The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

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.

A visually extravagant but narratively messy Gilliam fever dream, the film sits in mixed-to-moderately-positive territory — critics who warmed to it saw the chaotic story as inseparable from its imaginative logic, while detractors found Gilliam's indulgences harder to forgive. Heath Ledger's unfinished performance and its patchwork completion by three other actors drew attention throughout, with opinion divided on whether the conceit transcended its tragic origins or merely drew attention to them.