History Film / WhatDreamsMayCome

* ArtReflectsPersonality: Annie's artwork is initially bright and scenic, but after losing her children the paintings become darker and more abstract, reflecting how deep her grief is.

* ArtInitiatesLife: Chris' view of heaven is heavily inspired by his wife's paintings. Albert even {{Lampshade}}s this, saying he's never before seen anyone use actual paint to create their paradise.

* 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.]]

* ReincarnationRomance: [[spoiler: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.]]

* BlessedWithSuck[=/=]CursedWithAwesome: The film implies that this is what soulmates have. They meet and fall in love quickly and are very happy with each other. But without each other, the other can't function and lives miserably.

* 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 other's Victorious Childhood Friend.]]

* CrypticBackgroundReference: ''Double D-anniversary''. Christy and Annie are repeatedly referring to this event without giving an explanation until towards the end when we flash back to the scene where this term was coined:
--> '''Christy:''' Today is kind of a D-Day. "D" for decision, I guess. About divorce.

--> '''Christy''': I stand corrected.

* {{Determinator}}: Christy is determined to find his wife in hell, no matter what.

* EmpathicEnvironment: The afterlife seems to reacts to the character's emotions. When Christy gets angry about his wife ending up in hell, a storm rages in the background.

* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Annie's hairstyle changes throughout the flashbacks which helps the viewer to keep track of the timeline. Annie has long hair when she meets Christy and all through the happy family times, gets a TraumaticHaircut after the kids die, and has a stylish bob cut four years later when she has recovered.
* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: How Christy [[spoiler: saves Annie from hell. He offers to give up his heaven to stay with her. She has a MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment as he becomes "frozen" and they're both set free]].

* {{Flashback}}: Many parts of the story are told through flashbacks Christy is having along his journey.
* ForegoneConclusion: Christy's narration lets us know that his kids would die soon after: "It was the last time Annie and I saw them alive."

* MagicalNegro: Cuba Gooding Jr.'s character, who acts as a mentor towards Christy in his afterlife.

* MindlinkMates / OneTrueLove: Christy and Annie are made out to be this, e.g. by showing how they are able to communicate with another even after Christy is dead. Lampshaded by Christy: [[LoveAtFirstSight From the first moment]], it was like ... soul mates
* MrExposition: Albert in the afterlife, explaining to Christy how everything works.
* NearDeathClairvoyance: Christy is shown what happens in the real world after his death.

* TastesLikeFriendship: Christy and Annie are sharing sandwiches the day they meet in the beginning [[{{Bookends}} and also]] when they're [[spoiler:reincarnated at the end]].

* YouWereTryingTooHard: Christy [[spoiler:finally saves his wife from Hell by giving up on trying to save her and instead joining her]]. Sometimes, [[IronicEcho when you lose, you win]].

* IronicHell

* LimitedWardrobe: Justified. For all scenes in the afterlife Chris wears the same trench coat he died in.

* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Annie's hairstyle changes throughout the flashbacks which helps the viewer to keep track of the timeline. Annie has long hair when she meets Christy and all through the happy family times, gets a TraumaticHaircut after the kids die, has a stylish bob cut four years later when she has recovered.

* PersonalizedAfterlife: When someone first arrives in the afterlife they see themselves in an area tailored to their tastes and passions. In Chris' case this means his space is based on Annie's paintings, quite literally as everything except him, Albert and Katie the dog is made of paint.
* 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.]]

->...To die, to sleep;\\

[[caption-width-right:350:After life, there is more. The end is just the beginning.]]

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
->-Creator/WilliamShakespeare, ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' Act 3, Scene 1

->Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;\\

* 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.]]
* CompleteTheQuoteTitle: The title comes from ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}''[='s=] famous "to be, or not to be" soliloquy (Act 3, Scene 1). [[spoiler: The full line reads: "For in that sleep of death what dreams may come"]].

* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: How Christy [[spoiler: saves Annie from hell. He offers to give up his heaven to stay with her. She has a MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment as he becomes "frozen" and they're both set free.]]

* OrpheanRescue: Chris' quest to retrieve Annie from hell. [[spoiler: He succeeds against all odds, though in a weird inversion - his wife rescues ''him'' from Hell.]]

* ShoutOutToShakespeare: "What dreams may come" from ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' 's "To Be or Not To Be Speech". Naturally, in the play, it refers to the afterlife.

* SuicideIsShameful: Suicides end up in hell and none of them can ascend to their version of heaven, unlike people who died of natural causes or because of accidents. The only way out that we see is [[spoiler: when someone else offers to join them there. It's apparently a {{self inflicted hell}} that they need to be snapped out of by someone outside.]] Then the person can reincarnate to have another chance. According to the book, it takes a natural lifetime to escape from on their own.

* YouWereTryingTooHard: Christy [[spoiler:finally saves his wife from Hell by giving up on trying to save her and instead joining her.]] Sometimes, [[IronicEcho when you lose, you win]].

* ShownTheirWork: Matheson's original novel has many concepts based on his study of afterlife researcher Raymond Moody, who was greatly influenced by Emanuel Swedenborg's writings. Swedenborg, one of the forerunners of Modern Spiritualism, had the idea that our personal "heaven" and "hell" are based on our thoughts and feelings. [[https://web.archive.org/web/20191116131742/http://swedenborgiancommunity.org/content.cfm?id=3259 Here's an analysis of the film in Swedenborgian terms.]]

* HarsherInHindsight: Robin Williams ultimately died of suicide.[[note]]Not quite comparable, thankfully. In the movie, Williams's wife commits suicide out of grief. Robin Williams killed himself because he had Lewy body Dementia, a horrific condition sort of like super-Parkinson's mixed with Alzheimer's, causing periods of intense delirium and violent hallucinations. Had he not taken his own life, his doctors said Williams would have ''at best'' lived another two years, in constant agony.[[/note]]

* HarsherInHindsight: Robin Williams ultimately died of suicide.

* SuicideIsShameful: Suicides end up in hell and none of them can ascend to their version of heaven, unlike people who died of natural causes or because of accidents. The only way out that we see is [[spoiler: when someone else offers to join them there. It's apparently a {{self inflicted hell}} that they need to be snapped out of by someone outside.]] Then the person can reincarnate to have another chance.

* ArsonMurderJaywalking: One of the things Chris apologizes for to Annie while she's in her SelfInflictedHell: "I'll never buy you another meatball sub with extra sauce -- that was a big one!"

* NostalgiaHeaven

* FocusGroupEnding: The original ending was the main character loses himself in his wife's personal hell. Test audiences didn't like it, so it was replaced with a more upbeat ending where he saves her which is also how the original novel ends.

''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 [[TheFilmOfTheBook 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 where he is greeted by a spirit guide named Albert (Creator/CubaGoodingJr). 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.