Eh, about the film not too many people understood...

Warning, if you have not seen The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus this post is about clearing up what I was asked about. These are my interpretations not fact. Either it'll clear up what will confuse you and/or ruin teh movie for you...

The full title in all it's glory;

THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS

Right. We were like ten minutes late for the movie. That little fact still didn't stop me from following it to the best of my ability. And from my being late I may have missed soemthing at teh very start. What the other people who saw the movie wondered was;

What was the beliefs of Doctor Parnassus and what was the importance of them?
What is the story with the mirror thing they went into?
Why Heath Ledger's character changed so often?

The Doctor's beliefs were that to keep the world going a story must always be being told. Hence why the Devil came along with the thing to suck the mouths off the disciples. He thought that the only reason why the world was still going was because that small group was telling stories. It became apparent to the doctor, after the monks getting silenced, that the storytelling wasn't solely being done by them. The stories were bein told by people all over the world.

The mirror that the women jumped into is where their souls were taken. Or this is what I think it is about. It is needed to fulfil the deal with the Devil. The deal was to cancel out another deal made. The Devil and the Doctor had to get 5 souls before the other and before the Doctor's daughter's 16th birthday. The mirror was the method which the Doctor used to trap the souls.

When the women went into the mirror, they were visiting their imagination or where their fantasies dwells. Each imagination is different from the other person and the various imaginations are represented. The reason for Ledger's character changing to Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Collin Farrell is that each of the women fantasized about their dream man and that is the reason for the cast change. Not because of the fact that Heath Ledger died, but due to the diference between reality and fantasy...

I have addressed the main questions. I decided not to go at other questions to not ruin the movie too much for ye who have not seen it...

One more which seemed to cause confusion. The ending. The Doctor did the last deal to get his daughter back but The Devil lost the Doctor's daughter and couldn't give her back because he didn't have her soul. So the Doctor was left in search for her in solditude of his own mental dessert. And by finding her in the Urban setting made him happy because he then knew she was happy...

And clearer?