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* StealthInsult: The girls' [[SarcasmMode affectionate]] nicknames for each other, crooned as if delighted to see one another.
-->"[[CuteAndPsycho Mad]]!"
-->"[[FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon Hell]]!"
** Which is also a sort of StealthPun for when they're in VitriolicBestBuds mode: they're Mad as Hell.
-->"[[CuteAndPsycho Mad]]!"
-->"[[FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon Hell]]!"
** Which is also a sort of StealthPun for when they're in VitriolicBestBuds mode: they're Mad as Hell.
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*** [[ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne It's also the only insult that really pisses Madeline off]].
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* [[RoomFullOfCrazy Vanity Mirror Full of Crazy]]: Helen's is covered with altered pictures of Madeline that makes her look like [[TheDarkKnightTrilogy Heath Ledger's Joker]].
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* [[RoomFullOfCrazy Vanity Mirror Full of Crazy]]: Helen's is covered with altered pictures of Madeline that makes her look like [[TheDarkKnightTrilogy [[Film/TheDarkKnight Heath Ledger's Joker]].
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* Black Comedy: Damn straight. Poor Helen gets the worst of it. [[spoiler:Loses men to Madeline, becomes so depressed and downtrodden that she is institutionalized and obsessed with revenge on a woman for shit that started during high school and gets murdered by blowing a fucking hole through most of her body... and for what? So she can spend eternity as a disembodied head.]] Someone give that girl a time machine so she can erase her own birth from ever happening.
to:
* Black Comedy: BlackComedy: Damn straight. Poor Helen gets the worst of it. [[spoiler:Loses men to Madeline, becomes so depressed and downtrodden that she is institutionalized and obsessed with revenge on a woman for shit that started during high school and gets murdered by blowing a fucking hole through most of her body... and for what? So she can spend eternity as a disembodied head.]] Someone give that girl a time machine so she can erase her own birth from ever happening.
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* Black Comedy: Damn straight. Poor Helen gets the worst of it. [[spoiler:Loses men to Madeline, becomes so depressed and downtrodden that she is institutionalized and obsessed with revenge on a woman for shit that started during high school and gets murdered by blowing a fucking hole through most of her body... and for what? So she can spend eternity as a disembodied head.]] Someone give that girl a time machine so she can erase her own birth from ever happening.
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** Their color schemes are switched in Helen's fantasy of killing Madeline (and in the picture), and from Lisle's party onwards they're both [[WomanInBlack Women in Black]].
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** Their color schemes are switched in Helen's fantasy of killing Madeline (and in the picture), and from Lisle's (who wears both colors, a dark red shawl and a white "bathrobe") party onwards they're both [[WomanInBlack Women in Black]].
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* [[RoomFullOfCrazy Vanity Mirror Full of Crazy]]: Helen's is covered with altered pictures of Madeline that makes her look like [[TheDarkKnightTrilogy Heath Ledger's Joker]].
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* BlondeBrunetteRedHead: See picture. Raven-haired Lisle could also count.
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** Michelle Johnson in one scene, before her boss shows up to refer Mad to Liesl.
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** Michelle Johnson in one scene, before her boss shows up to refer Mad to Liesl.Lisle.
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* {{Immortality}}: Ernest also acheives a more aesoppish form of immortality in films end by being remembered after death for his accomplishments in life.
to:
* {{Immortality}}: Ernest also acheives achieves a more aesoppish aesop-ish form of immortality in films end by being remembered after death for his accomplishments in life.
** Also Goldie Hawn as the (initially) mousy Helen and BruceWillis as the weak-willed, girly-screaming Ernest.
* LadyInRed: Helen.
** WomanInWhite / TrueBlueFemininity: Madeline.
** Their color schemes are switched in Helen's fantasy of killing Madeline (and in the picture), and from Lisle's party onwards they're both [[WomanInBlack Women in Black]].
* LadyInRed: Helen.
** WomanInWhite / TrueBlueFemininity: Madeline.
** Their color schemes are switched in Helen's fantasy of killing Madeline (and in the picture), and from Lisle's party onwards they're both [[WomanInBlack Women in Black]].
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* NeckSnap: An understandable result of being pushed down a long flight of marble stairs. Less uderstandable is the fact that she ''gets up afterwards with her head twisted around backwards''.
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* NeckSnap: An understandable result of being pushed down a long flight of marble stairs. Less uderstandable understandable is the fact that she ''gets up afterwards with her head twisted around backwards''.
* NotSoDifferent: Mad and Hel.
-->'''Helen''': You have no idea what it was like, hating and envying you at the same time!\\
'''Madeline''': ''You'' envied ''me''? ''I'' envied ''you''!
