way to do just that, but eventually accepts that all things must die.
154	* AWorldHalfFull
155	* WorldTree: Centerpiece of the film.
156	* YouWereTryingTooHard

Context Film / TheFountain