Customer Reviews

Death Becomes Her (Full Screen)

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

A big effects thriller and that turns into a flat joke - that's how I typify this flick. Goldie Hawn is Helen, a premature frump who wasted her life in the shadow of the more glamorous Madeline (Streep). A painfully untalented and hated actress, Madeline managed to get by on her good looks with the help of a lifetime of plastic surgery - but even that is nearing its end by the start of "Death". Though cozily enconsed in a tony Beverly Hills mansion, Mad's looks and her career are history. Bruce Willis is Ernest, the plastic surgeon they seem to be fighting over without actually loving him. When given the chance to experience immortality, the two still find themselves fighting over Ernest and everything else that's gone wrong with their lives. "Death" introduces us to this unfortunate trio during the disco era - when an already aging Madeleine stars in a reviled "Studio-54" version of "Sweet Bird of Youth", and Ernst is both a highly sought plastic surgeon and Helen's fiancée. Though Eernest loves the mild-mannered Helen, it's clear that he's falling under Madeleine's spell, and will be one more of the many men Helen lost to her friend. The plot jumps ahead decades later - Helen is a bloated version of herself, having never gotten past losing Ernst to Madeleine. Madeleine hasn't weathered the years any better - unable to handle losing her youth, she's become a crone who embittered her own life and Ernst's. Ernst by then is shriveled version of his younger self - a self-deprecating alcoholic who's long since learned of Madeleine's dark side (in his home-office, he tosses scalpels like darts at pictures of his hated wife, and refers to her as "it") but can no longer escape. No longer trusted to work on the living, he's become a designer mortician (the dead can't sue for malpractice). And then there's Lisle (Isabella Rosellini) - a reclusive silent-film era star who may have discovered the secret of eternal life...maybe.

What starts off as a bundle of preachy ideas (potshots at a culture obsessed with looks and youth) quickly turns into a string of special-effects fueled sight-gags. Helen and Madeleine use Lisle's secret formula to remake themselves, but find that not even the youth it offers can survive their mutual hate, and the two poke CGI holes in each other. Both learn the hard way that Lisle's formula gives both life and youth, but not in equal portions (i.e. - you can live forever, but your new youth remains as fragile as the one you lost in your 30's). It's supposed to be ironic that in fighting each other, both "Mad" & "Hel" lose what they really wanted - to be "girls" again. Unfortunately it doesn't really work because Lisle's formula never really offers them that - neither wanted immortality, it's that fragile youth they wanted to keep, not their lives. It's a forced irony that doesn't work, and the plot wastes without something meatier to chew on than Mad & Hel's catfighting. While Streep & Hawn try to get some gags out of the script, the flick really belongs to Willis, proving again he can do just about anything. The story also gets some good action in the seductive form of Rosellini as Lisle - "keep your ass handy" she tells her buff entourage. If only they kept her handy as well, but her loss hits this movie once she disappears.

A film by Robert Zemeckis

I think that it is fair to say that this is a strange movie. Helen (Goldie Hawn) is engaged to be married to Dr Ernest Menville (Bruce Willis), a famous plastic surgeon. They watch a rather awful show at the theatre and go backstage to meet the star, Madeline Ashton (Meryl Streep). Madeline and Helen knew each other in high school, and Helen believes that Madeline intentionally steals every boyfriend Helen has. This is the final test before the wedding. Naturally, Madeline, who is vain about her appearance and worried about aging, does steel Ernest away and ends up marrying him herself. This drives Helen crazy, literally. We flash forward seven years to get an update on the characters, then another seven years to bring us to the main section of our story. Madeline is aging and she hates it. She meets up with Helen again, and Helen looks fantastic, as if she hasn't aged a day in the past 14 years. Helen is all glammed up and looks like a star. Madeline is starting to look frumpy. It is all starting to come full circle and Madeline's jealousy is driving her to do something rash.

Rather than do something predictable (in the movies, anyway) like start killing people, Madeline goes to a strange woman named Lisle (Isabella Rossellini) and gets a potion that halts the aging process and returns the body to its youthful, more perfect image. It also bestows immortality. Now Madeline can compete with Helen again! This rivalry and this fight will continue on through life and even into death.

"Death Becomes Her" is a comedy. It is a very strange comedy, and has something of a dark humor, but it is without question an original movie. It is one of the more overlooked movies in Robert Zemeckis's filmography. He is better known for "Back to the Future", "Forrest Gump" and "Cast Away". This isn't a perfect movie, but it is entertaining, creative, and interesting. One important thing that I can say is that I did not find this movie predictable at all. I had no idea where Zemeckis was going with "Death Becomes Her" until the end.

-Joe Sherry

Rivalry between two women (Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn) over a doctor/undertaker (Bruce Willis) leads to extreme measures. They take an elixir that maintains beauty forever with some minor side effects (and a belated warning by scantily clad Isabella Rossellini).

One woman becomes very twisted, the other holier than thou.
Who will he choose?

The great acting and good special effects will hold your attention. One must be prepared to suspend reality.