-->'''Helen''': You have no idea what it was like, hating and envying you at the same time!\\
'''Madeline''': ''You'' envied ''me''? ''I'' envied ''you''!
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-->'''Madeline Ashton:''' Bottoms up! ''(drinks potion)''
-->'''Lisle von Rhoman:''' Now, a warning...
-->'''Madeline Ashton:''' '''''NOW''''' a warning?!
-->'''Lisle von Rhoman:''' Now, a warning...
-->'''Madeline Ashton:''' '''''NOW''''' a warning?!
to:
-->'''Madeline Ashton:''' Bottoms up! ''(drinks potion)''
-->'''Lislepotion)''\\
'''Lisle von Rhoman:''' Now, awarning...
-->'''Madelinewarning...\\
'''Madeline Ashton:''' '''''NOW''''' a warning?!
-->'''Lisle
'''Lisle von Rhoman:''' Now, a
-->'''Madeline
'''Madeline Ashton:''' '''''NOW''''' a warning?!
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* SistineSteal: [[FauxSymbolism The stained-glass skylight that Ernest destroys when he falls after refusing immortality]]. Ernest breaks the skyliht precisely where God and Adam's fingertips are about to touch.
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** [[{{Frankenstein}} "It's alive!"]]
* SistineSteal: [[FauxSymbolism The stained-glass skylight that Ernest destroys when he falls after refusing immortality]]. Ernest breaks theskyliht skylight precisely where God and Adam's fingertips are about to touch.
* SistineSteal: [[FauxSymbolism The stained-glass skylight that Ernest destroys when he falls after refusing immortality]]. Ernest breaks the
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* FateWorseThanDeath: A major theme of the film.
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* HeartbreakAndIceCream: Helen Sharp has her cupboards stocked with cake frosting several years after the heartbreak of watching her fiancee marry Madeline Ashton.
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* AbsurdlySharpClaws: In one scene Meryl Streep's Character leaves scratchmarks on a solid column.
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* AbsurdlySharpClaws: In one scene Meryl Streep's Character character leaves scratchmarks on a solid column.
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''DeathBecomesHer'' is a 1992 dark comedy directed by RobertZemeckis and starring Goldie Hawn, MerylStreep, and BruceWillis. It won an AcademyAward for Best Visual Effects.
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* AbsurdlySharpClaws: In one scene Meryl Streep's Character leaves scratchmarks on a solid column.
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* SistineSteal: [[FauxSymbolism The stained-glass skylight that Ernest destroys when he falls after refusing immortality]]. Ernest break the skyliht precisely where God and Adam's fingertips are about to touch.
to:
* SistineSteal: [[FauxSymbolism The stained-glass skylight that Ernest destroys when he falls after refusing immortality]]. Ernest break breaks the skyliht precisely where God and Adam's fingertips are about to touch.
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* SistineSteal: [[FauxSymbolism The stained-glass skylight that Ernest destroys when he falls after refusing immortality]]. Ernest break the skyliht precisely where God and Adam's fingertips are about to touch.
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* GhostlyGlide: [[NunsAreSpooky Creepy nuns]] float down the hallway past Bruce Willis leading to the morgue.
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* TheAlcoholic: Ernest has become one, and now can no longer use his cosmetic surgery skills on living patients. It's implied his bad marriage is to blame.
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* AnAesop: At the end, no one knows who Ernest Menville was before he turned 50. He became famous, successful and found true love ''after'' 50.
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* HollywoodMidLifeCrisis: All three main characters suffer this. Ernest copes at the end, starting his life anew at 50.
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* ImmortalityBeginsAtTwenty: Played with. The serum makes you look ''younger''. Of course, if you abuse yourself like Mad and Hel, you end up looking like crones from constant repair.
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* OneSceneWonder: Isabella Rosselini as Lisle has some of the most hysterical moments in the film, despite having the least screentime.
** And [[Series/{{JAG}} Catherine]] [[ArmyWives Bell]] as her body double.
** And [[Series/{{JAG}} Catherine]] [[ArmyWives Bell]] as her body double.
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* LargeHam: Lisle.
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* LargeHam: Lisle. Madeline, too.
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* StylisticSuck: Carried off to perfection by Meryl Streep. Only one of the best actresses in the world could convincingly be one of the worst hams.
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* SpringtimeForHitler: Although Madeline's musical performance is mostly hated, it is precisely then that Ernest falls in love with her.
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** In the first draft, Ernest was supposed to die in the fall, with the movie ending at his funeral.
