"What Dreams May Come" Go rent it.
This movie deserves its own thread.
- Thread starter 4bangincivic
- Start date
- Status
never heard of it. actors? the plot?
its from 1998, here is the plot, if your to f**king lazy to watch it heh
Plot summary
After meeting in Switzerland, Chris Nielsen and Annie Collins marry, having two children: Ian (Josh Paddock) and Marie (Jessica Brooks Grant).
Years later, after Ian and Marie are killed in a car accident, Annie becomes mentally unstable and attempts suicide. She is institutionalized, and although the couple nearly divorce as a result, she eventually recovers. However, on the anniversary of the day the couple decided not to divorce (which they call their "Double-D" anniversary) Chris is involved in a car accident, dying a short time later.
Chris awakens in the afterlife, adjusting to his new environment with the guidance of a man named Albert (Cuba Gooding Jr.), whom Chris believes to be his friend and mentor from his medical residency. Both are surprised when a Blue Jacaranda tree appears in Chris's personal section of Heaven, which matches a tree in a new painting of Annie's. Albert indicates the couple are soul mates, receptive to each other's thoughts even after death.
Later, Chris meets a woman named Leona who shows him a children's realm in heaven. Chris recognizes her as Marie, after realizing the location is a diorama she loved in life, and Leona explaining that she took the form of an Asian woman because when they travelled to Singapore, her father smiled at an Asian stewardess with name tag writing |Leona|. He told the daughter that Asian women were lovely, graceful and smart. Since then the daughter always wanted to be like that.
In parallel to this, Annie, distraught at the loss of her family, takes poison and dies. Albert breaks the news to Chris, whose initial relief that her suffering is over quickly turns to anger when he learns that suicides are sent to hell. Albert claims no judgment has been made against her; it is simply the nature of suicides. This is a reference to Dante's Inferno, where the seventh level of Hell is reserved for sins of violence — including violence against oneself.
Chris is adamant that he will rescue Annie from Hell, despite Albert's insistence that no one has ever succeeded in doing so. Chris is undaunted, and Albert eventually agrees to find Chris a "Tracker" to help find Annie's soul.
Journeying to Hell and encountering hundreds of damned souls (one of which is a cameo by German director Werner Herzog) Chris finds himself recalling memories of his son, Ian. Chris had been disappointed with Ian's underachievement but eventually, after an earnest conversation, told him "if I was going through f**king hell, I'd only want one person in the whole goddamn world by my side." Seeing Albert about to confront a violent group of damned, Chris realizes Albert is actually Ian. Ian explains that he chose to appear as Albert because he was the only person Chris would ever listen to. Ian returns to Heaven, while Chris and the Tracker continue the search.
Arriving at what the Tracker calls their "private deck", Chris finds a field full of the faces of the damned (a further reference to Dante's Inferno). Chris sees Annie's face but as he runs towards her, the ground gives way and he falls into a vast, upturned cathedral. Chris recognizes his and Annie's house at the bottom. The Tracker warns Chris that if he stays with Annie for more than a few minutes, he may become permanently trapped too. The Tracker then reveals that he is Albert, who has been waiting for many years to do Chris a favor.
Chris enters the house to find Annie pale and withdrawn. Chris is unable to make Annie recognize him and decides to "give up," and join Annie forever, even if she will never know who he is. This is the antithesis of his behavior when Annie was institutionalized (which was to ask for a divorce, since he was unable to join in her grief for their children), and enables Annie to recognize Chris and allows the two to escape to heaven.
Chris and Annie are reunited with their children, but Chris suggests being reincarnated, so the pair can experience meeting and falling in love again. The film ends with Chris and Annie meeting as young children, in a rough parallel of their original meeting. The last line is a repetition of the opening line by Chris: "When I was young, I met this beautiful girl by a lake."
[edit]
Alternate Ending
The special edition DVD shows an alternate ending — which is the ending from the novel — in which the reincarnation is not a choice, but part of the natural order. Chris and Annie will meet again in their new lives, but Annie must atone for killing herself — her new incarnation will die young, and Chris will spend the remainder of his new life as a widower before the two are once again reunited in Heaven. The film then goes to Sri Lanka where a woman is giving birth to a little girl, presumed to be Annie. In Philadelphia, a little boy is born, presumably Chris. This ending was left roughly edited and unfinished.
