Dead Again
Encyclopedia
Dead Again is a 1991 psychological thriller
Psychological thriller
Psychological thriller is a specific sub-genre of the broad ranged thriller with heavy focus on characters. However, it often incorporates elements from the mystery and drama genre, along with the typical traits of the thriller genre...

/neo-noir
Neo-noir
Neo-noir is a style often seen in modern motion pictures and other forms that prominently utilize elements of film noir, but with updated themes, content, style, visual elements or media that were absent in films noir of the 1940s and 1950s.-History:The term Film Noir was coined by...

 directed
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

 by Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from Northern Ireland. He is best known for directing and starring in several film adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays including Henry V , Much Ado About Nothing , Hamlet Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from...

, starring Branagh and his then-wife Emma Thompson
Emma Thompson
Emma Thompson is a British actress, comedian and screenwriter. Her first major film role was in the 1989 romantic comedy The Tall Guy. In 1992, Thompson won multiple acting awards, including an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for Best Actress, for her performance in the British drama Howards End...

. Andy García
Andy García
Andrés Arturo García Menéndez , professionally known as Andy García, is a Cuban American actor. He became known in the late 1980s and 1990s, having appeared in several successful Hollywood films, including The Godfather: Part III, The Untouchables, Internal Affairs and When a Man Loves a Woman...

, Derek Jacobi
Derek Jacobi
Sir Derek George Jacobi, CBE is an English actor and film director.A "forceful, commanding stage presence", Jacobi has enjoyed a highly successful stage career, appearing in such stage productions as Hamlet, Uncle Vanya, and Oedipus the King. He received a Tony Award for his performance in...

 and Robin Williams
Robin Williams
Robin McLaurin Williams is an American actor and comedian. Rising to fame with his role as the alien Mork in the TV series Mork and Mindy, and later stand-up comedy work, Williams has performed in many feature films since 1980. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance...

 are also featured.

Plot summary

The film begins with opening credits intercut with pans across newspaper clippings about a society murder committed by conductor-composer Roman Strauss (Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from Northern Ireland. He is best known for directing and starring in several film adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays including Henry V , Much Ado About Nothing , Hamlet Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from...

). Most of the articles were written by Gray Baker (Andy García
Andy García
Andrés Arturo García Menéndez , professionally known as Andy García, is a Cuban American actor. He became known in the late 1980s and 1990s, having appeared in several successful Hollywood films, including The Godfather: Part III, The Untouchables, Internal Affairs and When a Man Loves a Woman...

), who visited Strauss on the day of his execution. The gates of a mansion in the past fade into the same gates in the present day, now the grounds of a Catholic orphanage. As the main narrative begins, we meet Mike Church (also Branagh), a smart-alecky Los Angeles private investigator whose jobs usually involve running down deadbeats and finding missing persons. He's called in by Father Timothy (Richard Easton
Richard Easton
Richard Easton is a Canadian actor. He is best known in for his portrayal of Brian Hammond in the 1970s BBC serial The Brothers.-Biography:...

), the priest in charge of the orphanage where Mike was raised, to help identify a woman (Emma Thompson
Emma Thompson
Emma Thompson is a British actress, comedian and screenwriter. Her first major film role was in the 1989 romantic comedy The Tall Guy. In 1992, Thompson won multiple acting awards, including an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for Best Actress, for her performance in the British drama Howards End...

) who showed up in a state of shock, unable to speak, and with amnesia.

Mike takes the woman, whom he calls Grace, to stay at his apartment, where he discovers she is terrified of scissors. The two uncover clues to her identity but nothing concrete. Grace regains her voice during a hypnotic session with Franklyn (Derek Jacobi
Derek Jacobi
Sir Derek George Jacobi, CBE is an English actor and film director.A "forceful, commanding stage presence", Jacobi has enjoyed a highly successful stage career, appearing in such stage productions as Hamlet, Uncle Vanya, and Oedipus the King. He received a Tony Award for his performance in...

), an antique dealer who claims she is having a "past-life" experience. Under hypnosis, she recalls a couple who lived during the 1940s, a famous composer and his pianist wife, as if she were part of their history. Franklyn finds a LIFE
Life
Life is a characteristic that distinguishes objects that have signaling and self-sustaining processes from those that do not, either because such functions have ceased , or else because they lack such functions and are classified as inanimate...

magazine identifying the couple as actual people, Roman and Margaret. Margaret was brutally murdered, and Roman was executed for her murder.

As Mike and Grace fall in love, Grace is upset by the similarities of their courtship to that of Roman and Margaret. Grace becomes afraid of Mike and is unconvinced by his assertions that he's "not Roman." Franklyn hypnotizes Mike, leading to the revelation that Mike is not the reincarnation of Roman, but of Margaret. Now, Mike becomes afraid of Grace. Mike consults with Cozy Carlisle (Robin Williams
Robin Williams
Robin McLaurin Williams is an American actor and comedian. Rising to fame with his role as the alien Mork in the TV series Mork and Mindy, and later stand-up comedy work, Williams has performed in many feature films since 1980. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance...