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** Mad and Hel being zombies probably wouldn't have occurred to the audience at the time either. Zombies were stupid, flesh-eating, rotting corpses who were still relatively novel at the time.
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** Lisle's bargain seems a bad one from the beginning. You only get to enjoy your eternal youth for ten years. After that, you have to shut yourself away in a secluded mansion and spend eternity as the house pet of a creepy Theda Bara wannabe.
*** The immortals don't live in the mansion, they just visit it once a year for a party. They just need to keep a low profile, and stay unrecognisable to the public.
*** The immortals don't live in the mansion, they just visit it once a year for a party. They just need to keep a low profile, and stay unrecognisable to the public.
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* GilliganCut: Willis' Character: "I have absolutely no interest in Madeleine Ashton!" Cue the wedding.
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* GilliganCut: Willis' Character: Ernest: "I have absolutely no interest in Madeleine Ashton!" Cue the wedding.
Changed line(s) 62 (click to see context) from:
* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent
to:
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* TheMusical: ''Songbird!'' is a StylisticSuck adaptation of ''Sweet Bird of Youth''.
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* TheMusical: ''Songbird!'' ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcNO-svJD3I Songbird!]]'' is a StylisticSuck adaptation of ''Sweet Bird of Youth''.
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* ManipulativeBitch: Lisle ,also, Madeline and Helen to a lesser extent.
* TheMasquerade: No one must know of the potion. {{Foreshadowed}} when the plastic surgeon turns off his security camera when telling Madeline about Lislie.
* TheMasquerade: No one must know of the potion. {{Foreshadowed}} when the plastic surgeon turns off his security camera when telling Madeline about Lislie.
to:
* ManipulativeBitch: Lisle ,also, Lisle, also, Madeline and Helen to a lesser extent.
* TheMasquerade: No one must know of the potion. {{Foreshadowed}} when the plastic surgeon turns off his security camera when telling Madeline aboutLislie.Lisle.
* TheMasquerade: No one must know of the potion. {{Foreshadowed}} when the plastic surgeon turns off his security camera when telling Madeline about
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** And Catherine Bell as her body double.
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** And Catherine Bell [[Series/{{JAG}} Catherine]] [[ArmyWives Bell]] as her body double.
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* SexlessMarriage: Madeline and Ernest.
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Namespace stuff. - also, sorted a bit
Changed line(s) 22,23 (click to see context) from:
** Lisle's bargain seems a bad one from the beginning. You only get to enjoy your eternal youth for ten years. After that, you have to shut yourself away in a secluded mansion and spend eternity as the house pet of a creepy Theda Bara wannabe.
*** The immortals don't live in the mansion, they just visit it once a year for a party. They just need to keep a low profile, and stay unrecognisable to the public.
*** The immortals don't live in the mansion, they just visit it once a year for a party. They just need to keep a low profile, and stay unrecognisable to the public.
to:
** Lisle's bargain seems a bad one from the beginning. You only get to enjoy your eternal youth for ten years. After that, you have to shut yourself away in a secluded mansion and spend eternity as the house pet of a creepy Theda Bara wannabe.
wannabe.
*** The immortals don't live in the mansion, they just visit it once a year for a party. They just need to keep a low profile, and stay unrecognisable to the public.
*** The immortals don't live in the mansion, they just visit it once a year for a party. They just need to keep a low profile, and stay unrecognisable to the public.
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* BodyHorror: Many of the AmusingInjuries throughout the movie fall under this. Though mostly it's PlayedForLaughs, when you think about living with all of those injuries, artificially masked, forever...
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* BodyHorror: Many of the AmusingInjuries throughout the movie fall under this. Though mostly it's PlayedForLaughs, when you think about living with all of those injuries, artificially masked, forever...
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* ChekhovsGun: Ernest is seen trying to throw scalpels at a dartboard early in the film. He does poorly, presumably due to the years of alcoholism giving him shaky hands. Later on, after having one of his hands rejuvenated to display the powers of the potion, he throws a knife with perfect accuracy just when he needs to.
to:
* ChekhovsGun: Ernest is seen trying to throw scalpels at a dartboard early in the film. He does poorly, presumably due to the years of alcoholism giving him shaky hands. Later on, after having one of his hands rejuvenated to display the powers of the potion, he throws a knife with perfect accuracy just when he needs to.
Changed line(s) 43 (click to see context) from:
-->'''Helen:''' Yes, you are. If I never told you before, it was because I wasn't the sort of girl who could say the word "sexual" without blushing. Well I can now. Sexual... sensual... sexy... sex... sex... sex...
to:
-->'''Helen:''' Yes, you are. If I never told you before, it was because I wasn't the sort of girl who could say the word "sexual" without blushing. Well I can now. Sexual... sensual... sexy... sex... sex... sex...
