A wise man chanting in an Eastern monastery wins an unwise bet with the devil and gains immortality.
Centuries into his longevity, he meets the love of a very long lifetime and decides on another bargain with Mr Nick, as the Devil is called in Terry Gilliam’s latest artistic fable The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, which is, sadly, Heath Ledger’s last film.
The good but greedy Doctor Parnassus (Christopher Plummer) promises his daughter to Mr Nick when she turns 16. Now Valentina (model Lily Cole in her debut) is on the cusp of that age. Nick, played with a grave insouciance by Tom Waits, is hanging around and Parnassus is fretting.
Doubling down, the mystical codger and his nemesis make yet another bargain: Whoever gains five souls first wins. Their marks are folk who agree to walk through Parnassus’ magic mirror, where they are eventually faced with a decision, right or wrong.
Traveling the more iffy byways of modern-day London, Parnassus and his troupe of actors call out to passers-by from their mobile stage. Many of those enticed by the barkers are dodgy characters themselves.
An ugly, menacing drunk introduces us to the altering magic of the Imaginarium.
Gilliam was in the midst of filming this artist fable (Parnassus is a true believer in the eternal power of storytelling) when Ledger died of an overdose of prescription pills. So it is difficult not to treat this wounded work with special care. The final credit reads, “A film from Heath Ledger and Friends.”
Ledger arrives on the scene hanging from a bridge. The mysterious Tony is rescued, somewhat reluctantly, and slowly becomes a member of the wandering troupe.
This doesn’t entirely sit right with the two menfolk who round out Parnassus’ motley crew: Anton and the irascible Percy. The first, played winningly by Andrew Garfield, hankers for Valentina and a life beyond the caravan. The latter is Parnassus’ gruff if
pint-sized associate portrayed by Verne Troyer, who has dined often on this sort of mini-meanie turn.
Once Gilliam regained his bearings after Ledger’s death, he decided on a solution that makes the fantastical adventure more so. He cast Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell as three versions of Tony, once he enters the Imaginarium.
Their strange yet game performances are a tribute to the spirit of Ledger.
Ledger brings an intensity to the role, but Tony himself is intentionally a cipher. He has amnesia. The mesmerizing performance here belongs to Plummer.
The film is visually extravagant — as suits the maker of Brazil and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. It begins in an ancient temple and time travels to the grimy margins of a post-industrial London.
As for the worlds discovered in the Imaginarium, they are dreamscapes, broodingly dark or candy colored. The stuff one expects after falling through the looking glass. And this adventure marks a renewed collaboration between the director and the co-writer of those two wild rides, Charles McKeown.
Will the quasi-Eastern mystic luck out or will Mr Nick triumph? And what will become of Valentina and Tony? The journey to answers is a winding, though not fully satisfying, one.
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is a strange trip. It teases with magnificently tantalizing moments that don’t quite add up to one grand insight. Which, come to think of it, is an epiphany of its own.
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