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What Dreams May Come (1998)
In director Vincent Ward's artistic, visually-astonishing,
supernatural fantasy and after-life drama (a cross between Ingmar
Bergman's films and Stairway
to Heaven/A Matter of Life and Death (1946, UK)) - an adaptation
of Richard Matheson's novel:
- the opening scene of vacationing pediatrician Dr.
Chris Nielsen (Robin Williams) meeting and falling in love at first
sight with future wife Annie Collins (Annabella Sciorra) in Italy
when they shared a picnic together: ("When
I was young, I met this beautiful girl by a lake")
- and after their marriage, the tragic scene in which
he and artist wife Annie lost their two children Marie (Jessica Brooks
Grant) and Ian (Josh Paddock) in an off-screen car crash after he
waved goodbye, with his melancholy voice-over narration: "It
was the last time Annie and I saw them alive"
- later, Chris experienced a flashback to his son Ian's
funeral and his own moving and emotional eulogy delivered for him: "There's
a man Ian never got to know - the man he was growing up to be. He's
a good-looking, clear-eyed young fella, about 25. I can see him.
He's the type of guy that men want to be around, because he has integrity,
you know? He has character. You can't fake that. He's a guy women
want to be around, too, because there's tenderness in him, respect,
loyalty, and courage. And women respond to that. Makes him a terrific
husband, this guy. I see him as a father. That's where he really
shines. See, when he looks in his kid's eyes and that kid knows that
his dad really sees him, he sees who he is. Then that child knows
that he is an amazing person. He's quite a guy that I'll never get
to meet. I wish I had." - there was shot of his son Ian inside
his coffin
- and then four years later, the scene in which Chris
died in a multi-car crash in a tunnel; he had safely stopped his
own vehicle, and rushed ahead on foot to find cars ahead of him turned
upside down. When he was asking questions of a survivor needing help,
he was smashed into by a white automobile catapulting toward him,
before the screen turned black; now, he was also deceased and in
the afterlife but lingering on Earth
The Instant After Chris' Death in a Tunnel
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- the next shot was "the mythical light" at
the end of the tunnel, and then a top-shot as Chris' body was placed
on a stretcher by ambulance paramedics. A voice asked: "Chris,
do you know what's happened?" He replied, jokingly: "Yeah,
I had a bad piece of fish before bed"; the screen turned to
a blinding white light - as he lingered on Earth in a hospital
bed. Although Chris didn't want to accept it and thought he was
dreaming, he had died and couldn't be seen by his family members,
relatives, and friends at his home, who were mourning his passing.
His blurry spiritual guide Albert Lewis (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) told
him: "You've
died, Chris."
- Chris attended his own funeral and comforted his still-living
wife Annie; he attempted to force despondent Annie to acknowledge
his continued existence (after whispering in
her ear: "This
is Chris. I still exist," he made her scrawl the words: "ISTILEXST"
in her diary, and then later tried to contact her at his gravesite: "Don't
worry, baby, I'm not leaving you alone. I'm not goin' anywhere")
-- and her violent sobbing reactions, forcing Chris to reluctantly
leave her and Earth and journey to the afterworld to prevent any
more harm: (Albert: "The reality is it's over when you stop
wanting to hurt her")
Chris Attending His Own Funeral
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Scrawled Words In Her Diary: "ISTILEXST"
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Attempting to Comfort Annie
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- the scenes of an Expressionist painting world in
Chris' imagined heaven (using surreal Oscar-winning CGI effects)
were modeled after Annie's paintings; Chris' concept of the great
afterworld was manifested in his wife's art; there were very imaginative
vistas and scenarios of Heaven: (Chris noted: "Nice place you
got here") and an imprisoning dark Hell; Albert told him: "You're
making all of this. See, we're all pretty insecure at first, so we
see ourselves somewhere safe, comforting. We all paint our own surroundings,
Chris, but you're the first guy I know to use real paint"
- his
mentor-guide Albert
also told Chris: "We're seeing what we choose to see" and
helped him create a "real" afterlife
by carving a hole in his dreamhouse's wall to see out ("This is your
world now. Thought is real. Physical is the illusion. Ironic,
huh?")
- a second guide then accompanied Chris named Leona
(Rosalind Chao), a stewardess whom Chris once admired in the presence
of his daughter Marie - and Leona came to represent her
- despairing Annie (his "soul-mate"
- "sort of like twin souls tuned into each other") committed
suicide due to overwhelming
grief and devastation, foreshadowed by the death of her purple-flowered
tree in the 'heavenly' painting, and because she had killed herself,
she journeyed to her afterlife in Hell: ("You
never see her. She's a suicide. Suicides go somewhere else...The real
Hell is your life gone wrong")
- Chris risked
taking a journey from Heaven to Hell in the afterlife to rescue his
beautiful wife Annie's soul; he made a desperate
quest to bring her back - to rescue her tortured and lost soul from
the torment with the help of the dark-cloaked Tracker (Max von Sydow),
and the view of a vast and dark Hell (Tracker: "In
Hell, there's real danger from losing your mind"); he encountered the
Sea of Faces where dozens of pale and tortured souls were buried
up to their necks in sand
The Vision of Hell - The Sea of Faces
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- when Chris discovered the
location of Annie in Hell, he delivered a sentimental
apology to her for all the things he couldn't give her: ("I'm
sorry, babe, but there's some things I have to say. I've only got
a few moments left. I'm sorry for all the things I'll never give
you. I'll never buy you another meatball sub with extra sauce --
that was a big one! I'll never make you smile. I just wanted us to
be old together, just two old farts laughin' at each other as our
bodies fell apart, together at the end by that lake in your painting.
That was our Heaven, see? There's lots of things to miss: books,
naps, kisses, and fights! God, we had some great ones. Thank you
for those. Thank you for every kindness. Thank you for our children.
For the first time I saw them. Thank you for being someone I was
always proud to be with. For your guts. For your sweetness. For how
you always looked, for how I always wanted to touch you. You were
my life. I apologize for every time I failed you. Especially this
one.")
Annie's Suicidal Death and Hell
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Annie's Suicide
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The Dark-Cloaked Tracker (Max von Sydow)
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Chris' Apology to Annie in Hell
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- he decided to share his wife's insanity rather than
abandon her in Hell (she had earlier told him: "Sometimes, when
you lose, you win")
- due to Chris' self-sacrifice, he was reunited with
wife Annie and their dead children in his heavenly afterlife during
the tear-jerking 'feel-good' Hollywood finale: ("Travel here
is like everything else, it's in your mind. All you have to do is
close your eyes if you know where you're going. Looks like we did")
- she vowed to Chris: ("I
want us to grow old together. Can we do that here? I want it all.
As long as it's with you"), and they experienced a spiritual
reawakening or reincarnation in the bodies of two young children
by a lake: ("When I was young, I met this beautiful girl by
a lake") - similar to their first meeting in Italy
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Dr. Chris Nielsen's Future Wife Annie (Annabella Sciorra)
Waving Goodbye Before Car Crash
Chris' Eulogy For His Dead Son Ian
Son Ian Inside Coffin
Chris' Own Death 4 Years Later in Tunnel
In Chris' Imagined Heaven
Chris' Spiritual Guide (Cuba Gooding, Jr.)
Hole in His Dreamhouse's Wall
Chris' Second Guide Leona (Rosalind Chao)
"When I was young, I met this young girl by a
lake"
Spiritual Awakening or Reincarnation as Two Small Children
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