When I first read about The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, it was before Heath Ledger's untimely death. I was overly excited to see it because I was (and am) not only a huge fan of Ledgers, but also of Terry Gilliam and fantasy movies. It is hard to find good fantasy these days. The last good one I saw was another Gilliam effort starring Ledger (The Brothers Grimm), but Imaginarium was just what I needed.
If you did not know, Ledger passed away during the filming of the movie. Soon, the film was getting more press than it probably would have. Everyone was waiting with baited breath to see what would happen with the last footage starring Ledger would bring. I was apprehensive how the movie would turn out since everything I read made it seem like there hadn't been much shot. Then Gilliam brought in three other actors (Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell) to finish Ledger's role. I was afraid it would going to turn into Plan 9 From Outer Space.
However, Gilliam managed to pull it off. Imaginarium was not absolutely brillant, but it delivered. [SPOILERS AHEAD] Doctor Parnassus (Christopher Plummer) has the ability to let people into his mind or the imaginarium where their wildest dreams come true. This allowed the last Tony (Ledger's character) scenes to be easily played by other actors. Three different people's worlds have different versions of Tony's and it works perfectly.
[SPOILERS AHEAD] Unfortunately, I felt that the ending would have been different if not for this unfortunate turn of events. Tony probably would have been redeemed, but instead he ends up continuing with his old ways and is killed by an angry mob when they discover he stole money from his charity. The ending ends up being bittersweet since Valentina (Lily Cole) and Anton (Andrew Garfield) end up together and away from the crazy world of the doctor.
You really have to use your imagination to watch this film. It doesn't take much to be taken away in Gilliam's world and you totally buy that all these men are Tony. It was a devestation that Ledger passed away because he was a talented actor, and I know that he would have went on to make many more brillant films. R.I.P. Heath Ledger
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