The problem with Terry Gilliam has always been that while he has an almost unparalleled visual imagination, he often has far more difficulty with the stories he’s telling, normally because they get buried under the 1,000s of ideas he’s throwing at the screen. It’s an issue that’s certainly present in The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus, where there are all sorts of wonderful things about it, but it has difficulty pulling it all together.
The Doctor of the title, played by Christopher Plummer, is the leader of a travelling sideshow, which offers visitors a trip into the imaginarium, an ever changing fantasy world created through the mystical mind of Parnassus. However there’s a problem. Parnassus is over a thousand years old, having made a deal with ‘Mr. Nick’ for eternal life. Slightly obsessed with gambling and trades, he also made a deal that any child he fathered would become the property of Mr Nick on their 16th birthday, and his child Valentina is only days away from that milestone. In a last desperate bid to keep her out of Mr Nick’s hands, he makes a deal that whoever can seduce five souls first will win Valentina.
It seems hopeless, but then Tony (Heath Ledger) comes into the lives of the troupe, and uses his wheeler-dealer ways to turn the sideshow into a success where they might be able to find their five souls. However Tony may not be the man he appears to be.
Just from that that little synopsis, it should be clear that there’s an awful lot going on in Doctor Parnassus, with a complex story that spans a thousand years, which goes from reality to fantasy and often gets rather esoteric. Unfortunately as with several other Gilliam movies, it has difficulty keeping all its plates spinning. It’s so busy that rather than bringing up an idea and exploring it, the film merely plays with it for a while before dropping it and moving onto the next thing, which often makes it rather frustrating. It undoubtedly looks amazing and is never less than interesting, but it also feels confused and by the end it’s tough to say what the whole thing has all been about, other than sensory impressions and ideas it never quite comes to grips with.
Of course, the film took on an unwanted notoriety during production, when Heath Ledger died partway through filming. He’d completed all the parts of the film that take place in the real world and died while he was on a break waiting to shoot the effects heavy parts of the movie that take place in Parnassus’ fantasy world. Rather than giving up, the filmmakers drafted in Jude Law, Johnny Depp and Colin Farrell to play three different incarnations of Tony after he travels through the sideshow’s mirror. While this could have seemed like a desperate measure, it’s actually one of the most successful aspects of the film, and due to the nature of the movie seems in no way grafted on. In fact if Ledger hadn’t died, it would have been an interesting thing to do anyway. Each actor brings a new dimension to the character, and Farrell in particular is excellent when it’s his turn to take on Ledger’s role.
There’s a pretty good selection of special features on the DVD, about half of which concentrate on Heath Ledger, including an audio interview with the actor done while he was shooting Parnassus, a wardrobe test, as well as a featurette paying tribute to him and discussing how they dealt with his death during shooting and why those who came in to complete his role agreed to do so. The rest of the featurettes look at other aspects of the film, such as Terry Gilliam’s imagination, the creation of the fantastical monastery that briefly appears in the film and an overview of the making of the movie. There are also some deleted scenes, and an audio commentary from Gilliam, which is well worth listening to, both to hear how they dealt with what happened to Ledger and also what he was trying to do with the film.
The great shame is that while many hoped Ledger’s final performance would be a triumph, although he’s good, the film itself is rather choppy and could have done with being more focussed. Right from his days making Monty Python animations, Terry Gilliam’s mind has always seemed like it’s firing endless imaginative sparks that go to places few others ever could. However those sparks often fizzle out before they’ve created a truly satisfying film (although he has made a few corkers).
Overall Verdict: Ledger is good and Parnassus has amazing imagination, but it’s a case of too many ideas and too little coherence.
Special Features:
Audio Commentary With Director Terry Gilliam
Deleted Scenes With Optional Commentary
Heath Ledger Wardrobe Test With Optional Commentary
‘Behind The Mirror’ Featurette
‘UK Premiere’ Featurette
‘Building The Monastery’ Featurette
‘Heath Ledger & Friends’ Featurette
Heath Ledger Interview
‘The Imaginarium Of Terry Gilliam’ Featurette
Reviewer: Tim Isaac
