There’s no way around the shock: The first sight of Heath Ledger in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, which premiered to an initially sympathetic but increasingly what the huh? audience at Cannes at 8:30 this morning, is as a dead man. (“Why are you fishing dead people out of the river? Leave him alone, he’s dead,” one member of the Doctor’s traveling, existential funhouse troupe tells another.) I can only assume that confounding auteur Terry Gilliam meant to get the obvious out of the way immediately: This is the project Ledger was working on when he died, and this is the sad, off-screen reality through which we are bound to experience the work, so voila.
The typically twisty, Gilliam-shaped truth of this newest patented mishmash of fantasia set-pieces, though, is that Ledger’s role, completed in memoriam by Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell, is the liveliest piece in the puzzle (um, there were a number of walk-outs), a muddle of a deal-with-the-devil plot involving Doctor P (played a la grand old crackpot/Dumbledore by Christopher Plummer), said Devil (Tom Waits), and the Doctor’s peachy daughter, Valentina (Lily Cole), whom the Doc had previously promised to the Prince of Darkness on her 16th birthday in exchange for immortality. (Dad now regrets that offer.)
Of course, as we have come to know, often love, and sometimes rub our eyes at in any Gilliam concoction, The Imaginarium ripples, in a Through the Looking Glass
fashion, with intricate tricks of time-travel and opulent displays of
visual fantasy. All roads lead, after a fashion, back to the
Victorian-flavored, surrealistic collages the guy used to make in Monty Python
days. Small problem here: The plot’s a mess of disconnected episodes,
and the circus-y visual style adds to a feeling of … quiet
desperation.
What do I do now? Gilliam seems to ask, as Depp, Law, and
especially Farrell generously pick up the threads of Ledger’s loosely
stitched character and do whatever it is the filmmaker requests. Then
again, isn’t that often the unspoken conundrum in any of the fellow’s
art projects? “Nothing is permanent, not even death,” one character
says. “Princess Diana, Rudolph Valentino — they’re all dead, but
immortal.” The living truth is, it was kind of gloomy in the Palais
this morning, a packed auditorium wishing for a better send-off for a
well-loved actor.
Hey, on a cheerier note, word in the halls is that The White Ribbon,
the striking, Bergmanesque new parable by cheer-averse Michael Haneke,
is pulling ahead as the competition film favored to win, especially
with Haneke-loving Isabelle Huppert presiding as jury president.
More from the Cannes Film Festival:
Sharon’s Stone’s tribute to Natasha Richardson
Penelope Cruz in Almodovar’s Broken Embraces
Lars von Trier’s Antichrist: “The closest film to a scream”
Roger Ebert, A Prophet, and a trend that ought to end
Taking Woodstock = Peace and Love and Demitri Martin
Bright Star and the Scottish charms of Paul Schneider
At Cannes: Up, Tetro, and lots of balloons
Of course, as we have come to know, often love, and sometimes rub our eyes at in any Gilliam concoction, The Imaginarium ripples, in a Through the Looking Glassfashion, with intricate tricks of time-travel and opulent displays ofvisual fantasy. All roads lead, after a fashion, back to theVictorian-flavored, surrealistic collages the guy used to make in Monty Pythondays. Small problem here: The plot’s a mess of disconnected episodes,and the circus-y visual style adds to a feeling of … quietdesperation.
What do I do now? Gilliam seems to ask, as Depp, Law, andespecially Farrell generously pick up the threads of Ledger’s looselystitched character and do whatever it is the filmmaker requests. Thenagain, isn’t that often the unspoken conundrum in any of the fellow’sart projects? "Nothing is permanent, not even death," one charactersays. "Princess Diana, Rudolph Valentino — they’re all dead, butimmortal." The living truth is, it was kind of gloomy in the Palaisthis morning, a packed auditorium wishing for a better send-off for awell-loved actor.
