I think the metaphysical themes in the Fountain were probably overlooked by the greater portion of the public. Especially the whole climactic sequence where the true nature of the Fountain of Life/Tree of Knowledge was illustrated. That being said, the cinematography was some of the best of any films of Darren Aronofsky.
On a larger note, I completely disagree with your viewpoint that a film can't be both cerebral and accessible. Shit, look at Aronofsky's most recent film, Black Swan, or Christopher Nolan's Inception, both of which came out last year and were reasonably successful. I'm not saying that either film was as ambitious as the Fountain, but I think with proof of their successes, major studios might risk larger budgets on more academic filmmakers.
I might venture forth an opinionated diatribe on the merits of Andrei Tarkovsky sometime later. That is, once I figure out what the hell he was doing in his films.
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