[DVD] The Fountain (2006)

Discovery of New Things

The Fountain was one of my favourite films back in 2007 when it was screened here, and having watched it again on DVD, it provided an opportunity to do so this time round with a separate director's commentary running concurrently as well, which was previously available for download at Darren Aronofsky's website because he had unsuccessfully lobbied for one to be included in the film's DVD release.

In any case a second viewing provided a richer experience, and perhaps due to the additional observations made which provided that extra factor of enjoyment, and a much fuller appreciation of the themes of life and death a lot more. This time round the pain and suffering felt between the two lead characters being a lot more acute with a sense of closure when one comes to terms with inevitable Death that looms. How every segment ties in with one another at different points, and the many references made, will allow new things to be taken away with each viewing.

You can read my earlier review of the film here, and oh yeah, Clint Mansell's score rocks!

Code 1 DVD by Warner Bros autoplays with 3 trailers presented in letterbox format - The Painted Veil, Pan's Labyrinth and The Science of Sleep, which never made it here. The feature film is presented in anamorphic widescreen which accentuates the light and shadow play in the film very well, and audio is in Dolby Digital 5.1 English or French. Subtitles are available in English, French and Spanish, and Scene Selection is available over 23 Chapters.

Unfortunately the Special Features department is quite scant, only having one major making-of documentary titled Inside The Fountain: Death and Rebirth presented in letterbox format, and you have the option of watching it in 6 parts, or to utilize the play-all function. The 6 parts presents a look at the entire filmmaking process from behind the scenes, interviews, rehearsals and such, and it begins with the segment on Australia (7:39), which gives a look at the pre-production stage of the original concept idea back in 2002, how the project came together, and a glimpse at the major production set of the Mayan temple before the project was canned. Thank you Brad Pitt in a way for all the effort wasted at this stage.

The 21st Century (10:19) begins when the project was green lit again with a smaller budget, and looks at the production work in Montreal, Canada, where "the present" was filmed. The segments that follow, such as Spain - 16th Century (13:31) and New Spain (9:58), take a look at the production work behind the look and feel of the atmospheric re-creation of the Spanish Inquisition, and the battle scenes at the Maryan temple. The Endless Field (7:09) as the name suggests, examines the staging of a key scene in the film with regards to the Tree of Life, and you'd get to see rehearsal footage of Huge Jackman, and discover just what went into the making of the creamy tree sap together with movie magic behind the sprouting of vegetables.

The segment ends with The Future (15:12) which tells all about the scenes in the year 2050, where macro photography of chemical reactions in petri dish was used to create the look of the nebula. And plenty of behind the scenes look at how

The Special Features end on a whimper with the inclusion of the Theatrical Trailer (2:21).