Big Screen Review: Doctor Parnassus and Creation
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Come one, come all! Enter the Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, a vaudeville act where imagination comes alive. The only thing at stake is one’s soul.
With director Terry Gilliam’s fabled mind, we can expect a unique quality to the tales he tells. Throw a touch of Monty Python and Brothers Grimm into the mix, and not everyone can appreciate his films. The fantasy sequences in this one might be too bizarre to comprehend for some viewers.
Similar to Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Parnassus is visually rich but the story is difficult to understand. Also, there’s no clear message in Gilliam’s tale.
In this film, Doctor Parnassus (Christopher Plummer) is looking for redemption. In present-day London, Parnassus leads a ragtag theatre troupe on a lonely quest to offer salvation to the people they meet.
Unlike the Ancient Mariner, Parnassus makes a deal with the devil (Tom Waits). If he can save five souls through the Imaginarium—a magic mirror—he is freed from more than just his curse. People who step inside the Imaginarium are guided by Parnassus, and their greatest desires and dangerous vices are revealed. That person then has to make a choice.
Tony (Heath Ledger) enters into the act as an unwitting participant and learns about what else is at stake.
Ledger’s death in mid-production impacts the film. The script had to be rewritten and it doesn’t necessarily make for a cohesive film.
With Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell stepping in to Ledger’s role, the Imaginarium was finished. The show had to go on, and it did, uneven as the results may be.
Creation
There’s more to Creation than man’s relation to the ape, as the movie poster would suggest. It’s also about man’s relation with himself.
Charles Darwin (Paul Bettany) is about to write his magnum opus, the Origin of Species. While he has yet to fully decipher the world he lives in, he also has to learn what faith means.
There’s a religious subtext within this biopic that’s only somewhat explored. When one of his friends declares that Darwin has killed God, the audience has to pay careful attention to the flashbacks in order to understand why.
Darwin’s wife, Emma (Jennifer Connelly, who’s married to Bettany in real life), is secure in her faith. She fears for her husband, who she thinks will not join her in heaven. She believes Darwin will go to hell because of the nature of his book research.
During the course of his research, their daughter, Annie (Martha West), dies at the tender age of 10.
Darwin’s grief and how he comes to terms with it is the focus of the film, which is based on Randal Keynes’ book Annie’s Box. Keynes, incidentally, is the great-great-grandson of Darwin.
With moving performances from Bettany, Connelly, and West, this movie is more sleeper than mainstream.
West is a young newcomer that shows great promise as an actress. Her candid interaction with Bettany makes this film a standout.
Instead of a movie that merely recounts Darwin’s adventures, it’s a deeply spiritual and personal tale.
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