Death Becomes Her is a 1992 dark comedy film directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Goldie Hawn, Meryl Streep, and Bruce Willis. It won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.
Plot
Actress Madeline Ashton (Meryl Streep) and writer Helen Sharp (Goldie Hawn) are long time rivals. Helen's life falls apart when glamorous Madeline steals her fiancé, plastic surgeon Ernest Menville (Bruce Willis), and marries him. Helen becomes an obese, depressed woman and is arrested and placed in a mental institution, where she is consumed by thoughts of revenge against Madeline.
Madeline's career on Broadway ends in 1978, and 14 years later she is still struggling with her fading looks and by-gone acting career. Ernest, now an alcoholic and miserable in his marriage, has been reduced to working as a high-end mortician, restoring the looks of celebrities for their funerals. By this time, Helen has been rehabilitated, and is the successful author of "Forever Young". When Madeline and Helen meet again at Helen's book-signing party, Helen appears miraculously rejuvenated, thin, and youthful.
Madeline, jealous and dumbfounded by Helen (and hurt at having discovered that her young lover is cheating on her) seeks the aid of the mysterious 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. Lisle then warns Madeline to take perfect care of her new body.
In the meantime, Helen has seduced Ernest and conspired with him to kill Madeline. Before their elaborate plan can be carried out, however, Madeline falls down the stairs and breaks her neck. Believing her dead, Ernest frantically rushes to phone Helen for advice, while Madeline gets up and puts her head on straight. Amazed, Ernest thinks that her resurrection is a miracle and a sign that they are meant to be together, and uses his mortician skills to repair the damage done to Madeline's body.
Helen, thinking that Madeline is dead, arrives at the house to bury her, but Madeline, very much alive, 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 or even inflict pain upon each other. Finally, the two ladies reconcile their differences and beg Ernest to repair their incredibly 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; Madeline and Helen will need Ernest to perform routine maintenance to their bodies forever. They conspire to make Ernest drink the potion as well, knocking him unconscious and taking him to Lisle. 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 one last time that he drink the potion so he will survive his inevitable fall. Ernest refuses again, lets the potion fall, then falls from the gutter and into Lisle's swimming pool. With Ernest gone and Lisle refusing to allow them back into her house after their mistakes, Helen and Madeline realize, much to their chagrin, that they are now forced to take care of each other...forever.
Cast
Awards and nominations
| Award |
Role |
Receiver |
| Academy Award |
Best Visual Effects |
Won |
| Golden Globe |
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical |
Meryl Streep (Nominated) |
| Saturn Award |
Best Actor |
Bruce Willis (Nominated) |
| Saturn Award |
Best Actress |
Meryl Streep (Nominated) |
| Saturn Award |
Best Supporting Actress |
Isabella Rosellini (Won) |
| Denton Award |
Best Actress |
Meryl Streep (Nominated) |
Special effects
Like most of director Robert Zemeckis' films, Death Becomes Her was a technically complex movie to make, and the production had its fair share of mishaps. For example, in a scene where Helen Sharp and Madeline Ashton are battling with shovels, Meryl Streep accidentally scarred Goldie Hawn's face. Streep admitted that she disliked working on a project that focused so heavily on special effects, saying:
My first, my last, my only. I think it's tedious. Whatever concentration you can apply to that kind of comedy is just shredded. You stand there like a piece of machinery — they should get machinery to do it. I loved how it turned out. But it's not fun to act to a lampstand. "Pretend this is Goldie, right here! Uh, no, I'm sorry, Bob, she went off the mark by five centimeters, and now her head won't match her neck!" It was like being at the dentist.[1]
References
External links
