What Dreams May Come (Movie)

Have you ever read a book or watched a movie that you just wish had a genre of its own? Something that you could search up and find other stories similar to the one you already know you love. This is something that I've always been wishing, watching movies that I could only call subtly surreal or inventive. With a love for movies like 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind', 'Amelie' and 'V for Vendetta', I've always been a lover for atmosphere and the subtle beauty that a director chooses to throw in its world to really bring out the emotions and feelings of the characters in them. I love characters that seem to display a sense of control and wit and I also love a world that seems to be as alive as the actors running in between it. It should be blatant by now that I really enjoyed the hours spent in 'What Dreams May Come.'

The overview of the plot goes as such-
Soulmates Chris and Annie have an idyllic marriage together. However, following death of their two children in a car accident, Annie becomes isolated and mentally unstable from guilt, and is institutionalized. After four years the couple reconciles, but on the anniversary of the event Chris is killed in a car accident, finding himself in heaven derived from his wife's paintings.
Despite the paradise he now inhabits, Chris is unhappy without Annie. When she commits suicide in guilt over Chris' death, the act consigns her to Hell. Adamant that they belong together, Chris commences a quest through hell to rescue her, in the process discovering a number of characters from his past.

After many beautiful moments and interactions between Chris and Annie, not to mention the possibly overabundant amount of laughter between them and their kid, the movie quickly began to set its concept into motion with the death of their children and shortly after, Chris himself. All the moments before those incidents did exactly what they were supposed to do. Show you a family that seems unnaturally happy and perfect so that the wrench in your heart would twist tightly when you see the tragedy start to bloom. Fast forwarding past the initial incidents, Chris finds himself dead and in heaven. One that was created from his imagination based on the paintings he watched his wife create. Besides being a rather funny thing to watch Chris slip and slide across his heaven (his world is a painting so the grass and flowers under him smushed around like paint.) it was remarkably beautiful to see this flat painting turned into a wondrous world, depth in field and all. They managed to pull the same visual trick on me shortly after when an 'old friend' of Chris' comes in and changes the paint world to a more realistic and equally beautiful one.
A not-too-lengthy bit of philosophical conversations and revelations ensue and in time Chris begins to understand his world and comes to grow comfortable with some of the other people in them. Obviously though, he still worries about his wife and kids (who he wasn't able to meet when he asked to) which kept him in constant unrest but finally he decided that things will be alright and he'll meet them in time. That is until his wife kills herself and he learns that he will never be able to see her again because 'suicidal people are too absorbed in their own world and pain to see anything else.' He of course takes the news of being separated from his soul-mate forever in heaven as hellish news so he demands to be taken to her in hell in an attempt to break her from her anguish and bring her back to heaven (a feat never done before).
It's not too hard to guess by now but Chris takes the leap and journeys through the interesting parts of Hell and eventually runs into his wife. I try not to spoil much so I will leave the story there! I will talk about the fantasy portion of this story though. For a movie that seems aimed towards the romance cats this film's world seems undoubtedly massive. Depth in field, was the major visual aid in the Heaven half of the story as Chris would consistently end up looking at the massive structures and beautiful oceans that children and families were happily dancing across. There were no angels or really any un-earthly beast or creation, but they did seem to display an awfully lot of people flying through the air. Personally, I found the depiction of Heaven and Hell rather lacking in inventiveness but the pure visuals and camera angles really helped get the message across. When he goes to hell things seem to become a more interesting as he, and his crew, crosses a vicious ocean full of pale white bodies drowning in it. Eventually the people in the water overturn the boat and Chris plagued with flashbacks of the stressful moments with him and his wife not mentioned about before. Back on land, they realize that Hell isn't a world of fire and brimstone (though many things seemed to be on fire just for the sake of it) but rather a place where a lot of people are trapped in their own delusions- still fighting their wars, blinded about where they were and physically buried up to the neck.
'What Dreams May Come' had all the bullet point parts of the "Hero's Journey" story that manages to become a rule for most fantasy films.
-You have the hero at home which extends to his new home in Heaven.
-You have the call to adventure with the news of his wife and though he quickly decided that he must save his wife, the refusal of this adventure was parroted throughout by his subordinates.
-He seeks the supernatural aid from the old tracker that also doubles as his mentor through the world of Hell and he finally passes the first thresh hold when he takes that first step to hell.

The adventure-fantasy concept oddly felt at home for this movie as the events kept pushing the character along believably and his reasoning behind pursuing this obviously hazardous journey one that viewers could sympathize with. The movie was also really adamant on pushing its vision of Heaven and Hell as 'a world that you make for yourself' which really helped this movie. The main trouble in the movie wasn't fighting off demon's of hell but trying to get his wife to break away from her guilt and despair. Using the environment to represent everyone's feelings was a plus in my book as it really helped sell the idea of the characters thoughts and feelings, and creating a hell that we are semi-willingly bringing upon ourselves for eternity was a chilling idea that I'm sure reminds many of us of daily events in modern life.

I can only wish that the world could display the beauty and ethereal moments that are present in films and booksa nd until the world decides to grant my wish I can only get lost in the fiction created. 'What Dreams May Come' was a great ride and a heart-wrencher. The fantasy elements in the beginning may have seemed a bit overwhelming at times, though I suppose that did help us relate to the experience that a person must be feeling when dead and reborn. It's great to find more stories that you "wish had an exclusive genre" and surely I will continue to seek out more movies like this one that will make my heart sink and eyes envious and I implore any of you that have not seen it to give it a shot.







Just a quick after thought though; I really dislike it when movies are full of famous actors. They act well but I can't help but think "Hey! It's Robin Williams from Flubber and all those comedy routines! And that guy from Snow Dogs or whatever and some lady that I swear didn't play as sweet a role as she did in this movie. It's a bit distracting and every time Robin Williams said a joke it came off 10x as strongly as it would have if some anonymous said it.