Changed line(s) 46,47 (click to see context) from:
-->'''Ernest:''' She's dead!
-->'''Madeline:''' ''(mock gasp)'' She is? ''(gleeful)'' Oh. These are the moments that make life worth living.
-->'''Madeline:''' ''(mock gasp)'' She is? ''(gleeful)'' Oh. These are the moments that make life worth living.
to:
-->'''Ernest:''' She's dead!
dead!
-->'''Madeline:''' ''(mock gasp)'' She is? ''(gleeful)'' Oh. These are the moments that make life worth living.
-->'''Madeline:''' ''(mock gasp)'' She is? ''(gleeful)'' Oh. These are the moments that make life worth living.
* LargeHam: Lisle.
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* LargeHam: Lisle.
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* LargeHam: Lisle.MajorInjuryUnderreaction: A natural result of the potion removing people's ability to feel pain.
* TheMasquerade: No one must know of the potion. {{Foreshadowed}} when the plastic surgeon turns off his security camera when telling Madeline about Lislie.
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* MajorInjuryUnderreaction: A natural result of the potion removing people's ability to feel pain.
* TheMasquerade: No one must know of the potion. {{Foreshadowed}} when the plastic surgeon turns off his security camera when telling Madeline about Lislie.
* TheMasquerade: No one must know of the potion. {{Foreshadowed}} when the plastic surgeon turns off his security camera when telling Madeline about Lislie.
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* PlayingAgainstType: Bruce Willis playing a cowardly henpecked husband. Bonus points for the character being literally impotent.
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* PlayingAgainstType: Bruce Willis playing a cowardly henpecked husband. Bonus points for the character being literally impotent.
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* ShoutOut:
** "[[MontyPythonsFlyingCircus She's not resting, she's DEAD!]]"
** "[[MontyPythonsFlyingCircus She's not resting, she's DEAD!]]"
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* ShoutOut:
ShoutOut:
**"[[MontyPythonsFlyingCircus "[[Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus She's not resting, she's DEAD!]]"
**
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** Possibly justified -- he hits the basically flat skylight flat on his back which would minimize immediate cuts and the window breaking would reduce the force of ''that'' impact considerably while still slowing down his speed enough to keep the water from killing him on second impact.
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** Possibly justified -- he hits the basically flat skylight flat on his back which would minimize immediate cuts and the window breaking would reduce the force of ''that'' impact considerably while still slowing down his speed enough to keep the water from killing him on second impact.
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[[quoteright:322:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/death_becomes_her_6734.jpg]]
Imagine you could become immortal. You would never worry about aging or death - you would stay young and beautiful forever, and you would be in [[BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy good company]]. The only catch is that after ten years, you would have to "disappear" in order to uphold TheMasquerade. Now imagine that your biggest romantic rival has already taken this step.
Oh, [[NowYouTellMe and a warning]]: you will need to take very good care of your body, because you will be using it for [[WhoWantsToLiveForever a very long time...]]
''DeathBecomesHer'' is a 1992 dark comedy directed by RobertZemeckis and starring Goldie Hawn, MerylStreep, and BruceWillis. It won an AcademyAward for Best Visual Effects.
----
!! This movie contains examples of:
* AmusingInjuries: The most disturbing catalog there is this side of a TexAvery cartoon.
* AndThenWhat: Ernest wonders this when [[WhoWantsToLiveForever offered immortality.]]
* AnswersToTheNameOfGod: "My god!" "Thank you."
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking:
-->'''Helen Sharp, regarding Madeline Ashton:''' She was a homebreaker. She was a man-eater. And she was a ''[[BadBadActing bad actress]]''.
** This is doubly hilarious when you watch the film and find out that ''MerylStreep''--the world's finest actress, by general agreement--[[IronyAsSheIsCast plays Madeline Ashton]].
* BerserkButton: "Flaccid!"
** For Madeline: "Cheap!" Madeline had already had the upper hand on Ernest - had she ignored his "Cheap!" remark, she'd have never fallen down the stairs.
* BettyAndVeronica: Helen, a shy, timid Betty in the beginning of the movie, is desperately afraid her fiance Ernest will fall for Madeline, her childhood friend, who is a flashy actress and definite Veronica. Depending on how you define the roles, though, they become less distinct after the first fifteen minutes of the movie.
* BlessedWithSuck: Shortly after finding out about each other's immortality, Helen and Madeline try to kill each other. They don't die, but their bodies do, and they are stuck in their broken, battered corpses for (it is implied) eternity. They use undertaking techniques just to keep themselves looking and moving like real people - but then their bodies simply fall apart.
