I love everything about this film as it is now.
But, it just hit me: were all the jumps around in time helpful or hurtful to the actual story?
Did it do that for any REAL reason, or just to be cool, confusing seeming, and pre and post predictive?
Other than making it a very interesting, and thought provoking (as in, "OKay, okay, why is this happening?") structure, did the jumps help at all? I'm thinking it didn't.
Yes. They were part of the story and its themes.
Let's be bad guys.
i feel that the jumping around, kinda added a sense of interconnectedness to the three story arcs, that one cannot escape their own karma/destiny, no matter what, one must learn to accept the path they have in life. however, i can also see how the constant jumping around was a little much at times; like, let one story arc become more perminant, b4 you jump around, just as i was getting emetionally drawn into this particular art.
shareMy theory: The film appears to jump through time, but it is actually jumping through minds (perception).
1. The reality of Tom (the doctor) actively trying to save Izzy (his wife), but failing to do so.
2. The Mayan/Spaniard portions, which represent/enact Izzy's novel.
3. Everything in the bubble is Tom's spiritual/psychological journey represented symbolically as he tries to finish Izzy's novel.
And the final culmination...is whatever the viewer wants it to be.
I hope that Tom was able to accept his loss and find peace, and I believe through this process he finds the strength to finish the novel, and by reflecting on their life together he managed to finish the novel properly.
"Buy the ticket, take the ride." --Raoul Duke, the great shark hunter
My theory: The film appears to jump through time, but it is actually jumping through minds (perception).
1. The reality of Tom (the doctor) actively trying to save Izzy (his wife), but failing to do so.
2. The Mayan/Spaniard portions, which represent/enact Izzy's novel.
3. Everything in the bubble is Tom's spiritual/psychological journey represented symbolically as he tries to finish Izzy's novel.
And the final culmination...is whatever the viewer wants it to be.
I hope that Tom was able to accept his loss and find peace, and I believe through this process he finds the strength to finish the novel, and by reflecting on their life together he managed to finish the novel properly.
Spot on. Each time I watch the film is becomes even more readily apparent the the space sequences are allegorical in nature representing his spiritual journey. So happy to see another person championing this interpretation; I even take it a step further and believe that we are witnessing Tommy's final moments alive as the events of the film progress. His soul is of course heading to Xibalba as Izzy's monologue stated earlier in the film. Understanding this is critical to getting why the time periods blend into each other visually and aurally. It is to indicate that they are "happening" simultaneously in his mind.
Without understanding that the space bubble is an abstract representation of Tommy's mind/soul as he approaches death, much of the film fails to make sense, especially (among other scenes) the hospital scenes bookending Izzy's death and the final trip to the lab immediately following the funeral. He is alone in the lab for just a moment, the lights al suddenly go out, he looks around with confusion, and then light floods the room from above as stares straight upwards to Xibalba. Clearly this didn't happen in real life, just like he didn't actually see his own breath in the hospital or the bubble in concurrent shots; this is the language of the film subtly telling us that we are seeing a dying man reflecting on the last few days he shared with his wife as his soul journeys toward the other side.
After all, death is the road to awe, right? Sure seems he was awestruck in those last few minutes to me.
There are many other scenes of course, such as the tree root/Izzy's leg transition.
I think that Aronofsky's choice to represent the tortured mind of a scientist whose life is spinning out of control in this abstract manner is absolutely brilliant and is what so consistently draws me back to the film.
It isn't time jumping. It's the book Izzie was writing. She asked Tom to finish the book after she died. The future parts are the parts he wrote. He has a more literal scientific mind, so while her parts were romantic and historical, his were futuristic and literal - actually traveling to the nebula I stead of it being representational as it was to the Mayans.
sharedoes the FIRST FATHER thing near the end actually support that it is all JUST a book?
If the monkey WAS cured for real, in real world present time line, isn't the tree of life real, and his journey at the end with the tree ship real, having lived forever?
I realize all this has already been debated to death, as interpretations, so no need to reaply. :)
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