The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
As of October 2007, this film is "deep into pre-production". (FilmIck)

Concept Drawing from Dreams








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 travelling 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, Dr Parnassus is cursed with a dark secret. Long ago he made a bet with the devil, Mr Nick, in which he won immortality. Many 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 first-born reached its 16th birthday he or she would become the property of Mr Nick.

His daughter, 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. In this captivating, explosive and wonderfully imaginative race against time, Dr Parnassus must fight to save his daughter in a never-ending landscape of surreal obstacles - and undo the mistakes of his past once and for all...

-- by by Phil Stubbs, Dreams Fanzine



Below is a plot summary, taken from an early version of the script that was obtained by FilmIck. *Italicized text is quoted directly from the script.


Detailed Plot Points
'Four big horses' pull a 'hulking great wagon' - windowless and apparently driverless - down an urban terrace, then on past a couple snogging in a parked car and into a 'dingy backstreet'. This is where the wagon first astonishes us, opening 'like a dark menacing flower unfolding its petals', transforming into 'an old fashioned and very shabby travelling theatre' - called the Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus.

The newly unfurled theatre attracts an audience that consists mostly of a drunks who are leaving a nearby nightclub.

While Parnassus meditates atop a glass plinth - to give a cheap, cheesy illusion of levitation - Valentina, Percy and Anton play out a scene in which Anton calls out an invitation to their:



And he means that literally.

One of the drunks is Tony (previously Martin?? in an early draft), who is attracted to the beautiful Valentina; intoxicated, he storms onto the stage and lustfully chases her through a through the glass of a prop mirror.

Valentina and Tony enter living forest, but she evades him and returns through the mirror back onto the stage in the real world. Left behind in Parnassus' dreamscape, Tony is lost, confused and vomiting drunkenly. The script goes on:


Act I


Distraught and unable to continue, Tony looks up to find a fork in the road. One path leads to a beautiful vista where 'in the distance a light is glowing. It’s the sun, rising above a rocky cactus strewn landscape. The music is beautiful. Ethereal' The second path leads to 'a roadside bar/nightclub with flashing neon lights'. The nightclub is described as looking 'like a stage set. Not real'.

Tony choses the nightclub, where he is welcomed by 'a mechanical fairground figure of a jolly smiling man distinguished by a bowler hat and a red waistcoat.' This is Mr. Nick, the devil incarnate and the film's main antagonist.

On the other side of the mirror, in the "real world", the traveling show is interrupted by the arrival of police. Parnassus and his troup quickly close up shop and ready to leave, but the Doctor, disappointed by Tony's choice of the nightclub, chastises Anton and Valentina for letting a drunk through the mirror. "People must be in their right minds when they make a choice."



Act II
The following night, the travelling theatre unfolds at a fairground where a nine-year old boy becomes prey to the mirror. The boy is presented with his choice: a violent battle-field rendered like a video game, pumped up with agressive music and offering unlimited ammo; or a mountain pathway made of piano keys on which ballerinas dance and piano teachers offer lessons. He makes his choice quickly & easily.

As the show ends, police arrive again. Apparently Dr. Parnassus's travelling show is unwelcome in most towns. (Or he doesn't have a license for street theatre! LOL -- HH Admin)



Act III: Back story
Here the audience finds out that Mr. Nick has been watching Dr. Parnassus, and the two of them have an old score to settle. Parnassus is in debt to the devilish fellow, but the price to pay is far too terrible to contemplate . . .

A magical snowglobe appears out of thin air. As Parnassus begins explaining their terrible circumstances to Valentina, the camera zooms into the blizzardy globe to reveal:

A HOODED RIDER moves slowly through the snowstorm, the horse picking its way carefully across a field of virgin snow. In the distance, on a hill, is a monastery. Dim light comes from a couple of windows.

Entering via a window and looking down into the monastery dining hall, we see DOZENS OF MONKS sitting at a long refectory table. They are eating their supper and listening to a young DR. PARNASSUS who is sitting on a dais at the far end of the hall, his eyes closed, in a trance, telling a story.

The door to the refectory swings open with a crash. The MONKS look up. Standing on the thresh-hold is the hooded figure, covered with snow. He throws off his hood. It's MR NICK.

In the flashback, the young Parnassus and Mr. Nick begin a heated debate on the state of humanity and the spiritual versus the material. Parnassus theorized that the world is kept turning by storytellers. But if the stories come to an end, so will the world.

Mr. Nick calls his assertions a 'weak hypothesis'.

Offering Parnassus an opportunity to prove his point, Mr. Nick suggests a wager. Using the magic of his Imaginarium, Parnassus will offer an ultimate choice to undecided souls.



As the winner, Parnassus was granted eternal life.



Act IV
The story has now moved into the late 20th century. On a city street corner, Parnassus and Percy, dressed as tramps, perform for passers-by. No one seems to care or show interest. Suddenly and for the first time, Parnassus spies the unnamed "beautiful woman", who is to be his bride-to-be.

"I won my bride." Parnassus tells his daughter. "I was in love. But at what price?" But his confession is interrupted.

Amid the thunder and lightening of an contentious storm, their wagon comes to a sudden halt. From the Script:



Frantically, Anton, Valentina and Percy rescue the hanged man and bring him into the dry wagon. But their new passenger has lost his memory and cannot tell them why he was hanging from the bridge, not to mention strange writings on his forehead, odd weights in his pockets and small metal tube in his mouth.

All this is explained later in the script. (However, since I have not seen it, I can't tell you here. LOL -- HH Admin)

When all is said and done, we essentially have a simple fable that dramatizes some of Gilliam's long standing concerns really rather well. This script promises a very good film indeed: a simple, clean story with imagination, eccentricity and wit; with clear opinions and the confidence to argue for them; with some very funny gags, astonishing imagery and brilliantly inventive set-pieces.


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Sources:
FilmIck
Wikipedia
Additional editing and writing by Phyllis, HH Admin.

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