), a disgraced psychiatrist who lost his license and now works in a butcher shop. Grace consults with Franklyn; each is advised to kill the other. Meanwhile, Mike's friend at the newspaper, Pete (Wayne Knight
Wayne Knight
Wayne Eliot Knight is an American actor, comedian, and voice actor perhaps best known for his role as Newman in the TV sitcom Seinfeld...

), uncovers Grace's true identity: Amanda Sharpe, an artist. He takes Amanda and Franklyn to her apartment, where she discovers she is an artist who is obsessed with scissors. Franklyn gives Amanda an antique gun from his shop.

Mike finds Baker, old and decrepit, at a nursing home. Baker says he no longer thinks Roman killed Margaret and says that the housekeeper, Inga, would know. After the murder, the housekeeper moved out and opened an antiques shop run by her son, Frankie, a disturbed boy who was accused of stealing by Margaret. Mike visits Inga (Hanna Schygulla
Hanna Schygulla
Hanna Schygulla is a German actress and chanson singer. She is generally considered the most prominent German actress of the New German Cinema.-Life and career:Schygulla was born in Königshütte, Upper Silesia,...

), who explains it was Frankie who killed Margaret. Inga had always been in love with Roman, after she saved his life while they fled war-torn Europe. After Margaret married Roman, Inga was treated coldly. Baker, who was attracted to Margaret, instilled suspicions in Margaret that Roman had indeed killed his first wife and that he was having a sexual affair with Inga. But Roman refused to fire Inga, despite Margaret's pleading, which made her more suspicious. Inga was unhappy about her treatment and told Frankie. Frankie killed Margaret with scissors. After having heard Inga's story, Mike (realizing that Franklyn is Frankie) races to Amanda's apartment; Frankie in the meantime arrives at the shop and smothers his mother.

Mike breaks into Amanda's apartment. She shoots him as he is trying to explain to her the truth about Roman and Margaret. Frankie shows up. Amanda tries to shoot him but the gun misfires. Frankie slaps Amanda unconscious and prepares to shoot her (in the mouth, so it looks like suicide), but Mike rouses himself and stabs Frankie with the scissors (placed in his hand by Frankie to incriminate him). Pete shows up with a pizza and tries to prevent Mike from what he thinks he's doing — killing Amanda — but he quickly realizes it is Frankie who intends to do the killing (who now has got hold of Mike's gun). After a brief standoff, Amanda stabs Frankie in the back with the scissors. Enraged, Frankie (whose stutter has returned) removes the scissors and lunges at her and Mike, but Mike moves a giant sculpture made of scissors directly into his path to impale him. Roman and Margaret kiss, and the scene fills with color as the shot fades to Mike and Amanda kissing.

Cast

  • Kenneth Branagh
    Kenneth Branagh
    Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from Northern Ireland. He is best known for directing and starring in several film adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays including Henry V , Much Ado About Nothing , Hamlet Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from...

     as Mike Church/Roman Strauss
  • Emma Thompson
    Emma Thompson
    Emma Thompson is a British actress, comedian and screenwriter. Her first major film role was in the 1989 romantic comedy The Tall Guy. In 1992, Thompson won multiple acting awards, including an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for Best Actress, for her performance in the British drama Howards End...

     as Amanda Sharp/"Grace"/Margaret Strauss
  • Andy García
    Andy García
    Andrés Arturo García Menéndez , professionally known as Andy García, is a Cuban American actor. He became known in the late 1980s and 1990s, having appeared in several successful Hollywood films, including The Godfather: Part III, The Untouchables, Internal Affairs and When a Man Loves a Woman...

     as Gray Baker
  • Derek Jacobi
    Derek Jacobi
    Sir Derek George Jacobi, CBE is an English actor and film director.A "forceful, commanding stage presence", Jacobi has enjoyed a highly successful stage career, appearing in such stage productions as Hamlet, Uncle Vanya, and Oedipus the King. He received a Tony Award for his performance in...

     as Franklyn Madson
  • Wayne Knight
    Wayne Knight
    Wayne Eliot Knight is an American actor, comedian, and voice actor perhaps best known for his role as Newman in the TV sitcom Seinfeld...

     as "Piccolo" Pete Dugan
  • Robin Williams
    Robin Williams
    Robin McLaurin Williams is an American actor and comedian. Rising to fame with his role as the alien Mork in the TV series Mork and Mindy, and later stand-up comedy work, Williams has performed in many feature films since 1980. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance...

