The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009) poster
2009 · fantasy · adventure · drama

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Directed by Terry Gilliam2h 3m2009
ElsewhereIMDb6.8156kRT63%Metacritic65TMDB6.43k
  • surreal
  • signature
Movie DNA

Neutral, steady, measured fantasy / adventure, surreal in texture. Ambivalent, mid-stakes, measured, hand-scored across twelve axes of taste.

How every film is hand-scored →

After a carnival troupe saves his life, a man agrees to help its immortal leader collect five souls and win a bet with the devil.

Our read · The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009) reads as a neutral, steady, surreal fantasy · adventure · drama entry — measured in intensity, mid-stakes in scope, measured in temperature, ambivalent in outlook, with a strong directorial signature. Hand-scored on twelve axes of taste — mood, pacing, weirdness, hope, stakes, humour, reality, density, warmth, auteur, intensity, and era — with a derived palette drawn from its dominant cinematography.

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Availability in the UK · via JustWatch

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The shape of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Tonight, this looks like

What watching it is actually like.

You want surreal Gilliam fantasy with shifting realities and a devil's wager at stake.

ends ambiguousit stays with youa rollercoastergrips by minute 16attention 5/5feels its length
Date nightWith friendsSoloWith parentsKids around
Heads-updrug usebody horror

Skip it tonightSkip if disjointed fantasy and unfinished melancholy will frustrate you tonight.

DNA · twelve axes

The reading.

Each axis is hand-scored — not derived from votes or genre averages. The marker shows where this film sits; the gradient fill uses the film's own cinematography palette.

Mood · HeavyCosy
Pacing · Slow-burnKinetic
Intensity · GentleExtreme
Weirdness · ConventionalSurreal
Hope · NihilisticRedemptive
Stakes · IntimateEpic
Humour · NoneBroad
Reality · GroundedFantastical
Density · SparseTwisty
Warmth · ColdTender
Auteur · TransparentSignature
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