Plot summary
After meeting in Switzerland, Chris Nielsen and Annie Collins marry, having two children: Ian (Josh Paddock) and Marie (Jessica Brooks Grant).
Years later, after Ian and Marie are killed in a car accident, Annie becomes mentally unstable and attempts suicide. She is institutionalized, and although the couple nearly divorce as a result, she eventually recovers. However, on the anniversary of the day the couple decided not to divorce (which they call their "Double-D" anniversary) Chris is involved in a car accident, dying a short time later.
Chris awakens in the afterlife, adjusting to his new environment with the guidance of a man named Albert (Cuba Gooding Jr.), whom Chris believes to be his friend and mentor from his medical residency. Both are surprised when a Blue Jacaranda tree appears in Chris's personal section of Heaven, which matches a tree in a new painting of Annie's. Albert indicates the couple are soul mates, receptive to each other's thoughts even after death.
Later, Chris meets a woman named Leona who shows him a children's realm in heaven. Chris recognizes her as Marie, after realizing the location is a diorama she loved in life, and Leona explaining that she took the form of an Asian woman because when they travelled to Singapore, her father smiled at an Asian stewardess with name tag writing |Leona|. He told the daughter that Asian women were lovely, graceful and smart. Since then the daughter always wanted to be like that.
In parallel to this, Annie, distraught at the loss of her family, takes poison and dies. Albert breaks the news to Chris, whose initial relief that her suffering is over quickly turns to anger when he learns that suicides are sent to hell. Albert claims no judgment has been made against her; it is simply the nature of suicides. This is a reference to Dante's Inferno, where the seventh level of Hell is reserved for sins of violence — including violence against oneself.
Chris is adamant that he will rescue Annie from Hell, despite Albert's insistence that no one has ever succeeded in doing so. Chris is undaunted, and Albert eventually agrees to find Chris a "Tracker" to help find Annie's soul.
Journeying to Hell and encountering hundreds of damned souls (one of which is a cameo by German director Werner Herzog) Chris finds himself recalling memories of his son, Ian. Chris had been disappointed with Ian's underachievement but eventually, after an earnest conversation, told him "if I was going through f**king hell, I'd only want one person in the whole goddamn world by my side." Seeing Albert about to confront a violent group of damned, Chris realizes Albert is actually Ian. Ian explains that he chose to appear as Albert because he was the only person Chris would ever listen to. Ian returns to Heaven, while Chris and the Tracker continue the search.
Arriving at what the Tracker calls their "private deck", Chris finds a field full of the faces of the damned (a further reference to Dante's Inferno). Chris sees Annie's face but as he runs towards her, the ground gives way and he falls into a vast, upturned cathedral. Chris recognizes his and Annie's house at the bottom. The Tracker warns Chris that if he stays with Annie for more than a few minutes, he may become permanently trapped too. The Tracker then reveals that he is Albert, who has been waiting for many years to do Chris a favor.
Chris enters the house to find Annie pale and withdrawn. Chris is unable to make Annie recognize him and decides to "give up," and join Annie forever, even if she will never know who he is. This is the antithesis of his behavior when Annie was institutionalized (which was to ask for a divorce, since he was unable to join in her grief for their children), and enables Annie to recognize Chris and allows the two to escape to heaven.
Chris and Annie are reunited with their children, but Chris suggests being reincarnated, so the pair can experience meeting and falling in love again. The film ends with Chris and Annie meeting as young children, in a rough parallel of their original meeting. The last line is a repetition of the opening line by Chris: "When I was young, I met this beautiful girl by a lake."
[edit]
Alternate Ending
The special edition DVD shows an alternate ending — which is the ending from the novel — in which the reincarnation is not a choice, but part of the natural order. Chris and Annie will meet again in their new lives, but Annie must atone for killing herself — her new incarnation will die young, and Chris will spend the remainder of his new life as a widower before the two are once again reunited in Heaven. The film then goes to Sri Lanka where a woman is giving birth to a little girl, presumed to be Annie. In Philadelphia, a little boy is born, presumably Chris. This ending was left roughly edited and unfinished.
u haven't seen that??, it's been out for almost 10 years
Well why would I be suggesting a movie that I've never seen? No, I just watched it last night.
i'mz nub.
Very good.
- Status