(Updated 23rd January 2007)

This is the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page for The Fountain. A lot of this text was generated from replies to the competition set at the end of 2006.

Q. How can Tom live off the tree in the future by eating it, when he was turned into a plant when he ate the tree as the Conquistador?

A. If we watch closely we see that Tom as the Astronaut in the future year of 2500 does not drink the sap of the Tree as he did as the Conquistador. The Conquistador seemed to hurt the tree as he stabbed it, and he took a lot of sap from it, consumed with greed. The sap of the tree made flowers sprout from the ground, and it made flowers sprout from inside him. But as the Astronaut, Tom is not greedy, and he takes only small parts of the tree at a time. And he does not take the sap, but only the bark. Another clue could be that the as the Astronaut, the tree itself is dying, it has no branches, and only one piece of bark that has those hairs attracted to human touch. It seems Tom has been taking pieces of the tree for so long, it too is dying. We can only assume that Tom found the tree after the death of Izzy, and lived off it for a thousand and five hundred years, taking a piece of it every so often, and slowly killing it.

Q. Is the tree that Tom is floating through space with in the year 2500 the same tree as he found in 1500?

No.

The tree seems to be that which is created from the seed, planted where Izzy is buried.

Q. Was the story of the Conquistador and Queen Isabella real or just part of the story Izzy wrote?

It seems that Izzy was somehow remembering her previous life and writing it as a fictional novel. It is proven that this did happen when the Mayan king mistakes the Conquistador as First Father when Tom from 2500 appears before him as the Conquistador. At the time he seems to be living as his future self in all of his lifetimes. Tom in 2500 does say in the beginning of the movie that he trusts Izzy, who at the time the tree and appearing to him as her old selves. He says she is taking him through time, and we witness that as the movie, so she is taking him back to his previous life as the conquistador and Tom as the doctor in 2000. Tom is also visited by Izzy in her two lives, as Izzy from 2000 and Queen Isabella from 1500, further evidence that it all really did happen.

Q. How did Tom in the future get his ring just as the star in the nebula exploded?

Tom at the very end of the movie in 2500 as he is floating up towards the star seems to be existing in all three of his lifetimes at once, as he has been taken backwards in time by Izzy, who is then the tree. He is shown to come before the Mayan king just before he kills the Conquistador, or him in 1500. The Conquistador then goes to drink the sap of the tree, dying by becoming a patch of flowers and dropping the ring. Tom in 2000 also loses his ring. If Tom in 2500 exists in all these times at the same time, it can be assumed he took them from his Conquistador self and his year 2000 self to have it at the end of the movie.

Q. How can the end of the story be summarised?

Present day Tom and Future Tom are the same person. At the end of the film, Future Tom says "I'm going to Die" as he smiles, now knowing in Death, he and Izzi will live forever. Then we return to 1500AD when the Mayan Preist is swinging the flaming sword at Tomas, but he stops because he see Future Tom now ready for death. That's why the Mayan gives his life to Tomas, and he then drinks the sap and becomes one with creation.

The last thing that Izzi wrote in the book was the flaming sword swinging at Tomas. So the sword swinging at Tomas must be the begining of Chapter 12. Tom finishing the book is a metaphor for accepting his own death and be being reborn.

The ring is important as well: "Take this ring, it is a symbol of our love, wear it when you reach the Garden of Eden, and when you return, I will be your Eve...". Tom losing his ring, is the loss of his love for Izzi. At the end, when realising in death that they both can live together forever, the ring is returned/found.

If you'd like to add a question and answer here, then drop me a line.