I've always disagreed with the idea that a great work of art is one which is open to varied interpretations. It's part of the PC "no one is wrong, it's all just opinions" point of view about art. An artist working in the narrative arts has a clue as to what he's making, and saying a movie is great art because different people can interpret it in different ways is no more pertinent than saying a rock is a work of art because many people looking at it are thinking different thoughts at the time. I'm interested in what an artist is saying to me--communicating to me; inventing my own ideas about what the artist meant is not only demeaning to the artist's efforts, it is indicative of a solipsistic mindset.

Aronofsky agrees. He says the movie is like a Rubik's cube, with many ways to arrive at the solution but only one solution.

The solution: only the present is real.

The past is obviously Izzy's story. There was a post on /tv/ a while back fielding a theory that Izzy's book was a chronicle of her and Tomas' real-life exploits, but the part in the movie where Izzy and Tom are on the rooftop makes that interpretation impossible -- Izzy talks about going to high school, so she's obviously not Isabella. That makes the Tree of Life fictional... which necessarily makes future Tom's story fictional as well.

Past = Izzy's book
Present = Real
Future = Tom's conclusion

This is the only valid interpretation. There are other ways than what I've presented to arrive at that conclusion, but that is, in fact, the only correct interpretation of the movie.

Fuck you.

>>69901872
One the most misunderstood and underrated films ever made. Even Ebert was dumb enough to think it was a convoluted time travel movie. I'm convinced that like 2001, it will eventually be regarded higher and watched with a more critical eye. It deals with death and loss in a way I have never seen before or since.

>>69901872

I liked it. The visuals were top tier and the OST was GOAT. Death is the Road to Awe is incredible.

pretentious wankfest for embryos

>>69902031
You're so close but so fucking wrong it hurts. The future is a metaphor for Toms mind/soul. Watch out again. It's all there. And it's stupidly, clearly laid out. Aronofsky said he conceived of and wrote the film after spending time with the terminally ill. The entire climax of tge film happens while Tom is reading Izzy's story (which she wrote to help him understand death the way she does, and deal with her passing), when he accepts and understands her messages 3 scenes happen: Toms is reading the story, the conquistador drinks the sap becoming one with the earth, and the traveler reaches Shebulba/attains enlightenment. The fact that the film ends with him planting a tree with his beloved remains is proof that he finally understands. Come on man.

I didn't like it at all and thought the it was all just a story part was the worst bit of rehash ever.

earnest and well-made but also stupid, derivative, pretentious.

i liked it.

>>69903028
this right here.

>>69902836
Fact: Izzy talks about her experiences in "high school" with Tom, making it impossible for her to be Isabelle and confirming that the "past" is just her book, which is fiction and not a chronicle of the exploits of immortals.

Fact: Future Tom goes into the "past," confirming that the "future" is just Tommy's conclusion to the story.

The only real timeline was the present. There is no other valid interpretation for this story. The clues were all there. Like Aronofsky said, you can solve a Rubik's cube many ways, but they all must lead to the same result.

This is the result, whatever your means of getting there.

Fuck you.

Kino.

Good movie, but hard to find anyone that likes it for what it is rather than what they want it to be.

Wish I could go back in time and rewatch it for the first time in theaters again. Honestly thought it was a movie about Hugh Jackman as a Conquistador rekting shit for 90 minutes.

I've never had such a powerful feeling at the end of a movie before. An honest to God masterpiece of film. I try to watch it at least once a year, its a great movie to show to a girl your dating as well.

>>69902892
The conquistador part was "The Fountain," present-day Izzy's book. Pages of the book are shown and the words describe the scenes that then occur.

Izzy talks with Tom about her experiences in junior high school, so she's definitely not a hundreds-years old immortal and the book is fictional.

The "future" part is the last chapter to Izzy's unfinished book, the one she implored him to write.

>>69903398
Yeah, it was all a stupid story.

Bland and boring, like everything else from the hack Aronofsky.

>>69903277
they are reincarnations. they dont hold memories brah

the past is a story that Izzy writes and each puts themsefls into it

the present is the present

and the future is Tom finding the cure for death.

the sample that rejuvenated the monkey was always the tree of life, he plants it on her grave, and it grows into the tree in the bubble. he then takes it with his future tech to a dying star.
he eats the bark from it to stay alive
Izzys body is literally part of that tree.


has anyone even watched this fucking movie?

>>69903277
You're an idiot. Yes, only the present is real. It's a film about how the terminally ill and their loved ones deal with death. Fact. Now, let's got deeper.

Izzy wrote the past timeline to help Tom understand why she's not freaking out about dying. He's working to find a cure and neglects her because he won't accept the inevitable. She is the single most important thing in his life.

