YMMV / The Fountain

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Did Izzy write her book as a way to get Tommy to accept her inevitable death? Or she may have guessed that he might read it after she has died and it would serve as a coping mechanism. It could also have been a coping mechanism for herself - as her counterpart in the story also accepts her inevitable death.
• Award Snub: Apart from a Golden Globe nomination for Original Score, the film was largely ignored on the awards circuit, even in the areas of visual effects and art direction.
• Awesome Music: Clint Mansell's score is nothing short of terrifyingly beautiful and stunningly emotional. Then again, one could expect no less from the award-winning frequent collaborator of director Darren Aronofsky. Just listen to "Death is the Road to Awe" if you still aren't convinced that Clint Mansell can make the world end.
• Complete Monster: Grand Inquisitor Silecio, usurper of the Spanish Throne, has captured Queen Isabelle and plots to do away with her to expand the reach of The Spanish Inquisition. With countless innocents horrifically tortured to death, Silecio intends to kill even more and ensure that the whole country is subject to the Inquisition's horrific notions of purity.
• Cult Classic: Every year it gets another set of fans.
• Epileptic Trees: It's an Epileptic Forest.
• He Really Can Act: Hugh Jackman, who plays three different characters in the film and does so amazingly well. In fact he spent hours with Darren Aronofsky working on the physicality for each of the three roles. Tomas the id, with a very aggressive walk, coming straight from the pelvis. Tom the superego, incredibly emotional and light. Tommy the ego, very cerebral and driven, focused.
• Iron Woobie: Izzy. Although she's dying, she remains as stoic and positive as ever.
• Narm: Some people found it absurd how the flowers explode rapidly on Tomas' body when he drinks from the sticky white sap of the Tree of Life.
• Nightmare Fuel: When Tomás ingests the sap from the tree and plants start sprouting from his body.
• Older Than They Think: The idea of immortal life resulting in the person ending up as a tree because they're eternal was previously done in a Charmed (1998) episode where the sisters couldn't vanquish an immortal demon.
• Strawman Has a Point: Grand Inquisitor Silecio, according to Word of God. "Our bodies are prisons for our souls. Our skin and blood, the iron bars of confinement. But fear not. All flesh decays. Death turns all to ash. And thus, death frees every soul."
• Tear Jerker:
  • The entire film is very sad, but nothing is sadder than Tommy discovering that Izzy has died during the night. He was too busy with his research to notice - and then he realises that he wasted the time he should have been spending with her. Luckily he gets a second chance.
  • Izzy trying to take a bath is a subtle one. Something so simple that she can't do without help because the illness is affecting her that much.
• Vindicated by History: Even though this movie was largely ignored by the awards circuit (see Award Snub above), audiences in more recent years have been a bit more willing to at least recognize its ambitions, largely because the one-two punch of The Wrestler and Black Swan helped make Darren Aronofsky an Academy darling once again, proving that Requiem for a Dream wasn't a fluke. It's still considered one of his weaker films, mind, but it's at least regarded as a crucial entry in the filmography of one of the more notable directors in the business today.
  • WatchMojo rated it #2 on their Top 10 Underrated Movies list, behind only The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The effects were produced for a mere pittance, using microphotography (photos of tiny things, like oil droplets) rather than CGI. The result looks profoundly surreal, and stunningly beautiful.
• The Woobie: Tommy desperately wants to find a way to cure his wife's illness but eventually has to realise that he can't.

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