Death becomes her

Film: Death becomes her (1992)
Genre: Comedy
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Actors: Meryl Streep, Bruce Willis, Goldie Hawn, Isabella Rossellini

Review:

Actress Madeline Ashton (Meryl Streep) and writer Helen Sharp (Goldie Hawn) are long time rivals. Helen's life falls apart when Madeline steals her fiancé, plastic surgeon Ernest Menville (Bruce Willis), and marries him. Helen becomes an obese, depressed woman.

Many years later Ernest become an alcoholic and miserable in his marriage, and he has been reduced to working restoring the looks of celebrities for their funerals. When Madeline and Helen meet again, Helen appears misteriously rejuvenated and thin.
Madeline, jealous of Helen, searchs for help of Lisle von Rhoman (Isabella Rossellini), who claims she has discovered the secret of eternal youth. She offers Madeline a magical potion to reverse the process of aging.
Meanwhile, Helen has seduced Ernest and conspired with him to kill Madeline. Before their elaborate plan can be carried out, Madeline falls down the stairs and breaks her neck, but she gets up and puts her head on straight. Ernest thinks that her resurrection is a miracle, and uses his skills to repair the damage done to Madeline's body.

Helen, thinking that Madeline is dead, arrives at the house, but Madeline shoots Helen. When Helen, with an enormous shotgun wound in her stomach, reawakens, Madeline guesses correctly that Helen was also a customer of Lisle's. The two undead rivals fight, but fail to do any real damage. Finally, the two ladies reconcile their differences and beg Ernest to repair their damaged bodies. Ernest agrees on the condition that he never see them again after the work is done. However, Madeline and Helen discover that his repairs are only temporary. They conspire to make Ernest drink the potion as well. Although Lisle makes an impassioned argument for immortality, Ernest refuses the potion, stating that a life lived forever is worthless.

In trying to escape, Ernest finds himself on the roof of the house. He slips and his suspenders get caught on the rain gutter, swinging him over an open pit. Madeline and Helen implore that he drink the potion so he will survive. Ernest refuses again, lets the potion fall, and then falls from the gutter. With Ernest, Helen and Madeline realize that they are now forced to take care of each other forever.

I think that is a very original movie, it's different from the other typical comedies. It is not a new film, but the effects are perfect for that year, when the technology was more difficult to use than now. Actually, the film won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.
The movie is very funny and it's perfect to see in family on a Sunday afternoon!


Student name: Sofia Santos
Class: 5h