Review: The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus
Terry Gilliam directs Heath Ledger in his final film
Oct 21, 2009
The film was eagerly awaited not only for the Ledger aspect, but also because of Terry Gilliam, and his vastly weird and wonderful catalogue. The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus, however, is so convoluted and absurd, that it seemed as though Gilliam was parodying himself (or has simply become a parody himself). The film becomes increasingly confounding, and is eventually lost to indifference. The basic narrative follows Dr Parnassus (Christopher Plummer), a thousand year old monk/ travelling gypsy showman, trying to save souls by inviting them into his Imaginarium. He is accompanied by daughter Valentina (Lily Cole), who has her own dreams of escape, Percy (Verne Troyer), and runaway Anton (Andrew Garfield) who is in love with Valentina. In exchange for youth and mortality to win his love, Parnassus makes a deal with the devil in exchange for his first child on its sixteenth birthday. This fast approaching, he makes another deal; at which point Tony (Heath Ledger) joins the troop. It really is incredibly confusing
Heath Ledger's final performance - A bitter and mournful enshrinement for the late starFrom his first appearance as Tony, a corrupt charity executive, Ledger appears distant and disinterested, trudging through hesitantly and begrudgingly. Perhaps watching the film in hindsight highlights his lack of buoyancy, but nevertheless, his performance is less than enthused. The lack of interest that we, in return as audience, have for Leger’s Tony, cannot be entirely attributed to Ledger himself. All of the characters within the film are vastly underdeveloped and uninspiring. Bar Tom Waits’ Faustian devil, Mr Nick, the characters are fractional portraits, and bad ones at that.
There are vague attempts to broaden characters; Lily Cole’s Valentina, for example, has dreams of escape and a pseudo coming of age-ness, however these augmentations are quickly forgotten, and any allusion to profoundness is swiftly abandoned. Perhaps for lack of effort, insight or interest, this continual underwhelming characterisation serves to irritate and bore, making the audience lose interest. The characters are necessarily the tangible threads that string this film together, and the lack of curiosity they convey means the narrative itself is relied upon to engage the viewer.
And this is the foremost problem. Like with the characters, Gilliam seems to pick up on some fanciful idea, and then transgress, never to return. The story itself is constructed as some kind of epic saga, spanning infinite time, and indeed worlds. Unfortunately for the poor viewer, only a tiny fragment of this is ever bequeathed, so we are left baffled and frustrated. Realistically though, had Gilliam had numerous hours to explain his elaborate and tortuous tale, it’s doubtful that the viewer would be enticed anyway.
Terry Gilliam - Still a master of stylish set design, yet it is too little too late
The only redeeming factor of this film is the styling. The London landscape, in particular Battersea Power Station made for a fitting home for the Parnassus tribe, and the gypsy branding was perfectly accurate for intentional purposes. Indeed, inside the Imaginarium was much the same, and the complete separation from reality meant the two worlds were easily distinguishable – perhaps the only coherent aspect the entire film.
Overall, however, impressive set design could not prevent or mask the films infinite downfalls. The overriding nonsensical jumble of concepts leaves the audience beguiled and bewildered.
