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17th May '13 10:16:55 PM Sheora

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[[quoteright:190:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/whatdreamsmaycomemovieposter_5561.JPG]]

''What Dreams May Come'' (1998) is a dreamlike, slightly trippy journey through the afterlife, as experienced by Chris Nielsen (Creator/RobinWilliams), and his soul mate Annie Collins (Annabella Sciorra). It is based on the 1978 novel of the same title by Creator/RichardMatheson and directed by Vincent Ward.

Chris and Annie's idyllic marriage is shattered when their two children are killed in a car wreck. Annie becomes emotionally unstable and must be institutionalized, but four years later the two reconcile. On the anniversary of the tragedy, however, Chris is killed in yet another car accident, and finds himself in heaven. Despite his new home in paradise, Chris is unhappy without Annie, and when she commits suicide out of guilt over Chris' death, he travels through hell to find her, determined to bring her back to Paradise.

The film was shot largely on Fuji Velvia film and is one of the few films to be done so. The Fuji Velvia film is known among landscape photographers for its vivid color reproduction and it shows. The film was not particularly successful at the box office. It earned $55,382,927 at the United States market, only the 40th most successful film of its year. It was released to mixed reviews, on one hand praised for the visuals of the overall film and strong performances from the two leading actors. On the other hand, it was criticized for significant deviations from its source novel, a sense of "morose sentimentality" and lack of genuine drama and/or conflict. It won an Academy Award for its Visual Effects and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Art Direction (lost to ''Film/ShakespeareInLove'').

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!!This film contains examples of:

* AcidTripDimension: The visions of heaven and hell are based on paintings from across the centuries; even the flowers are made of paint.
* ActorAllusion: Max von Sydow [[TheSeventhSeal is at home with this material.]]
* ArtInitiatesLife: Chris' view of heaven is heavily inspired by his wife's paintings.
** [[spoiler: His daughter's realm is inspired by her paper diorama.]]
* BlackBugRoom: Annie's hell.
* [[spoiler: BookEnds: At the beginning and end, Annie and Chris meet at a lake when their boats crash into each other. At the beginning as adults with actual boats, and at the end as children with remote-controlled toy boats.]]
* TheCameo: Werner Herzog appears Chris' dad (?) in a sea of faces.
* ChildhoodFriendRomance: [[spoiler: Annie and Chris decide to be reincarnated. They are and meet again as small children. It's pretty much a given that the soul mates will be each others' VictoriousChildhoodFriend.]]
* TheDanza: an odd variation. Annabella's character is only ever named Annie by the other characters, except that Chris's nickname for her is Bella (which means "beautiful" so it works as a pet name between lovers, but seems too coincidental to be an accident).
* DeadToBeginWith: Chris travels through hell to rescue his wife's soul.
* DeathByAdaptation: Chris and Annie's children don't die in the book.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: You earn said happy ending by literally going to hell and back.
* EpiphanicPrison: This is the setup for Hell.
* EurekaMoment: How Chris figures out [[spoiler: who his kids really are. In his daughter's case, he recognizes the area as her paper diorama. In his son's, he recognizes that Albert is a little ''too'' attached to rescuing "mom".]]
* TheFilmOfTheBook
* FireAndBrimstoneHell: Averted and outright [[DefiedTrope stated to not be what Hell is]]. Hell is what you make of it.
* FisherKing: In the novel, everyone in the afterlife is the ruler of their own personal paradise. Noted in the film, as Chris' paradise is an oil painting because that's what he ''wants'' it to be, though Albert is able to have "dual controls" with Chris at one point. Chris gains control by having a proper cup of coffee instead of a wobbly cup full of paint. The movie also contains a few realms where people have joined together to build cities.
* FramingDevice: The novel is presented as a manuscript dictated to a psychic by Chris and delivered to Chris's (still living) brother by said psychic.
* {{Heaven}}: Made of paint!
* {{Hell}}: Of the self-inflicted variety.
* ToHellAndBack: Chris' journey, making up the core of the movie.
* HellIsWar: Parts of it, anyway.
* HellOfAHeaven: The driving force of the plot is how, to Chris, heaven isn't heaven without his wife.
* IronicEcho: "Sometimes when you win, you lose." Which eventually morphs to "Sometimes when you lose, you win."
* IronicHell
* JustifiedExtraLives: [[spoiler:Reincarnation FTW.]]
* LiteraryAllusionTitle: From the "To be or not to be" soliloquy from ''{{Hamlet}}''.
* NearDeathClairvoyance
* NostalgiaHeaven
* OrpheanRescue: Chris's quest to retrieve Annie from hell.
* RaceFetish: Discussed. Chris offhandedly remarks that he thinks Asian girls are lovely, graceful, and intelligent. [[spoiler: These words had inspired his daughter in life, and in the afterlife she literally takes the form of an Asian woman symbolizing living up to her father's ideals.]]
* RefusingParadise - [[spoiler: After escaping Hell, Chris and Annie have an opportunity to spend eternity in a literal house of their dreams in Heaven, but choose to be reincarnated in order to get a second chance at a successful ChildhoodFriendRomance.]]
** Likewise, the central premise of the movie: Chris has the option of living in Heaven for all eternity, but ventures into Hell instead -- against the advice of everyone around him -- on the off chance he'll be able to rescue his soulmate. [[spoiler: And ''chooses'' Hell just to be with her.]]
* [[spoiler: ReincarnationRomance: In the end, Chris and Annie are reincarnated and meet as little kids in a scene that the makers of those Precious Moments figurines would kill for.]]
** [[spoiler: In the original ending, Chris and Annie are reincarnated as a white man and an Indian woman and get married, but Annie dies young - as dictated by the laws of karma because of her suicide in her previous life. Chris spends decades, the rest of his life, mourning her.]]
* [[RescuedFromPurgatory Rescued From Hell]]: Chris attempts to do this for his wife. [[spoiler: He succeeds against all odds, though in a weird inversion - his wife rescues ''him'' from Hell.]]
* SceneryPorn: Heaven is literally an impressionist painting for Chris.
* SelfInflictedHell
* SlidingScaleOfShinyVersusGritty: Shiny. Very very shiny. Heaven is made of shiny.
* TooHappyToLive
* [[{{WhatCouldHaveBeen/Film}} What Could Have Been]]: Annette Bening was originally cast to play Annie. She opted out and Annabella Sciorra replaced her. 
** EnnioMorricone originally did the score. Though completed, it was rejected and MichaelKamen replaced him.
* YouAreWorthHell: Chris outright says that if he cannot rescue Annie from Hell, he's staying. [[spoiler: This self-sacrifice is what saves her.]]
* YouLookFamiliar: In-universe-[[spoiler: Chris' son assumes the form of Chris' mentor. Later they meet up with Chris' mentor, who has assumed the form of Max Von Sydow.]]
* YouWereTryingTooHard
* YourMindMakesItReal: Said almost word-for-word (re: Hell) in the original novel. In the film, both Heaven and Hell work this way in [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism opposite directions]].

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12th May '13 12:40:00 PM user3301

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6th May '13 6:23:01 AM ImpudentInfidel

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18th Apr '13 11:23:32 PM Laecy