The future timeline serves as a metaphor showing us Tom's mental state. He doesn't travel to the past, he's haunted by memories. He's alone in a bubble because loss isolates you. When Present Tom loses his wedding ring future Tom begins tattooing because Tom is obsessing over the loss. The tree is a metaphor for his wife, his connection to the world/his world before Izzy got sick, and life in general. The tree dies with Izzy because that's what it fucking feels like to lose your wife! You lose EVERYTHING at once.

I'm amazed that anyone could get so close and miss by that much. You're some kind of gifted moron. A sophomore. You're amazing in your stupidity.

>>69903579
Why would you make the connection that the random acorn was actually the tree of lifes seed? I interpreted it that as him finding peace with her death an death itself. Accepting the cycle of life, death and rebirth, and thus knowing Izzy. She even talked about how she wanted a seed to be planted on her grave so she could become one with nature when she died. The tree of life bit with the monkey was a fluke and couldnt be replicated, he tried and failed and ultimately abandoned the project.

>>69903771
did you miss the part where they use some "sample from a tree" that came from south america and it magically made the monkey seem young again?

did you miss the part that Tom planted a seed on Izzys grave?

did you miss the connection that Tom later eats the bark off the tree and talks about it being Izzy?

>>69903822
THE FOUNTAIN is Izzy's book, but it is not a fictional story - it is a true chronicle of Tomas and Isabella's journeys through time.

Izzy would not age, but the tree did not protect her from cancer. Tommy kept the plant compound secret from his peers for a reason - it's the tree of life. He was obsessed with basing a cancer cure on it because of his intimate familiarity with its properties.

Future Tom is full of regret. He wishes that he had become part of the tree rather than the tree becoming part of him. He wishes he had spent time with Izzy instead of researching the cure.

He realizes that the only cure for his regret is death, and fulfills the promise he made to Isabella.

>>69903822
But the future part didn't actually happen, that was the last chapter that he wrote in his mind that Izzy told him to finish. The sample from the tree was literally bark sap, so how did he attain a seed from bark sap? Doesn't really add up, it actually sounds retarded, the acorn that he planted was just a random acorn symbolizing his acceptance of her death and his new perspective on life allowing himself to move on.

Sample that made the monkey young again is the tree of life
Tom plants the seed/sample that grows into an actual tree of life
The tree grows, and incorporates Izzy's body in it. The hair on it standing up when he touches, just like an earlier scene in the past. Tom eats its bark to keep his youth.

I would love to argue more, but its fucking 1am and I need to be up in 5 hours.

>>69903897
Why do you people actually believe that there is this huge sci fi element that he flies into space in a bubble? It makes no sense at all.

>>69903822
1 Izzy knew about Tom's work because she's his wife. Many medicines were discovered from various trees/plants.

2 Tom understood Izzy's message in the book, that even in an absolutely literal physical sense reincarnation is real. The tree would grow from her remains the universe is one.

3 The story was attempting to help Tom understand that we live forever as part of the whole even if the individual dies.

>>69903974
This is probably some of the most retarded things I have ever heard about this film.

>>69902509
Just started streaming the OST.

It's fantastic.

>>69902509
>and the OST was GOAT. Death is the Road to Awe is incredible.
Agreed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr0NBPRMe2E

Wait, there are actually people who don't take the ending literally? He's talking to the tree because he knows its partly aware. He flies in his mind bubble to the dead star and serves as a sacrifice for a new galaxy.

It's pretty obvious if you just watch it and don't try to pretend its something else.

>>69903979
It was a spaceship. Didn't you see him traveling through space in it?

I'd like to think that in a future 500 years from now, with a humanity that has solved/beaten every disease and even death... Yeah, space travel would be streamlined to the point of basically an energy bubble with a tree for air and food. No quantum torpedos or 100+ staff or hyperdrive engines. Fuck engines. You got a poor, lonely, tortured guy just looking for death. And not just any death- but death by flying into Xibalba's nebula.

>TFW you will never fly in space

i found it to be incredibly overwrought, many of the scenes seemed to be hammering me in the face with "ARE YOU FEELING EMOTION YET?" rather than actually offering any sort of emotional setup

i'm clearly a minority opinion with that, though. i didn't hate the movie but i definitely wouldn't watch it again.

Wow. So many wrong interpretations in here.

The future is real too.
Source: Directors Commentary and the comic book (written before the movie).

I need to make a youtube video showing you guys since apparently everyone here is borderline retarded.
Heck, you even see him 'wake up' twice when Izzie dies. He's just remembering those past moments over and over while in his isolation bubble.
Heck he even misremembers details (as you do when you're remembering) at the beginning when he first is talking to Izzie.

Also, yes, the past is just the book he's been reading.

>>69902325
So were you going to tell us your thoughts or pretend you know about the movie.