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Synopsis:
Set in the present day, director Terry Gilliam's fantastical
morality tale follows the traveling show of the mysterious Dr.
Parnassus (Christopher Plummer) -- a man who once won a bet
with the Devil himself, and possesses the unique ability to
guide the imagination of others. Many centuries ago, Dr.
Parnassus won immortality in a bet that found the malevolent
Mr. Nick (Tom Waits) coming up short. While few would be
foolish enough to try their luck against the powers of
darkness a second time, Dr. Parnassus did precisely that --
this time trading his mortality for youth on the understanding
that his firstborn would become the property of Mr. Nick when
the child reaches his or her 16th birthday.
Flash-forward to the present day, and Dr. Parnassus' daughter,
Valentina (Lily Cole), is about to celebrate her sweet
sixteen. Dr. Parnassus is desperate to save his little girl
from her fiery fate, so when Mr. Nick arrives to collect, he
senses the good doctor's malaise and cooks up a wager too
enticing to refuse: Dr. Parnassus and Mr. Nick will each
compete to seduce five souls, with possession of Valentina
going to whoever manages to complete the task first. As the
competition begins to heat up, a mysterious man named Tony
(Heath Ledger) appears. Could Tony be the one man capable of
helping Dr. Parnassus win the competition and save Valentina?
While the sudden death of prominent Imaginarium of Dr.
Parnassus player Heath Ledger in January of 2008 left Gilliam
and company scrambling to find a means of salvaging the film
-- which was already well into principal photography at the
time -- the cavalry soon arrived in the form of Johnny Depp,
Jude Law, and Colin Farrell, who each serve as
alternate-dimension versions of Tony when the character
crosses through a paranormal mirror.
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