The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

I was very sad when this movie finally came out after, all the buzz surrounding it and it being Heath Ledger's final movie, because it seemed to open with no fanfare and disappear just as quietly. But now it's on Netflix and I finally get the chance to see Terry Gilliam's latest work. And having seen it, I unfortunately understand why everyone kind of just quietly let it go.

As simply as I can manage it, the story is about a man named Dr. Parnassus who made a deal with the devil to gain eternal life thousands of years ago. Dr. Parnassus has the extraordinary ability to manipulate minds and let people see inside their imaginations. He forms a little circus act with a young man named Anton, the crass midget Percy, and his daughter Valentina in order to try to lure people into a mirror and give them a choice between either good or evil. If they choose evil, their soul goes to the devil. If good, their soul is freed. But there's something the good doctor is hiding. According to his deal with the devil, any child of his belongs to the devil when they turn 16. Coincidentally, it's only a week until Valentina's 16th birthday, and now Parnassus has to find a way to try to save her.

Enter a mysterious man (Heath Ledger) they find hanging under a bridge who survived by means of a pipe lodged in his throat. With no memory of who he is or why he was hung, the man stays with the company and tries to help them in their endeavor by luring in women with his attractiveness essentially. Meanwhile, as the day draws closer, the devil appears to Parnassus and makes a wager. Valentina will stay with whoever claims 5 souls first. And from then on...it's the madcap world known as Gilliamland. Not that the rest of it isn't Gilliam, it just gets real crazy from then on.

Of course, much was made about the fact that Ledger died halfway through the making of this movie, meaning other actors stepped in to take his place in certain parts, namely Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell. Surprisingly, they fit in quite well, as they only appear when Ledger's character enters the Imaginarium with other people, taking on the appearance of what people want him to look like. Basically, it's already so weird that the shifting faces make perfect sense, and the stand-ins do a great job of mimicking Ledger's actions and mannerisms.

As for the rest, I honestly don't really know what to say about it. If you've seen Gilliam's work before, you pretty much know exactly what you're getting into. A weird setting with a weird plot, some weird direction (Ledger constantly stroking Valentina's face looked very weird and very contrived) and a lot of very weird visuals. The actors are good enough (besides the often awkward Vern Troyer), but it doesn't really matter because they're not the focus, they're just delivering the vision put in front of them. And as with, unfortunately, most of Gilliam's work, that vision is so distorted and almost incomprehensible that it isn't so much entertaining or good as head-scratching.

Now, it certainly is interesting, and it's watchable enough, but in the end it just felt like this odd take on a battle between good and evil didn't have a point. It was just an interesting journey with a lot of fantastical images. I did come away with a somewhat positive feeling about it, but also wishing it had been something more...substantial.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus gets a 5/10.