The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

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The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

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The Imaginarium of Doctor Parn...

Heath Ledger, Verne Troyer, Lily Cole, Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is a fantastical morality tale, set in the present-day. It tells the story of Dr. Parnassus and his extraordinary ‘Imaginarium’, a travelling show where members of ...( read more  read more... )the audience get an irresistible opportunity to choose between light and joy or darkness and gloom.

Blessed with the extraordinary gift of guiding the imaginations of others, Doctor Parnassus is cursed with a dark secret. An inveterate gambler, thousands of years ago he made a bet with the devil, Mr. Nick, in which he won immortality. Centuries later, on meeting his one true love, Dr. Parnassus made another deal with the devil, trading his immortality for youth, on condition that when his daughter reached her 16th birthday, she would become the property of Mr Nick.

Valentina is now rapidly approaching this ‘coming of age’ milestone and Dr. Parnassus is desperate to protect her from her impending fate. Mr. Nick arrives to collect but, always keen to make a bet, renegotiates the wager. Now the winner of Valentina will be determined by whoever seduces the first five souls. Enlisting a series of wild, comical and compelling characters in his journey, Dr. Parnassus promises his daughter’s hand in marriage to the man that helps him win.

In this captivating, explosive and wonderfully imaginative race against time, Dr. Parnassus must fight to save his daughter in a never-ending landscape of surreal obstacles – and undo the mistakes of his past once and for all!

Id: 11061919

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The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Recent Reviews
  • rebvodka042099
    December 5, 2009
    rebvodka042099
    I was so highly anticipating to watch this. Not only because of Terry Gilliam's direction, but for the cast that gathers every single actor in Hollywood who is (or was in Ledger's case) actually talented.

    It started off quite promising and I had no issues with it - but af...( read more)ter the parallel world with the mirror began, it became frivolous and nothing more than a movie trying to impress you, even though it lacks substantial script and character quality. Depp and Farrell are the two versions of Ledger I loved the most, Lily Cole was excellent for a first-timer in the business, but story-wise, it's deeply indifferent. I was bored, it seemed to drag on forever, and it wasn't funny nor sad nor engaging nor anything beyond a visual masterpiece. I've loved many of Gilliam's previous movies but this one seemed to go too far and reach nowhere in the end.

    And at the end you're not even sure what the point was. I can't remember what they were trying to say, and I can hardly remember if it even had a soundtrack or anything beyond some Burton-like special effects. People say that you need to have a vivid imagination to see this movie with an open mind. But believe me, my imagination is running wild and my mind is as open as the sky, and I didn't like it despite.
  • PvtCaboose91
    November 23, 2009
    PvtCaboose91
    "Can you put a price on your dreams?"


    To begin this review on a clichéd but nonetheless justified note, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (the latest motion picture of Terry Gilliam - best known as a piece of the Monty Python puzzle) has been saddled with an u

    ...( read more)nreasonable burden. The fact that this movie features the final acting performance of the late Heath Ledger (who passed away during filming) will likely throw audiences and critics off the scent. Audiences viewing this movie on account of Ledger (or Johnny Depp, who is given a brief cameo appearance) will walk away disappointed - The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is not a Heath Ledger film; it's a Terry Gilliam picture, meaning that it's a true oddity of a movie as opposed to a mainstream fantasy fare. Gilliam is a filmmaker recognised for creating peculiar cinematic flights of fancy with strange scenarios and trippy dream-like sequences (he was behind Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Brazil, 12 Monkeys, etc), so for The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus the filmmaker has cooked up an elaborate, fantastical tale of travelling theatre performances, the afflictions of mortality, and a portal (flimsily disguised as a mirror) that ushers you into a world of your dreams.


    The titular Dr. Parnassus (Plummer) is a centuries-old showman who travels around contemporary London in a rickety horse-drawn carriage with a troupe of performers resembling a medieval pantomime. Their performance centres on a magic mirror, through which audiences can enter a surreal world that projects their innermost desires. From there, they are faced with a choice: succumb to their baser, more cowardly wishes, or opt to follow their more noble side. But little do Parnassus' actors know that he made a deal with the devil: in exchange for eternal life, Parnassus agrees to give the devil (played by Waits) his first child on her 16th birthday. And that birthday is fast approaching...


    Terry Gilliam, it would seem, is a cursed filmmaker - he has suffered some horrendously bad luck during most of his projects. Brazil was recut by Universal, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote was shut down completely after being beset with problems, and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen was dumped by Columbia. When Ledger died in January 2008, it was all too familiar. Gilliam's response to the tragedy was admirable - since the film is split into two worlds, fantasy and reality, and the footage featuring Ledger constituted the "real world" sequences, Gilliam was able to retool the script and hire three additional actors to play Tony (Ledger's character) in the fantasy sections: Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell (all of whom donated their pay to Ledger's daughter). The explanation behind the different appearances of Tony is that in the imaginary world, he becomes a projection of his own, and other people's desires. It's a seamless solution to a terrible setback, and the film as a whole comes across as remarkably cohesive.


