the fountain (2006). directed by darren aronofsky.

There is a strange deadness in the film, together with a callow self-importance and self-pity which become more stultifying with every minute that passes, factors which are actually made worse by the obvious competence of everyone concerned: so much technical élan is being expended on this narcissistic and flimsy stuff. It looks frankly like an unbearably uxorious tribute from Aronofsky to his fiancee, Rachel Weisz. Her face is always being bathed in holy white light and she wears an outrageous "saintly terminal-illness case" outfit of woolly white hat and coat, looking like Ali MacGraw in Love Story. The fantasy scenes are all fantastically over-designed in a very new agey way; Clint Mansell's musical score is coercive and declamatory, and the whole premise is in any case dishonest. Dying young is a painful, horrible business, full of agony and rage and indignity. For Aronofsky to imply that it can be brought off looking all floaty and snowy and ethereal like a pale L'Oréal model, and that there is a spiritual superiority and sacrificial redemption in death from brain cancer - well, that is naive. And slightly creepy.

as reviewed by peter bradshaw, the guardian.