** Lisle's bargain seems a bad one from the beginning. You only get to enjoy your eternal youth for ten years. After that, you have to shut yourself away in a secluded mansion and spend eternity as the house pet of a creepy Theda Bara wannabe.
*** The immortals don't live in the mansion, they just visit it once a year for a party. They just need to keep a low profile, and stay unrecognisable to the public.
* BlownAcrossTheRoom: Madeline does this to Helen.
* BodyHorror: Many of the AmusingInjuries throughout the movie fall under this. Though mostly it's PlayedForLaughs, when you think about living with all of those injuries, artificially masked, forever...
* CameBackWrong: Type 4.
* TheCameo: Sydney Pollack is the first doctor Madeline sees post-stairs accident.
* ChekhovsGun: Ernest is seen trying to throw scalpels at a dartboard early in the film. He does poorly, presumably due to the years of alcoholism giving him shaky hands. Later on, after having one of his hands rejuvenated to display the powers of the potion, he throws a knife with perfect accuracy just when he needs to.
* CrapsackWorld: Debatable: On one hand, appearance is everything and undeath is preferable to aging. On the other hand, [[spoiler: Ernest achieved recognition and popularity in his twilight years due to his charity and achieved immortality that way.]]
* CrazyCatLady: Helen. Correction: ''Morbidly Obese'' Crazy Cat Lady.
* DeathByFallingOver: To be fair, there was a long flight on marble stairs involved...
* DecoyProtagonist: A rare third-act switch.
* DiamondsInTheBuff: Lisle's enormous torso-covering necklace.
* DidYouGetANewHaircut: Played straight. After Madeline has drunk a potion giving her eternal youth and beauty, her husband Ernest asks, "Change your hair?"
* ElvisHasLeftThePlanet / ElvisLives: The King is one of several famous people who took the immortality potion and faked his own death. He makes appearances from time to time to grab a few headlines.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Lisle and company are genuinely puzzled when Ernest refuses the potion. They are too self-centered and shallow to care about the reasons he has for not wanting to be immortal.
* {{Fanservice}}: Lisle. And her boyfriends/bodyguards. "Keep your ass handy."
** Michelle Johnson in one scene, before her boss shows up to refer Mad to Liesl.
* FatSuit. Hawn donned one for a segment. She never let her children see her wearing it, reportedly, because it scared them.
* FemmeFatale: Both Madeline and Helen, but Helen ''really'' plays it up.
-->'''Helen:''' You're a powerful sexual being, Ernest.
-->'''Ernest:''' I am?
-->'''Helen:''' Yes, you are. If I never told you before, it was because I wasn't the sort of girl who could say the word "sexual" without blushing. Well I can now. Sexual... sensual... sexy... sex... sex... sex...
* FingerPokeOfDoom: [[TinyToonAdventures Maddy go down the hollllle.]]
* ForTheEvulz: Mad revels in having (apparently) killed Helen with a point blank shotgun blast.
-->'''Ernest:''' She's dead!
-->'''Madeline:''' ''(mock gasp)'' She is? ''(gleeful)'' Oh. These are the moments that make life worth living.
** Then:
-->'''Ernest:''' Life in prison? Know what that means to a person in your condition?
-->'''Madeline:''' So negative. ''(eyes glittering)'' Can't you just let me enjoy the moment?
* GenreShift: The first two-thirds are a dark supernatural comedy about Helen and Madeleine's rivalry. Then it switches moods... and protagonists.
* GilliganCut: Willis' Character: "I have absolutely no interest in Madeleine Ashton!" Cue the wedding.
* HeadTurnedBackwards: "My ass! I can ''see'' my ''ass!"''
* HenpeckedHusband: Ernest. So much. He would rather suffer a near-fatal fall than deal with his bitchy wife for the rest of his life.
* HiddenDepths: Ernest, beaten down by years of horrible marriage, at first seems weak willed and buffoonish. By the end he comes across as the strongest and wisest character in the film.
* {{Immortality}}: Ernest also acheives a more aesoppish form of immortality in films end by being remembered after death for his accomplishments in life.
* ImmortalityHurts: Averted. Neither Madeline or Helen feel their injuries.
* IronyAsSheIsCast: MerylStreep, who is probably the greatest living actress today, playing hammy actress Madeline Ashton.
** In-universe example: Madeline is cast in a musical version of ''Sweet Bird of Youth'', which is about an older woman desperately clinging to her youth and beauty.
* TheLoinsSleepTonight: Madeline accuses Ernest of this. He doesn't deny it. He does [[spoiler: later remarry and have children, so it's probably cured by quitting drinking and being with someone who loves him.]]
* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent
* LargeHam: Lisle.
* ManipulativeBitch: Lisle ,also, Madeline and Helen to a lesser extent.
* MeaningfulName. All over the place. For one, '''Ash'''ton fears growing old. '''Sharp''' is what Helen becomes. Both women become '''Mad''' as '''Hel'''. And, of course, '''Ernest''' '''Men'''ville.
* MajorInjuryUnderreaction: A natural result of the potion removing people's ability to feel pain.
* TheMasquerade: No one must know of the potion. {{Foreshadowed}} when the plastic surgeon turns off his security camera when telling Madeline about Lislie.
* MinorInjuryOverreaction: This has stretched back to Mad and Hel's mutual girlhood.
* TheMusical: ''Songbird!'' is a StylisticSuck adaptation of ''Sweet Bird of Youth''.
* NeckSnap: An understandable result of being pushed down a long flight of marble stairs. Less uderstandable is the fact that she ''gets up afterwards with her head twisted around backwards''.
** It looks like she was bitten by a radioactive owl.
* NotUsingTheZWord. No one in the film mentions zombies, but director Robert Zemeckis openly admits in interviews it's a zombie film, albeit ''glamorous'' literally Hollywood zombies.
* NowYouTellMe.
-->'''Madeline Ashton:''' Bottoms up! ''(drinks potion)''
-->'''Lisle von Rhoman:''' Now, a warning...
-->'''Madeline Ashton:''' '''''NOW''''' a warning?!
* NunsAreSpooky: Ernest meets three of them coming out of the morgue. They glide.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Duh. {{Lampshaded}} by Lisle, who has Madeline guess her age (71). Madeline first guesses 38, which earns her a DeathGlare from Lisle, and quickly re-guesses 28 and 23.
* OneSceneWonder: Isabella Rosselini as Lisle has some of the most hysterical moments in the film, despite having the least screentime.
** And Catherine Bell as her body double.
* PlayingAgainstType: Bruce Willis playing a cowardly henpecked husband. Bonus points for the character being literally impotent.
* RasputinianDeath: [[spoiler: Madeline and Helen]] get these by the end, only they don't take.
* ScaryShinyGlasses: Ernest has them for a moment when [[spoiler: Helen finishes outlining her plot to kill Madeline.]]
* ShoutOut:
** "[[MontyPythonsFlyingCircus She's not resting, she's DEAD!]]"
** "I vant to be alone!"
* SlidingScaleOfUndeadRegeneration
* SoftWater: Ernest's swan dive off the top of a huge mansion, through a stained-glass skylight, and into an indoor pool leaves him with only a nasty-looking cut on his arm.
** Possibly justified -- he hits the basically flat skylight flat on his back which would minimize immediate cuts and the window breaking would reduce the force of ''that'' impact considerably while still slowing down his speed enough to keep the water from killing him on second impact.
* StaircaseTumble
** The second one is a TakingYouWithMe.
* StalkerShrine: Helen Sharp has one of her nemesis and rival Madeline Ashton.
* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: "It's a dislocated ''neck''!"
* WakingUpAtTheMorgue: Justified here, because nobody could survive a tumble down a flight of marble stairs and a twisted around head... and technically, she didn't.
* WhiteDwarfStarlet: Madeline Ashton.
* WhoWantsToLiveForever: A surprisingly philosophical discussion of this trope.
** ComicallyMissingThePoint: Of course, when the priest eulogizes Ernest that he'd found the secret to immortality through his children and his work, Helen and Madeline both mock, "BlahBlahBlah."
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Imagine you could become immortal. You would never worry about aging or death - you would stay young and beautiful forever, and you would be in [[BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy good company]]. The only catch is that after ten years, you would have to "disappear" in order to uphold TheMasquerade. Now imagine that your biggest romantic rival has already taken this step.
Oh, [[NowYouTellMe and a warning]]: you will need to take very good care of your body, because you will be using it for [[WhoWantsToLiveForever a very long time...]]
''DeathBecomesHer'' is a 1992 dark comedy directed by RobertZemeckis and starring Goldie Hawn, MerylStreep, and BruceWillis. It won an AcademyAward for Best Visual Effects.
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!! This movie contains examples of:
* AmusingInjuries: The most disturbing catalog there is this side of a TexAvery cartoon.
* AndThenWhat: Ernest wonders this when [[WhoWantsToLiveForever offered immortality.]]
* AnswersToTheNameOfGod: "My god!" "Thank you."
