Early in "The Fountain," writer-director Darren Aronofsky's flatulent dissertation on the benefits of dying, someone says, "Death is the path to awe." Aw, shucks, isn't that what suicide bombers are led to believe?

Terrorism isn't on the filmmaker's mind, though. Aronofsky wants us to believe in a story about seeking the fountain of youth that covers three incarnations from the days of Spanish conquistadors to the present day and forward to the 26th century.

It has big names in Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz and Ellen Burstyn; fantastical sets featuring Mayan warriors, the tree of life and a bubble space ship that travels amid the stars; and a frame of reference that draws from the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. There's a biblical puzzle that needs deciphering, so if Warner Bros. Pictures in the U.S. and 20th Century Fox internationally can somehow tie a "Da Vinci Code" reference into their marketing, they might snag a quick boxoffice return. Otherwise, "Zardoz" anyone?

It might all be the fevered imagination of a medical researcher named Tommy (Jackman), whose gorgeous wife, Izzy (Weisz), has terminal brain cancer. He doesn't want her to die, naturally enough, and he thinks he might be able to prevent it if he can just get the right treatment for her.
He and his team are working on curing brain tumors, so he's in with a chance. Their work is on chimpanzees, though, which means he can just about get away with using an untested compound on an old chimp named Donovan, whereas he wouldn't be allowed to do that with his wife.

The compound has been brought back from the rain forest where in a previous life Tomas was a Spanish soldier trying to save Queen Isabella from wicked inquisitors. The Inquisition held that most people were sinners and headed straight for hell anyway, which lacks awe in any helpful sense.

When he's not being Tommy or Tomas, Jackman morphs into the future as Tom, an astronaut who resembles David Carradine in "Kung Fu" but without the pigtail. He wafts about in a bubble space ship and loiters near a large tree, the sap of which he hopes will save not only Queen Isabella but also Izzy.

His wife, meanwhile, has written a book (in perfect handwriting with no mistakes) about the Mayan connection between the tree of life and a nebula in space that, when it dies, brings about all kinds of new life.

The thing is, Izzy has come to accept that she's dying and is rather looking forward to it. There's lots of sonorous violin music to underline the wisdom of this, though it doesn't keep Tom from poncing about doing tai chi and yoga in a desperate attempt to find her a cure.

Jackman does everything required of him, and his range is quite admirable, while Weisz, who has nothing to prove, does looking gorgeous very nicely.

There seems to have been a missed opportunity with Donovan the chimp, who recovers nicely from his tumor. No awe in death for him. Pity they don't let him sing "Mellow Yellow," though.