History Film / WhatDreamsMayCome

* ArtInitiatesLife: Chris' view of heaven is heavily inspired by his wife's paintings.

* SelfInflictedHell

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

* AndIMustScream: Seen literally as Christy journeys into Hell. Several lost souls are seen with mouths sealed shut and attempting to cry out to those passing by.

* AnywhereButTheirLips: When Christy and his daughter in the shape of a grown up Asian woman embrace, he only kisses her on the forehead to avoid any [[IncestSubtext awkwardness]] audience reaction.

* LiteraryAllusionTitle: From the "To be or not to be" soliloquy from ''{{Hamlet}}''.

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

* IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream: Seen literally as Christy journeys into Hell. Several lost souls are seen with mouths sealed shut and attempting to cry out to those passing by.

* 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.

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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 (Cuba Gooding Jr). 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.

* IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream: Seen literally as Christ journeys into Hell. Several lost souls are seen with mouths sealed shut and attempting to cry out to those passing by.

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.

* SuicideIsShameful: Suicides end up in hell and none of them was able to ascend to their version of heaven.

* InterfaithSmoothie: The film blends Eastern mystical concepts of reincarnation with Judeo-Christian concepts of monotheism, heaven and hell, as well as an EpiphanicPrison for those that commit suicide. Dogs go to heaven, too.

* JustifiedExtraLives: [[spoiler:Reincarnation FTW.]]

* CompleteTheQuoteTitle: The title comes from Theater/{{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"]].

* GraveMarkingScene: Annie is shown visiting Chris' grave while he is right behind her as a ghost.

* AnywhereButTheirLips: When Christy and his daughter in the shape of a grown up Asian woman embrace, he only kisses her on the forehead to avoid any [[IncestSubtext awkwardness]].

* NearDeathClairvoyance

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

* TooHappyToLive: The first ten minutes have Chris meeting his future wife, having kids, and laughing. And laughing. And laughing. And then his kids are KilledOffscreen, then [[TheHeroDies he dies]], then his wife [[DrivenToSuicide commits suicide]]...

* YouLookFamiliar: In-universe -[[spoiler: Christy's son assumes the form of Christy's mentor. Later, they meet up with Christy's real mentor, who has assumed the form of Creator/MaxVonSydow.]]

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''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's death, he travels through hell to find her, determined to bring her back to Paradise.

* ArtInitiatesLife: Chris's view of heaven is heavily inspired by his wife's paintings.

* TheCameo: Werner Herzog appears as a man in a sea of faces who mistakes Chris for his son.

* CompleteTheQuoteTitle: The title comes from Theater/{{Hamlet}}'s famous "to be, or not to be" soliloquy. [[spoiler: The full line reads: "For in that sleep of death what dreams may come"]]
* CrypticBackgroundReference: ''Double D-anniversary''. Christy and Annie are repeatedly referring to his event without an explanation until towards the end when we flashback to the scene where this term was coined:
--> ''Christy:''' Today is kind of a D-Day. "D" for decision, I guess. About divorce.

* DrivenToSuicide: Annie, twice. Well, aside from the fact she already had a suicide attempt, losing her kids ''and'' her husband in successive order would break a lot of people.

* EpiphanicPrison: This is the setup for Hell.

* 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's 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.

* ToHellAndBack: Chris's journey, making up the core of the movie.

* OrpheanRescue: Chris's quest to retrieve Annie from hell.

* 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.]]

* [[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.]]

* TooHappyToLive
* TraumaticHaircut: Annie's short hair in the asylum after her kids died. The look of it implies she cut her hair short by herself.

* YouLookFamiliar: In-universe -[[spoiler: Chris's son assumes the form of Chris's mentor. Later, they meet up with Chris's mentor, who has assumed the form of Creator/MaxVonSydow.]]
* 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]].