In early 1990s actor-director Kenneth Branagh and his then-wife Emma Thompson were supercouple of British cinema, very much like Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh had been few decades earlier. While both of them appeared together mostly in Branagh’s adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays, their most glamorous and Hollywood-like films was Dead Again, 1991 romantic thriller directed by Branagh.
The plot is set in Los Angeles where protagonist, private investigator Mike Church (played by Branagh) gets hired by the old Catholic orphanage he had grown up. His task is to establish identity of mysterious beautiful woman (played by Thompson) who was, for some unfathomable reason, found wandering at the orphanage premises. The woman appears unable to speak and suffers from amnesia so Church, despite initial scepticism, seeks help from Franklyn Madson (played by Derek Jacobi), antiques dealer and part time hypnotist who claims that she could restore woman’s memory through hypnosis. Madson in the end apparently succeeds in discovering not the woman’s past but her actual past life, when she was apparently witness to events that had happened in late 1940s, when famous conductor and composer Roman Strauss (also played by Branagh) was convicted and executed for the murder of his wife Margaret (also played by Thompson).
Dead Again is based on the script by Scott Frank who was trying to give homage to 1940s film noir classics while exploiting early 1990s audience’s fondness for supernatural romantic melodramas like Ghost. Branagh as director, however, also intended to give homage to another giant of British cinema and Hollywood – Alfred Hitchcock, by referencing some of his classic thrillers like Rebecca, Spellbound and Dial M for Murder. Branagh gathered good talents around him, including cinematographer Matthew F. Leonetti who made Los Angeles both in present and late 1940s looking quite attractive, with great emphasis on Gothic architecture and antique props. Branagh, fearing that the audience might get confused with plots switching from past and present, decided to make 1940s scenes in black-and-white instead of colour and this help in establishing film’s “noirish” credential. Branagh’s old associate Patrick Doyle also helps with his melodramatic music score which in many ways makes Dead Again sound “old school”. Branagh handles his double role quite well and, as Church is quite convincing with his American accent. Branagh, his wife and their old friend Derek Jacobi apparently had a lot of fun on the set, but they did good job with their roles, although stuttering of Jacobi’s character might have been a little bit too much of a homage to Jacobi’s best known role as protagonist of I, Claudius. The rest of cast, some of which also plays double roles as characters in past and present, is mostly good. Andy Garcia, while convincing as dashing reporter in 1940s, is not that good while playing an old man under bad make-up. The best impression is left by Robin Williams as disgraced former psychotherapist, representing one of the first opportunities to see great comedian deal with more complex, darker and more serious materials. Although the actual mystery is weak and easily solvable and although predictably melodramatic ending descends in too much pathos, Dead Again is mostly satisfying experience for fans of thrillers and supernatural romance.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
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