There’s something unexpectedly coherent and pleasant about Terry Gilliam’s 'The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.' And that’s quite surprising, given that “coherent” and “pleasant” are the last words that should come to mind when talking about a Gilliam film, and specifically this one.
Doctor Parnassus is the latest from the ever-eccentric Gilliam, one of the few directors who has consistently let his imagination run wild – with the Monty Python movies, Brazil, and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen just a few examples from his filmography.
When Gilliam started shooting Doctor Parnassus, it instantly became one of the most anticipated movies of the year, thanks largely to its avid promotion by fans who follow the director’s work religiously (and there are many out there). Moreover, when the lead actor Heath Ledger died in the middle of filming, Doctor Parnassus became another notch on Gilliam’s string of cursed films – the most notorious of which is The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, a movie in production hell for over a decade now.
Gilliam was ready to shelve production following Ledger’s death, but three of the late actor’s friends stepped in to play the parts that had not yet been filmed before the tragedy. If you’re an A-list Hollywood actor, your friends tend to be of the same caliber and, in this case, included Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell.
While such stop-gap replacements would have been impossible in other films, the magical story and the fantastic nature of Doctor Parnassus meant there were no problems in drafting in such hasty replacements.
The film centers around a traveling theater troupe, led by Doctor Parnassus (Christopher Plummer), and consisting of his teenaged daughter, Valentina (Lily Cole), sleight of hand expert Anton (Andrew Garfield), who has the hots for Valentina, and the uptight midget, Percy (Verne Troyer).
Ledger through the looking glass
Traveling around London in an old wagon, the troupe performs an old-fashioned freak show where the main attraction is the Imaginarium. In a bizarre blend of themes from Alice in Wonderland and Lost, Parnassus concentrates on creating and manipulating strange worlds through a person’s dreams and fears behind a looking glass.
This is a world created by Gilliam, and the fantastic worlds in the Imaginarium can only compete with those created by Tim Burton. Once people go through the looking glass, they say goodbye to laws of nature, time and space.
The story of Parnassus doesn’t end there. He’s apparently more than one thousand years old after a deal with the Devil (a brilliant Tom Waits), who, as part of the bargain, will take possession of Valentina’s soul when she turns 16.
When the group finds Tony (Ledger) hanging from a bridge, they welcome an amnesiac criminal into their group, albeit with mixed feelings. Is he really a criminal? Are his intentions good? But Tony’s charms and uncanny insight into contemporary show business make him an asset for the troupe.
Depp, Law, and Farrell play different versions of Tony as he travels into Doctor Parnassus’ Imaginarium. The magic dominating the story allows four actors to play the same person, and at certain scenes, it even makes sense. Tony’s transition from Ledger to Depp is especially impressive, and you feel as if this was the intention all along.
Farrell’s take on Tony is the lowest point of the movie as his parts are over the top and, at times, overshadow Ledger’s portrayal of Tony. All in all, Doctor Parnassus is a rollercoaster ride everyone with a streak of wild imagination should experience.
Originally published in Hürriyet Daily News on 2 April 2010
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