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking:
-->'''Helen Sharp, regarding Madeline Ashton:''' She was a homebreaker. She was a man-eater. And she was a ''[[BadBadActing bad actress]]''.
** This is doubly hilarious when you watch the film and find out that ''MerylStreep''--the world's finest actress, by general agreement--[[IronyAsSheIsCast plays Madeline Ashton]].
* BerserkButton: "Flaccid!"
** For Madeline: "Cheap!" Madeline had already had the upper hand on Ernest - had she ignored his "Cheap!" remark, she'd have never fallen down the stairs.
* BettyAndVeronica: Helen, a shy, timid Betty in the beginning of the movie, is desperately afraid her fiance Ernest will fall for Madeline, her childhood friend, who is a flashy actress and definite Veronica. Depending on how you define the roles, though, they become less distinct after the first fifteen minutes of the movie.
* BlessedWithSuck: Shortly after finding out about each other's immortality, Helen and Madeline try to kill each other. They don't die, but their bodies do, and they are stuck in their broken, battered corpses for (it is implied) eternity. They use undertaking techniques just to keep themselves looking and moving like real people - but then their bodies simply fall apart.
** Lisle's bargain seems a bad one from the beginning. You only get to enjoy your eternal youth for ten years. After that, you have to shut yourself away in a secluded mansion and spend eternity as the house pet of a creepy Theda Bara wannabe.
*** The immortals don't live in the mansion, they just visit it once a year for a party. They just need to keep a low profile, and stay unrecognisable to the public.
* BlownAcrossTheRoom: Madeline does this to Helen.
* BodyHorror: Many of the AmusingInjuries throughout the movie fall under this. Though mostly it's PlayedForLaughs, when you think about living with all of those injuries, artificially masked, forever...
* CameBackWrong: Type 4.
* TheCameo: Sydney Pollack is the first doctor Madeline sees post-stairs accident.
* ChekhovsGun: Ernest is seen trying to throw scalpels at a dartboard early in the film. He does poorly, presumably due to the years of alcoholism giving him shaky hands. Later on, after having one of his hands rejuvenated to display the powers of the potion, he throws a knife with perfect accuracy just when he needs to.
* CrapsackWorld: Debatable: On one hand, appearance is everything and undeath is preferable to aging. On the other hand, [[spoiler: Ernest achieved recognition and popularity in his twilight years due to his charity and achieved immortality that way.]]
* CrazyCatLady: Helen. Correction: ''Morbidly Obese'' Crazy Cat Lady.
* DeathByFallingOver: To be fair, there was a long flight on marble stairs involved...
* DecoyProtagonist: A rare third-act switch.
* DiamondsInTheBuff: Lisle's enormous torso-covering necklace.
* DidYouGetANewHaircut: Played straight. After Madeline has drunk a potion giving her eternal youth and beauty, her husband Ernest asks, "Change your hair?"
* ElvisHasLeftThePlanet / ElvisLives: The King is one of several famous people who took the immortality potion and faked his own death. He makes appearances from time to time to grab a few headlines.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Lisle and company are genuinely puzzled when Ernest refuses the potion. They are too self-centered and shallow to care about the reasons he has for not wanting to be immortal.
* {{Fanservice}}: Lisle. And her boyfriends/bodyguards. "Keep your ass handy."
** Michelle Johnson in one scene, before her boss shows up to refer Mad to Liesl.
* FatSuit. Hawn donned one for a segment. She never let her children see her wearing it, reportedly, because it scared them.
* FemmeFatale: Both Madeline and Helen, but Helen ''really'' plays it up.
-->'''Helen:''' You're a powerful sexual being, Ernest.
-->'''Ernest:''' I am?
-->'''Helen:''' Yes, you are. If I never told you before, it was because I wasn't the sort of girl who could say the word "sexual" without blushing. Well I can now. Sexual... sensual... sexy... sex... sex... sex...
* FingerPokeOfDoom: [[TinyToonAdventures Maddy go down the hollllle.]]
* ForTheEvulz: Mad revels in having (apparently) killed Helen with a point blank shotgun blast.
-->'''Ernest:''' She's dead!
-->'''Madeline:''' ''(mock gasp)'' She is? ''(gleeful)'' Oh. These are the moments that make life worth living.
** Then:
-->'''Ernest:''' Life in prison? Know what that means to a person in your condition?
-->'''Madeline:''' So negative. ''(eyes glittering)'' Can't you just let me enjoy the moment?
* GenreShift: The first two-thirds are a dark supernatural comedy about Helen and Madeleine's rivalry. Then it switches moods... and protagonists.
* GilliganCut: Willis' Character: "I have absolutely no interest in Madeleine Ashton!" Cue the wedding.