Hey, on a cheerier note, word in the halls is that The White Ribbon,the striking, Bergmanesque new parable by cheer-averse Michael Haneke,is pulling ahead as the competition film favored to win, especiallywith Haneke-loving Isabelle Huppert presiding as jury president.
More from the Cannes Film Festival:
Sharon’s Stone’s tribute to Natasha Richardson
Penelope Cruz in Almodovar’s Broken Embraces
Lars von Trier’s Antichrist: "The closest film to a scream"
Roger Ebert, A Prophet, and a trend that ought to end
Taking Woodstock = Peace and Love and Demitri Martin
Bright Star and the Scottish charms of Paul Schneider
At Cannes: Up, Tetro, and lots of balloons
Comments (1-9) of 9 Add your comment
From reading this post, Ledger’s first apperance in the flick DOES sound like it’ll be a pretty sizable jolt. I remember an audible gasp in the theatre during “The Dark Knight” during the quick moment when the Joker was pretending to be dead.
Still, I’m very interested in checking out this flick, even if it does sound like a hot mess of a movie. Gilliam’s work is usually very interesting, and I obviously want to check out Ledger’s final (sadly incomplete) performance.
Heath is still alive, in our hearts! http://christiansinglesdate.com
Lisa’s reviews are never accurate. They seem too much influenced by whatever opinion she has predetermined about a movie. She makes up her mind about a movie prior to seeing it, and then simply tries to fit everything she sees into that mold.
Every other review I read about the movie is saying that the character Tony is so seamless, in transforming from actor to actor, that it would appear that it was written so from the start. The majority of reviews say that this is a mind blowing film that tackles the issue of the modern tendency to dumb everything down.
Oh for heavens sake!You lazy reviewer You hear the name”Gilliam”and you instantly trash it.I bet you did not even watch TIODP!Several other reviews gave good ones!I have lost count of the movies you idiots say are terrible and then I see them and love them!You are Jaded.You know its a Gilliam movie so you go into it with your brain shut off.The man is so imaginative!Hollywood just does not get it.The movie was never supposed to be Heath Ledgers”send off”He did not plan to die!You choose to see it that way.The only people to have a”send off”for him would have been his family and that was private and certainly NOT some movie.Four Feathers was bashed,I loved that one, Brothers Grimm was bashed,I loved it too.So what if the special effects are not perfect?You ever watch the last 3 Spiderman movies?As a true Ledger fan as well as having worked with him briefly I can tell you of all the things I miss his movie roles are at the bottom.The man was so very much more than an actor.
My question is: Will it be distributed to theaters and will it make money from from the morbidly curious people hoping to honor Heath’s final role?
I’ve never read a review of Gilliam that ever enjoyed the film, only to watch his work and be so refreshed by the very things that are criticized – the non-typical plot twists and storytelling. Even the less than great Gilliam films make a viewer think; maybe that’s why critics always knock his work
Mia Farrow and Sir Richard Branson fasted in solidarity with who are inneed.
I’m not an editor but this:
“The typically twisty, Gilliam-shaped truth of this newest patented mishmash of fantasia set-pieces, though, is that Ledger’s role, completed in memoriam by Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell, is the liveliest piece in the puzzle (um, there were a number of walk-outs), a muddle of a deal-with-the-devil plot involving Doctor P (played a la grand old crackpot/Dumbledore by Christopher Plummer), said Devil (Tom Waits), and the Doctor’s peachy daughter, Valentina (Lily Cole), whom the Doc had previously promised to the Prince of Darkness on her 16th birthday in exchange for immortality.”
must be the worst constructed paragraph I have ever read in a review. The following does not fair to well either.
I have not seen the film as of yet, but I sure will partake as soon as it distributed. But I will completely ignored review. (Mainly because attempting to read it felt like raking my lawn with my fingers.) Better luck next time Lisa.
i was at the screening in cannes and i absolutely loved this film. to me, it made the most sense of any Gilliam film that i have ever seen. brazil it is not, but it is gilliam’s most accessible film and i bet that it will be his highest box office grosser.