     as Dr. Cozy Carlisle
  • Hanna Schygulla
    Hanna Schygulla
    Hanna Schygulla is a German actress and chanson singer. She is generally considered the most prominent German actress of the New German Cinema.-Life and career:Schygulla was born in Königshütte, Upper Silesia,...

     as Inga
  • Campbell Scott
    Campbell Scott
    Campbell Scott is an American actor, director, producer, and voice artist.-Life and career:Scott was born in New York City, the son of George C. Scott, an actor, director, and producer, and Colleen Dewhurst, a Canadian-born actress. He graduated from Lawrence University in 1983. His brother is...

     as Doug
  • Jo Anderson
    Jo Anderson
    Jo Anderson is an American actress.-Life and career:Anderson has had guest-starring appearances in many television shows, has appeared in a few movies, as well as many TV-movies. She has also starred in some television series. Recently she has guest-starred in some TV series including ER, C.S.I...

     as Sister Madeleine
  • Richard Easton
    Richard Easton
    Richard Easton is a Canadian actor. He is best known in for his portrayal of Brian Hammond in the 1970s BBC serial The Brothers.-Biography:...

     as Father Timothy

Production

The movie was filmed entirely in color. After test screenings, it was decided to use black and white for the "past" sequences to help clear up audience confusion. The final frame, once the mystery is solved, fades from black and white to color. The negative of the final frame was flipped to match the present day lovers to the doomed 1940s newlyweds they embodied; i.e., Margaret dissolves into Mike, and Roman dissolves into Grace.

When the audience first meets Mike Church, he's seated in his car, which is parked on the wrong side of the street. While it may seem that this is because Branagh is from the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 (where cars are driven on the left-hand side of the road), it is actually because behind him are a number of skyscrapers that he, as the director, wanted included in the background.

In addition to the dual roles played by Branagh and Thompson, actress Jo Anderson
Jo Anderson
Jo Anderson is an American actress.-Life and career:Anderson has had guest-starring appearances in many television shows, has appeared in a few movies, as well as many TV-movies. She has also starred in some television series. Recently she has guest-starred in some TV series including ER, C.S.I...

 and the film's composer Patrick Doyle
Patrick Doyle
Patrick Doyle is a Scottish musician and film score composer. A longtime collaborator of actor/director Kenneth Branagh, Doyle is known for his work scoring such critically acclaimed films as Henry V , Sense and Sensibility , Hamlet , and Gosford Park , as well as noteworthy blockbusters as Harry...

 both play small dual parts, appearing in the present-day and 1940s sequences.

Branagh has said that at the time he made this film (and still, to some extent) he was very interested in the technique of uninterrupted takes, and several can be seen throughout the movie. Also note sequences such as the first hypnosis sequence at the Laughing Duke, which features an extremely complicated camera shot in 360 degrees, which involved a great deal of precise timing and technical faculty. Branagh noted that this relatively short scene was shot perhaps fifteen times, taking all day.

According to the director's commentary on the DVD edition of the movie, the film has numerous in-jokes. For instance, a date seen in one of the newspaper clippings is actually Branagh's birthday, and Roman Strauss' prisoner number is the date of the Battle of Agincourt
Battle of Agincourt
The Battle of Agincourt was a major English victory against a numerically superior French army in the Hundred Years' War. The battle occurred on Friday, 25 October 1415 , near modern-day Azincourt, in northern France...

. (Branagh's previous film, which launched his career, was Henry V
Henry V (1989 film)
Henry V is a 1989 film directed by Kenneth Branagh, based on William Shakespeare's play The Life of Henry the Fifth about the famous English king. Branagh stars in the title role, and wrote the screenplay. The film was highly acclaimed on its release....

.)

Reception

The movie was released on August 23, 1991 and was #1 at the U.S. box office for three weeks. It was acclaimed by critics, and currently has a score of 82% on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

.

Patrick Doyle
Patrick Doyle
Patrick Doyle is a Scottish musician and film score composer. A longtime collaborator of actor/director Kenneth Branagh, Doyle is known for his work scoring such critically acclaimed films as Henry V , Sense and Sensibility , Hamlet , and Gosford Park , as well as noteworthy blockbusters as Harry...

 was nominated for a Golden Globe for his suspenseful John Addison
John Addison
John Mervyn Addison was a British composer best known for his film scores.Addison was educated at Wellington College, Berkshire and at the age of sixteen entered the Royal College of Music. He studied composition with Gordon Jacob, oboe with Léon Goossens, and clarinet with Frederick Thurston. ...

-like orchestral music score. The film was entered into the 42nd Berlin International Film Festival
42nd Berlin International Film Festival
The 42nd annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from February 13 to 24, 1992.-Jury:* Annie Girardot * Charles Champlin* Sylvia Chang* Ildikó Enyedi* Irving N...

.
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