Terry Gilliam’s latest offering, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, has the sad honour of being Heath Ledger’s last feature film. Ledger’s death during a break in shooting left Gilliam with a dilemma and financial pressure – should he continue the film without the star or shut it down. Aided by some help from Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell the film was completed, dividing up Ledger’s part amongst these three seasoned actors. Beautiful but structurally flawed, the film has been undoubtedly scarred by the loss. How much of Gilliam’s vision has been lost by the reworking is hard to say.
The script for The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus came from the brilliantly quirky minds of Terry Gilliam and Charles McKeown, a partnership that sprouted Brazil and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Taking inspiration from the tale of Faust, the catalyst for the film’s action is a pact with the Devil (Tom Waits). Parnassus (Christopher Plummer) possesses an ability to guide people’s imaginations. This gift has been developed into a rag-tag travelling circus of sorts, the Imaginarium of the film’s title. Parnassus is accompanied by his exquisite daughter, Valentina (Lily Cole), Percy (Verne Troyer) his cynical sidekick and Anton (Andrew Garfield) the underappreciated tout for the Imaginarium’s performances.
Parnassus has a secret. He won eternal life centuries earlier in a bet with the Devil, and he later made an agreement that in exchange for youth (more temporary than the immortality) the Devil would receive his daughter upon her 16th birthday. With that birthday impending, Parnassus, ever a betting man, accepts a new wager from the Devil. Into this fray Tony (Heath Ledger) is unceremoniously dropped. Is this mysterious man Valentina’s saviour?
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is visually spectacular with every moment from the opening to the closing credits realised with a fairytale aesthetic. This is charming with its slight imperfections and dirty edges. The costuming is so pleasing, with an odd mix of vagabond and sumptuousness. Careful attention has been paid to scenes on the Imaginarium stage, framing them to appear as if taken from renaissance masterpieces. The Imaginarium itself is a thing of beauty. Like a boat, it sails through modern day London pulled by horses, contracting like a concertina after performances.
The depth of detail given to the images of the film is a joy to behold, in both the heightened reality of London’s backstreets and the fantasy world held in the imaginarium’s mirror. With hints of his earlier work with Monty Python, the farcical images in the imaginary realm created by Gilliam are fun, dark and attractive in equal measure.
The exchanges between Parnassus and the Devil are a highlight, with Plummer being the standout performer. Garfield also does a great job bringing a true likeability to his character. Cole’s inexperience is in sharp contrast with the other actors, whose calibre eclipses her performance as Valentina. It is hard to watch Ledger on screen and not mourn his early death, making it tricky to forget the actor and focus on his character. Depp, Law and Farrell all do a good job playing Tony in the imaginary world, both Depp and Law looking eerily like Ledger at times.
With its central theme of the importance and magic of storytelling, it is within the film’s own convoluted storyline that everything unravels. This is a perfect example of when more is less. The over the top visuals need not have come at the price of the plot. It is as if Gilliam believes that every part of the film must be hyper-real, trying to match the creativity of the aesthetic with overloaded plot. This weighs down the film making it unable to live up to expectation.
Australian Release Date: 29th October
Director: Terry Gilliam
Cast: Christopher Plummer, Heath Ledger, Andrew Garfield, Lily Cole, Verne Troyer, Tom Waits, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Colin Farrell
