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The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Release Date 16 Oct 2009 29 Mar 2010

User rating
Currently 3/5 Stars.

Critic rating

98% of raters want to see this movie

Certificate: 12A

Genre:

"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" is a fantastical morality tale, set in the present-day. It tells the story of Dr. Parnassus and his extraordinary 'Imaginarium', a traveling show where members of the audience get an irresistible opportunity to choose between light and joy or darkness and gloom. Blessed with the extraordinary gift of guiding the imaginations of others, Doctor Parnassus is cursed with a dark secret. An inveterate gambler, thousands of years ago he made a bet with the devil, Mr. Nick, in which he won immortality. Centuries later, on meeting his one true love, Dr. Parnassus made another deal with the devil, trading his immortality for youth, on condition that when his daughter reached her 16th birthday, she would become the property of Mr Nick. Valentina is now rapidly approaching this 'coming of age' milestone and Dr. Parnassus is desperate to protect her from her impending fate. Mr. Nick arrives to collect but, always keen to make a bet, renegotiates the wager. Now the winner of Valentina will be determined by whoever seduces the first five souls. Enlisting a series of wild, comical and compelling characters in his journey, Dr. Parnassus promises his daughter's hand in marriage to the man that helps him win.

Writers:
Terry Gilliam | Charles Mckeown

Producers:
Amy Gilliam

Directors:
Terry Gilliam

Movies.ie Critic Review

Our critics review will be added soon.

Avg User rating
Currently 3/5 Stars.

User Reviews

- Currently 3/5 Stars.
Dezo

Very strange film but still a good enjoyable watch. Good performance from Ledger with Depp providing good cover, Law was competent & Farrell was just odd & can't shake off that Dub accent.
- Currently 4/5 Stars.
princesskia
- Currently 4/5 Stars.
edible_animal

Beautiful, ambiguous, ambitious, a visual feast.
- Currently 4/5 Stars.
niamhsmith

Brilliant, wonderful and strange movie, I loved every minute of it and would definitely go back to see it again before it's gone from the big screen. Colin Farrell did a great job as a stand in for Ledger, Depp was good too though in it for too short a time. Law was not great but I'm not a big fan. Go see this movie, if only for the beautiful Lily Cole :)
- Currently 3/5 Stars.
sarahtheissen

Very strange, yet entertaining at times. However, not an amazing movie. The story as well as the ending was too confusing.
- Currently 3/5 Stars.
Humbug

Interesting movie and quite entertaining at times, but unfortunitly there was nothing too special about it. Some amazing visuals at times and the Tom Waits character was very good but overall i wasn't too impressed. The ending was a little confusing too, i'm still trying to work it out.
- Currently 2/5 Stars.
dawiseguy

well...how do i say this....i suppose "hmmm" kinda sums it all up. i am a fan of terry gilliam's work and whilst i did sniff a rat with this, i kept optimistic and went along with an open mind. what proceeded was a messy, disjointed, rough, unfinished movie at best. whilst the idea was great and the story was superb, it never ever lives up to the idea and feels too rushed, too slap hazard and unfortunately, poorly executed. obviously the death of heath ledger during filming was somewhat of a blow to events, but even still, heath's performace wasn't quite believable, his accent was ropey (kept flitting between english, cockney and australian?) and just didn't seem right in the role in the slightest. johnny depp's minor appearance outshone jude law and colin farrell by far and lily cole should stick to modelling (even if i think she does look "odd"!). that being said, it got 2 stars for effort, some of the scenes "behind the mirror" were fabulous, although they did little to make up for the rest of the movie. tom waits was great though, and christopher plummer had his moments, but aprt from depp, the rest of the cast were forgettable. sad and unfortunate, but this may be terry's last escapade.
- Currently 3/5 Stars.
pkinsella

You cant help but associate this with Ledgers death when watching. Unfortunately not a great film. Some dazzling effects and individual performances but the story isnt great.
- Currently 3/5 Stars.
chopper

Its hard not to think about the awful circumstances surrounding this movie. The end result is quite poor, part of me thinks it would have been an even WORSE film if it had followed its original plan. See it if you must, but not worth wasting money on.