    A speech delivered by Johnny Depp at one stage appears to pay direct tribute to Ledger - Depp stands beside a river as miniature boats float by which display images of celebrities who died young (like James Dean and Rudolph Valentino). He eulogises them as never growing old or ugly, and explains that they'll survive as "gods" in the mind of the public.
    Unlike Ledger's scene-stealing turn in The Dark Knight, his character in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is more low-key, though he's still captivating and full of energy. However Gilliam's film is not exactly the most fitting end to Ledger's career - it's not that he isn't good, but that this is an ensemble piece and he's no more interesting than anyone else around him (he only receives top billing out of sheer courtesy). In fact, there's no sign of Ledger for half an hour until the inescapably morbid sequence when he's found hanging under a bridge. Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell submit perfectly adequate work as the alternative appearances of Tony. To their credit, they all manage to embody the character and it's easy to accept the adjustment (especially if one remembers that in dreams, people often look like somebody else).


    The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus was scripted by Gilliam and Charles McKeown (who worked together previously for Brazil and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen). In many ways, this is a typical Gilliam film - from the style (the use of hallucinatory imagery) to the very Gilliam-esque theme that there's redemption to be found in imagination and dreaming. For this venture, the writer-director is given the limitless capabilities of CGI. Gilliam has produced sumptuous imagery using more old-school effects, and therefore the finest computer-generated moments of this movie are utterly dazzling. The melding together of modern London urbanscapes with the ancient production design of the Parnassus carriage and the CGI wonderlands beyond the mirror is a spectacle of the highest regard.


    The fantasyland bursts with pure strangeness; allowing Gilliam the freedom to be his usual self. In fact, there are numerous sequences which feel like old Monty Python animations that have been enhanced with contemporary CGI. Unfortunately, though, for all the extravagant imagery, the film lacks characters to genuinely care about or relate to. A key problem also emerges during the middle section when the emotional core fades and nothing close to a satisfying or workable story emerges. Gilliam may have an eye for enthralling imagery, but he also has a tin ear for dialogue - the characters spout some pretty dull lines from time to time. While some have criticised the story as messy, one simply needs to pay attention - it's a perfectly straightforward narrative presented in an admirably unconventional and unpredictable fashion, and it asks an audience to draw their own conclusions. There's no problem with a movie that asks an audience to engage their brain.


    Terry Gilliam remains a fascinating moviemaker with the ability to amaze. Happily, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is a spellbinding dosage of classic Gilliam. To lose a leading actor partway through production and have the creative intelligence required to retool the narrative in a way that still makes sense is a testament to Gilliam's artistic tenacity that makes his work so interesting.
  • SarahG1988
    November 7, 2009
    SarahG1988
    The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is a fantastical morality tale, set in the present day. It tells the story of Dr Parnassus and his extraordinary 'Imaginarium', a travelling show where members of the audience get an irresistible opportunity to choose between light and joy o...( read more)r darkness and gloom. Blessed with the extraordinary gift of guiding the imaginations of others, Dr Parnassus is cursed with a dark secret.

    The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is a film which I have been waiting to see for a long while. Not just because it contains Heath Ledger's last performance but because it's Terry Gilliam's latest film.

    TMODP is an extroidnary tale in that you can not take your eyes off the screen. There's so much attention paid to the 4 characters that we see than your'e imediatly into the film. Just perfect to watch. The story seems quite complex at times but for some reason it all makes sense in the end. With some great great performances in this film and some of the best cinematography I've seen this year, it creates the idea world of "the imaginirum of Doctor Parnassus.

    As I watched the film, I couldnt help but think about the extrodinary syblosim that is part of this film. The mind of DP, is reprensenting something symbolic for every character in the film. Every character has this different imagination but creates such authenticity; something not often seen in mainstream films.

    More to follow....
  • ash10692
    October 29, 2009
    ash10692
    Heath Ledger's final performance is a memorable one.
  • harrycaul
    October 25, 2009
    harrycaul
    Given its troubled production history, this was always going to be a bit of a mess. It begins well enough with our introduction to Dr Parnassus (Christopher Plummer) and his Imaginarium, a travelling theatre whose magic mirror is the gateway to a fantasy world, wherein the good d...( read more)octor fights an eternal battle with the Devil, Mr Nick (Tom Waits), for the souls of his patrons. In return for the immortality granted him by Mr Nick many years before, Parnassus must imminently forfeit his daughter, Valentina (Lily Cole), on the day of her 16th birthday. Unless, that is, he can collect five fresh souls before his rival. Faust meets Through the Looking-Glass meets Rumpelstiltskin. So far, so good.

    I hate to say this but I think the movie loses its way with the arrival of Heath Ledger's character, a mysterious stranger rescued by Valentina from an apparent suicide attempt. Ledger's performance is somewhat inconsistent: in certain scenes, he's fine; in others, he seems totally abstracted. It's as if Gilliam felt he needed to use every last frame of Ledger that he already had in the can, and I couldn't help wondering how much of this material would have made the final cut if the star had lived to complete this project. The use of Depp, Law and Farrell to double for Ledger on the other side of the mirror didn't really work for me either because I didn't feel that Gilliam made enough effort to account for these transformations in the script. However, I enjoyed the director's satirical digs at the expense of modern Britain, from binge drinking to political correctness, police brutality to New Labour treachery. The film is always interesting but, compared to, say, Time Bandits, it's never quite enchanting.
  • time2panic
    December 15, 2009
    time2panic
    the last film heath ever filmed of course i wanna watch it!
  • josearaujo68
    December 15, 2009
    josearaujo68
    que dios te bendiga hoy mañana y siempre
  • threehundredmls
    December 15, 2009
    threehundredmls
    I've not seen it before
  • visayajean
    December 15, 2009
    visayajean
    dirty,butinteresting
  • Kerridee
    December 14, 2009
    Kerridee
    Johnny Depp? I'm in : )
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