The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Terry Gilliam is a talented filmmaker. He's also apparently a cursed one. Many of his films have been met with some sort of behind the scenes misfortune. Heck, there's even a documentary called Lost in La Mancha, which chronicles his attempt to make a film about Don Quixote starring Johnny Depp, and was plagued by so many disasters (floods, personal injuries on the cast) that the project never got off the ground. His latest film, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, was met with tragedy when its lead star, Heath Ledger, died unexpectedly in early 2008.

The film finds a clever way to get around this. Ledger had already shot a lot of his scenes to begin with, and the film's fantastic and whimsical premise allows for his character to be played by multiple actors, including Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell. The film's central premise revolves around a magic mirror that allows people to enter bizarre, CG-filled worlds made up of their own imagination. Whenever Ledger's character, Tony, steps through the mirror, he changes his appearance and is played by a different actor. It's a clever way to cover up the death of your star, but not exactly a successful one. It's never really explained why no one else who enters through the mirror changes their appearance. We're just supposed to accept it. Unfortunately, we can't, because it's a glaring reminder of the tragedy that occurred behind the scenes. People were able to watch The Dark Knight, and completely see his performance for what it was, without thinking of the man behind it. Here, I think audiences will have a harder time. There are some astonishing and wondrous visuals to be found throughout, some of which seem to draw heavy inspiration from Gilliam's days as a cartoonist and performer for the Monty Python comedy troupe. What the film lacks is a strong narrative and focus.

The idea behind the film is certainly interesting on paper. The titular Doctor Parnassus (Christopher Plummer) is an aging old street magician who travels across London in an ancient and run down traveling circus that seems like it comes from another time and place. Considering that the good doctor is immortal, it probably is. This immortality came about due to a deal he made with the Devil long ago. These days, the Devil goes about by the name of Mr. Nick (Tom Waits). The deal that was struck concerns the magic mirror, and how Parnassus must use its powers to convert five different people to his cause. If he cannot by the time Parnassus' only daughter, Valentina (Lily Cole) turns 16, then Mr. Nick gets to take Valentina as his own. Business has not been good for the traveling circus, and they have not been able to convert any souls. That's where Ledger's character, Tony, comes in. The crew of the circus first discover him hanging from a noose on a bridge, and barely alive. They revive him, and although he doesn't remember anything about himself, he does seem to have a keen business sense, and knows how he can drum up stronger business for the circus as Valentina's sixteenth birthday approaches.

A lot of talent obviously went into the making of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. The visuals and the various fantasy worlds that the magic mirror produces are absorbing, and the cast fill their roles well, and give what emotion they can. Unfortunately, a lot of this emotion is suffocated underneath the visuals themselves. This is a muddled movie that all too often serves as an excuse to display Gilliam's imagination and flights of fancy, rather than display any sort of coherent and strong plotting. The film ends up being more like an experiment, rather than an actual movie. It's a movie that seems to have been made for Gilliam himself, and perhaps his die hard supporters. Anyone outside of the inner circle will probably be completely lost, or amused by parts of it, but find it overall tiresome. That's about where I fall. I was interested and I was intrigued, but never truly engaged. As the effects began to take total center stage, choking what little meaning the film had, I became less interested.

If the movie needs structure, than the cast needs it even more. They often seem lost and adrift in the director's imagination. If none of the cast get to make most of an impression, it's not entirely their fault. They're often written in simplistic terms, or not given much to work with to begin with. If Tom Waits makes any impression as the film's central villain, it's because of what he brings to the performance, not by anything he's been given by screenwriters Gilliam and Charles McKeown. As for Heath Ledger and the other actors who play his character during the fantasy-filled sequences, they certainly seem to be trying. Ledger brings some gusto to his scenes, but never enough to make us truly attached to the character. As for Depp, Law, and Farrell, only the last actor makes any sort of impression, since he gets the most screen time. Depp and Law never come across as anything more than a gimmick, and sometimes seem to be winking at the camera.

This is one of those movies where you find yourself admiring what the filmmakers were trying to do more than what's ended up on the screen. I admire Gilliam's art, his vision, and for pulling on with this project through what must have been impossible odds. But the movie itself is such a jumbled mess, it's hard to really get enthusiastic. Doctor Parnassus delights from time to time, but those moments never create a whole satisfying experience.

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