I have watched this movie a couple of times in the past, and enjoyed it each time. "Death Becomes Her" is not recommended for little kids (preschool to early elementary age), since there is a few violent scenes, but most people of older ages will definately enjoy this one.
This movie is about two women, Madeline Ashton and Helen Sharp. Helen's fiance is Earnest Menville, a plastic surgeon. Earnest ends up married to Madeline, who stole Earnest from Helen. Helen gets fat and in an obsessive state on getting even with Madeline. Then the movie gets better as the two women meets a beautiful woman who gave them a "immorality" potion....and then see what happens next. You'll just have to get this really good funny movie to find out!

Where is the Anamorphic Widescreen Transfer? This very funny black comedy with great special effects was even nominamted for an Oscar for Best Visual Effects back in 1992 (I'm not sure, but I could almost swear that it also won). This DVD is an absolute embarrassment and in no way reflects on what a great film this is.

I wish this DVD had the trailer. I worked in a cinema when it came out and the trailer had Tracy Ullman (as a bartender?)in several cut scenes about Bruce Willis' character being "dead" (which I assume was at/after the Party).
I'll wait for a better edition and I suggest you do so as well.

Everybody knows that Hollywood is full of people who would sell their soul for youth and beauty, but ... literally? They come pretty close in "Death Becomes Her," a delightfully wicked, twisted black comedy directed by Robert Zemeckis -- the dialogue is wonderfully barbed, the comedy is warped, and the quartet of lead actors give the performances of a lifetime.

Years ago, starlet Madeline Ashton (Meryl Streep) stole plastic surgeon Ernest Menville (Bruce Willis) from her longtime rival, dowdy writer Helen Sharp (Goldie Hawn). Consumed by hatred for Madeleine, Helen becomes an obese recluse and is eventually locked up in a mental institution.

Present day (and by that, I mean the 1980s): Madeline and Ernest (now a harpyish has-been and an alcoholic undertaker) appear at the signing for Helen's bestselling book -- and are shocked to see that she's now a stunning youthful bombshell. This drives Madeline to seek out the services of Lisle von Rhoman (Isabella Rossellini), a sensual sorceress who sells her a potion that restores her youth. A small warning: "Take care of your body." Easier said than done.

Meanwhile, Helen and Ernest have been plotting to kill her, and a fight leads to Madeleine falling down the stairs and twisting her head 180 degrees. She's not dead... but not really alive either. And the problem is, Helen has had the same treatment -- meaning that when Madeleine gets her revenge, her rival doesn't die either. Is there a way out of this mess, or are the ladies doomed to eternal unlife?

If you like moral messages with your warped comedy, here's "Death Becomes Her's": a short life lived to the fullest is way better than an empty endless one, and shallow people who try to stay eternally young are pathetic. Nobody can argue with that, but that's not the reason people watch this movie. They watch it for the wickedly warped wit and the hilarious trio of actors.

Zemeckis does an absolutely brilliant job with the sort of gothic-screwball plot, which is the perfect mix of ghoulish humor and slapstick. The dialogue is full of witty barbs ("You're a fraud, Helen! You're a walking lie and I can see right through you!"), and hilarious dialogue ("They took her to the morgue." "The morgue? She'll be FURIOUS!"). And some of the scenes here will make you howl your head off, such as the grand finale -- why can't more movies end this brilliantly?

Additionally, Zemeckis brought out the best in all three lead actors. I don't really like Hawn's acting, and tend to consider Willis' mixed -- but Streep and Hawn are deliciously catty, shallow and a little crazed, playing a pair of thoroughly repulsive women. Willis plays Ernest as a depressed mortician who gets increasingly frantic as the story goes on, and Isabella Rossellini is brilliant as the beauty-obsessed sorceress.

"Death Becomes Her" is the sort of movie I wish they would make more often -- a wild, hilarious dark comedy with a twisted streak a mile wide. A must see.

i will say with death and guns and all i think its a great movie to make your boyfriend come over and watch it and make him stay and not let him hang with his peeps!

Meryl Streep et Goldie Hawn, toutes deux lauréates d'un Oscar, partagent avec Bruce Willis la vedette de cette comédie divertissante signée Robert Zemeckis, sur la cupidité, l'orgueil, le sexe, l'immortalité, la vie et la mort. Tout d'abord, il y a Madeline Ashton (Streep), une actrice qui décroche plus de rides que de rôles intéressants. Puis il y a son ancienne copine Helen Sharp (Hawn) qui double de poids après avoir vu son fiancé lui préférer Madeline. Enfin, il y a le mari de Madeline, Ernest (Willis), un chirurgien esthétique de renom qui passe ses nuits à se saouler et à maudire le jour où il a rencontré sa femme. La vie et la mort de tout ce beau monde sera transformée lorsqu'ils feront la connaissance d'une séduisante ensorceleuse (isabella Rossellini).
Produit en 1992 par Universal Studio, durée 1h43. Version française du film "Death Becomes her".

Rivalry between two women (Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn) over a doctor/undertaker (Bruce Willis) leads to extreme measures. They take an elixir that maintains beauty forever with some minor side effects (and a belated warning).

One woman becomes very twisted, the other holier than thou.

Who will he choose?

I will not go into details, as they are the movie. However the great acting and good special effects will hold your attention. One must be prepared to suspend reality.