* HeadTurnedBackwards: "My ass! I can ''see'' my ''ass!"''
* HenpeckedHusband: Ernest. So much. He would rather suffer a near-fatal fall than deal with his bitchy wife for the rest of his life.
* HiddenDepths: Ernest, beaten down by years of horrible marriage, at first seems weak willed and buffoonish. By the end he comes across as the strongest and wisest character in the film.
* {{Immortality}}: Ernest also acheives a more aesoppish form of immortality in films end by being remembered after death for his accomplishments in life.
* ImmortalityHurts: Averted. Neither Madeline or Helen feel their injuries.
* IronyAsSheIsCast: MerylStreep, who is probably the greatest living actress today, playing hammy actress Madeline Ashton.
** In-universe example: Madeline is cast in a musical version of ''Sweet Bird of Youth'', which is about an older woman desperately clinging to her youth and beauty.
* TheLoinsSleepTonight: Madeline accuses Ernest of this. He doesn't deny it. He does [[spoiler: later remarry and have children, so it's probably cured by quitting drinking and being with someone who loves him.]]
* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent
* LargeHam: Lisle.
* ManipulativeBitch: Lisle ,also, Madeline and Helen to a lesser extent.
* MeaningfulName. All over the place. For one, '''Ash'''ton fears growing old. '''Sharp''' is what Helen becomes. Both women become '''Mad''' as '''Hel'''. And, of course, '''Ernest''' '''Men'''ville.
* MajorInjuryUnderreaction: A natural result of the potion removing people's ability to feel pain.
* TheMasquerade: No one must know of the potion. {{Foreshadowed}} when the plastic surgeon turns off his security camera when telling Madeline about Lislie.
* MinorInjuryOverreaction: This has stretched back to Mad and Hel's mutual girlhood.
* TheMusical: ''Songbird!'' is a StylisticSuck adaptation of ''Sweet Bird of Youth''.
* NeckSnap: An understandable result of being pushed down a long flight of marble stairs. Less uderstandable is the fact that she ''gets up afterwards with her head twisted around backwards''.
** It looks like she was bitten by a radioactive owl.
* NotUsingTheZWord. No one in the film mentions zombies, but director Robert Zemeckis openly admits in interviews it's a zombie film, albeit ''glamorous'' literally Hollywood zombies.
* NowYouTellMe.
-->'''Madeline Ashton:''' Bottoms up! ''(drinks potion)''
-->'''Lisle von Rhoman:''' Now, a warning...
-->'''Madeline Ashton:''' '''''NOW''''' a warning?!
* NunsAreSpooky: Ernest meets three of them coming out of the morgue. They glide.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Duh. {{Lampshaded}} by Lisle, who has Madeline guess her age (71). Madeline first guesses 38, which earns her a DeathGlare from Lisle, and quickly re-guesses 28 and 23.
* OneSceneWonder: Isabella Rosselini as Lisle has some of the most hysterical moments in the film, despite having the least screentime.
** And Catherine Bell as her body double.
* PlayingAgainstType: Bruce Willis playing a cowardly henpecked husband. Bonus points for the character being literally impotent.
* RasputinianDeath: [[spoiler: Madeline and Helen]] get these by the end, only they don't take.
* ScaryShinyGlasses: Ernest has them for a moment when [[spoiler: Helen finishes outlining her plot to kill Madeline.]]
* ShoutOut:
** "[[MontyPythonsFlyingCircus She's not resting, she's DEAD!]]"
** "I vant to be alone!"
* SlidingScaleOfUndeadRegeneration
* SoftWater: Ernest's swan dive off the top of a huge mansion, through a stained-glass skylight, and into an indoor pool leaves him with only a nasty-looking cut on his arm.
** Possibly justified -- he hits the basically flat skylight flat on his back which would minimize immediate cuts and the window breaking would reduce the force of ''that'' impact considerably while still slowing down his speed enough to keep the water from killing him on second impact.
* StaircaseTumble
** The second one is a TakingYouWithMe.
* StalkerShrine: Helen Sharp has one of her nemesis and rival Madeline Ashton.
* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: "It's a dislocated ''neck''!"
* WakingUpAtTheMorgue: Justified here, because nobody could survive a tumble down a flight of marble stairs and a twisted around head... and technically, she didn't.
* WhiteDwarfStarlet: Madeline Ashton.
* WhoWantsToLiveForever: A surprisingly philosophical discussion of this trope.
** ComicallyMissingThePoint: Of course, when the priest eulogizes Ernest that he'd found the secret to immortality through his children and his work, Helen and Madeline both mock, "BlahBlahBlah."
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