The Fountain (2006)

Darren Aronfsky does “Love Story”? The guy who made “Requiem for a Dream” and later “Black Swan”? Yes, please. “Fountain” was met with indifference upon release, after years of production woes. A pity. This is a cracked genius ode about obsessive, passionate love, in all its glory and pain. Hugh Jackman is a researcher seeking to cure brain tumors in apes. His artist wife (Rachel Weisz) is dying of just that, a brain tumor. Tom’s reasoning: If I can save them, I can save her. He only needs time. Time: It’s smashed and splintered, jumping from 1500s Spain to modern day America to a distant future in outer space. Jackman is Tom in all three, and Weisz is there as well. The question lingers: Are we seeing three Toms, and three women? No. It’s one man who defies time, space and God for his one love. Also defiant: Aronofsky. The film has faults, but it is an amazing testament to love. Passion. It jumps off the screen like a golden light blasting all logic, and goes straight for the heart. A