A failure of the imagination, or a triumph of it? Kinda both...
There are failures, and then there are Terry Gilliam failures. No one quite fails to make a movie like he does, whether it be epic flops like Baron Munchausen, or complete failures to even get made, like his on again off again Don Quixote project. And yes, he has made some wonderful films, but is The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus one of them?
It's really hard to judge, actually.
In terms of plot, it's almost autobiographical in a whimsical way. Dr Parnassus is a travelling performer doomed to eternal life after a series of wagers with the devil, artfully played by Tom Waits. His horse-drawn stage show is a decrepit front for the ongoing feud between the two figures, and Parnassus' desire to open minds and perhaps save a few souls never quite seems to get off the ground. Christopher Plummer, as Parnassus, delivers a wonderfully broken down performance, and one can only imagine how Gilliam set about directing such a glum figure.
One of the last wagers between the two concerns Parnassus lovely young daughter, Valentina, who is doomed to belong to the devil - or Mr Nick, as the film styles him - when she turns sixteen: which is about three days away as the film opens. She's unaware of this, though she slowly learns the tale from her father, which unfolds as a series of fabulous flashbacks.
Despairing of losing his daughter, Parnassus finds himself in yet one last wager. Mr Nick, it seems, is nothing if not generous, and he offers a last bet - first to save or condemn five souls (souls are the coin of the realm, for these two) keeps the girl. Which is complicated - of course - by the seemingly random (or is it) discovery of a man (Heath Ledger in this last role) hanging beneath a London bridge, near death, and saved by the kindness of Valentina.
It's difficult to tell what the main thrust of Imaginarium is, and it comes with a lot of big ideas. Is it a coming-of-age film, a romance, or a redemption tale? If it is a redemption tale, who are wanting to see redeemed? The old, wise and yet somewhat bumbling Parnassus, or the confident young trickster, Ledger? Or is it a grander piece, an allegory about choice, about life and the compromises we must make to get through it?
It's a bit of all of that, really, and Imaginarium suffers for it. There's lots to love about it, of course; Waits is delightfully wicked and oily as the devil, Lily Cole is nothing short of stunningly beautiful and alluring as Valentina, and even Verne Troyer is a laugh as Parnassus' ancient assistant (and part time accordion monkey - yeah, Gilliam went there). The costumes are stunning, the model work and CGI backdrops of Parnassus' mystical imagination (the 'imaginarium' of the title are wonderfully executed, and even the trick of replacing Ledger (who died during filming) with three different actors for various portions of the films works very well.
It is, however, most definitely a film to see on the big screen - it's bursting with detail and energy, even if not all of it's serving the film's plot.
Certainly, Ledger's death caused problems with the production, and years passed during breaks in filming. It must be hard to even get a project like this going after such setbacks, so perhaps we should be lauding Gilliam's stubbornness more than lamenting that he failed to deliver.
But, in the end, we should at least be thankful that someone is still trying to make movies like this, even if they don't always measure up. Perhaps that's the tale that Imaginarium really wants to teach us - we can only ever do our best, and we should never, ever give up trying.
Issue: 107 | December, 2009