Directed by Terry Gilliam.

Starring Christopher Plummer, Heath Ledger, Tom Waits

122 minutes

   Terry Gilliam’s repertoire of unfettered fantasy expands with this very uneven, bloated modification of the classic Faustian parable. Dr. Parnassus (Christopher Plummer, looking just a shade under 1000) is a decrepit, often inebriated Faustian figure—an ancient seer who takes his horse-drawn traveling caravan of wonders across modern-day London, offering the curious a chance to enter his magic mirror (the Imaginarium) so that they might experience mental landscapes previously unavailable to them. Centuries ago, Dr. Parnassus had entered into a pact with Mr. Nick (Tom Waits), a dapper, bowler-hatted devil in spats. He had agreed to give up his daughter Valentina on her sixteenth birthday in exchange for perennial youth, and it is now almost time for Nick to collect what the magus owes. However, Parnassus manages to secure another pact with the devil, who seems to be chronically given to re-negotiations, and this pact involves a contest to be the first to find five victims. Parnassus has the questionable help of Tony, an amnesiac in a white suit, whom Parnassus and his troupe had revived from death by hanging under Battersea Bridge. The plot gets more convoluted with each minute, and though the special effects are often gorgeous—with a few less than excellent CGI sequences—the film does not cohere well.

   The cast of characters is interesting. Besides the auburn-haired Botticelli virgin Valentina (Lily Cole), there are Percy, the midget retainer (Verne Troyer), and Anton (Andrew Garfield), an insecure sleight-of-hand member of Parnassus’ troupe. Then, of course, there’s the late Heath Ledger’s Tony, a role that had to be re-conceived after Ledger’s tragically premature death. Gilliam cleverly prepares the ground for his new concept by suggesting that when peering into the Imaginarium, Tony gets radically transformed—sufficiently enough to metamorphose into Johnny Depp, then Jude Law, and finally Colin Farrell. More of a devolution than an evolution, going from romantic charm (Depp) to dark ambition (Law) before finally turning into a sleazy villain (Farrell).

   The acting of most of the principals is certainly competent, though it is a considerable strain to believe that Plummer could ever look youthful again. Ledger has an intensity that is sorely missed after he disappears, though, in taking his place briefly, Johnny Depp adds a new light romantic note to the story. Andrew Garfield scores well as Anton, as does Verne Troyer as Percy. But Lily Cole is disappointingly flat, and her daughter-father relationship with Plummer’s Parnassus lacks chemistry and depth. The main problem, however, is not with any infelicities of acting; it is the fundamental nature of the tale. Visually, there is much to admire in the film—though, probably, no more than in Brazil or The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, two of Gilliam’s earlier films. For those who like their cinema to have skyscraping ladders, hot air balloons in the shape of a human head, the Devil turning into a giant hooded cobra, or Mr. Nick stepping from one candy-floss cloud to another, this is a movie of strange romance and eerie sequences. Film aficionados will also recognize references to Hitchcock, Welles, Fellini, Cocteau, and even Monty Python—which is both good and bad, for there is a trap in visual cleverness when the story gets lost in the cinematographic clutter. So, the film ends up being a smoke and mirrors fable, where the human characters count for far less than they should.   

pic 1: Heath Ledger as Tony

pic 2: Christopher Plummer (Dr. Parnassus), Tom Waits (Mr. Nick)



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