What Dreams May Come Analysis

Final Film Essay
​The 1998 fantasy and drama movie, What Dreams May Come incorporates many specialized film features throughout the entire film. The mise-en-scene was one notable element that caught the audience’s eye the most with its significance to the film’s story. In connection with the mise-en-scene, the element of lighting was used frequently during the movie and the various types of lighting used played an important role in the story and has expressed a lot about the overall environment and feeling of the story in the movie. Additionally, props were another element of mise-en-scene which had magical powers, and were used as metaphorical props to indicate the power behind them.
One element of mise-en-scene, also known as the lighting, was one of the elements of mise-en-scene that stood out to the audience and was also relevant to the narrative structure of the film. Ward’s use of lighting, whether it was high-key lighting or low-key lighting, sets the mood

for various scenes throughout the film and plays an important role in the story of the movie. In regards to the high-key lighting, when Annie and Chris meet for the first time as the film starts, high-key lighting is put to use when they are riding the boats in the body of water, and this lighting used in this scene indicates that Annie and Chris are at peace and are very content with themselves and each other. For one thing, they hit it off right away when they first meet, and they have an interest in one another. Considering that they instantly connect with each other and get along well from the moment that they first met, it is seen through the audience as though they grew up together and have been close friends for a while. They also got along so well and were so interested in each other that they ended up eventually getting married with two kids named Marie and Ian.
From the moment that Chris and Annie get married, along with having their two kids, Marie and Ian, Ward captures a wide shot of the massive sized kitchen in their home. In the kitchen, Ian is getting ready for school and having breakfast, and Ian then is being driven to school, and Chris says bye to him right before he leaves for school. As the car takes off, Ward films another wide shot of the scenery of the road in high-key lighting of Chris watching the car take off with Ian going to school, and the outdoor scenery appears as a painting, rather than a real-life environment. The audience then comprehends that these scenes from before were flashbacks of the events that have happened in the past, as this scene shifts to two coffins in a church, and then the audience begins to realize that both children have passed away from a tragic car accident. Subsequently, Ward moves forward four years later and shoots the present with Chris driving late at night in low-key lighting. As Chris is driving, someone in a vehicle has gotten into a car accident, so he storms out of his car to help the person out, and then Chris ends up dying from the catastrophic car accident.
Chris’ death has also been so hard for Annie, and she cannot take it anymore and is unable to find ways to handle his death. Since Chris’ passing has really hit Annie so hard, she then ends up committing suicide. She then ends up dying and ends up going to Hell because she took her own life. Chris then takes a journey through Hell and tries to rescue Annie and look for her emotions. The entire atmosphere of Hell is captured in low-key lighting, and Ward’s use of low-key lighting is an accurate representation of the stereotypical atmosphere of Hell and how it is really dark, gloomy, and dangerous. Additionally, the audience is able to feel the tension throughout the scene with the low-key lighting when Chris is attempting to bail out Annie from Hell, who is the love of his life and the audience is also able to sense the nervousness of Chris looking for Annie and striving to rescue her. As Chris also believes that Albert was the one who helped him to arrive into Hell, Chris ended up recognizing that it was really his son, Ian, who helped him out with arriving into Hell, and that Albert is really Ian. Consequently, because Albert is actually Ian and Chris finally grasps this, Ian then clarifies that the reason why he decided to make it look like he was actually Albert was that he was certain that if Albert was really telling Chris what to do, then he would not be reluctant to anything that he says and would do whatever he wanted. He then comprehends that Albert guided him into the gates of Hell.
Subsequently, Chris enters Hell and he is walking on the slushy ground with people’s faces buried in the slushy ground, and he is trying to not step on anybody’s face, and then he finds his father’s face placed in the ground. From the moment that Chris finds his father, flashbacks in high key lighting of Annie and Chris laying in the grass on a sunny day are captured, and then the camera films the present moment in which Chris whispers Annie’s name in a diegetic sound, and the audience cannot hear him whispering her name, yet they can read his facial expressions whispering Annie’s name. After Chris whispers to look for Annie, he then slips on the slushy ground of faces and then drops into a deep tunnel, and the audience then sees that it is the gates of Hell. After Chris drops into the deep tunnel of Hell, he explores it and is still attempting to find Annie, and to achieve his goal of finding her, he walks to the door, opens the door, and he finally notices Annie and successfully finds her. When Annie first appears on the screen when Chris notices her, her shadow is only shown, which shocks the audience and has them at the edge of their seats, because the shadow does look like Annie, yet it may have been an imposter even though it was Annie. Throughout the time that Chris and Annie are in the tunnel of Hell when he rescues and finds her, flashbacks of their wedding are correlated with the parallelism of the present moment, indicating the difference between their past lives and where they are now. Chris then tells Annie about all the carefree and cheerful memories they shared in the past, and asks if she remembers any of those past memories, and he then lets her know that he still believes in her and that he has not given up on her regardless if the good people go to Hell because they cannot forgive themselves. Parallel to this present moment, Annie then tells Chris to not give up, as he is unconscious and has stopped breathing. He cannot wake up and as he is drowning in water in low key lighting, Annie has flashbacks in high key lighting about how carefree and happy they actually were in the past. Then, when Annie and Chris reunite in the garden, the entire atmosphere is very bright with high key lighting when they reunite with Ian.
In regards to the mise-en-scene elements, Annie’s painting is used as a metaphorical prop. For example, when Annie is creating her painting, it marvelously comes to life and the overall setting of the painting that has come to life appears as a legitimate painting. In addition, Annie is widowed and she is struggling with despair and misery because her husband and children have all passed away tragically, meaning that she is living on her own. Her painting also has many shades of gray which expresses the depression that Annie is going through with heartbreakingly losing her loved ones. She also paints a purple tree and this particular tree stands out to the audience because it is so vivid and bright and adds color to the painting against the shades of gray. This purple tree also represents that she is still trying to have faith in herself even though she is miserable of sadly losing her family, and as she pours water on the purple tree in the painting, the purple tree in the painting that has come to life also loses the leaves and follows the motion of the water poured on the tree in Annie’s painting. Likewise, in relation to Annie’s painting, it is also inspired by Chris’ own Heaven. For instance, Chris wakes up in Heaven, and the overall setting is in high-key lighting and then he understands that using his own thoughts, he has the power of his own direct atmospheres. The setting of the painting of Heaven that has come to life emphasizes the peacefulness and bliss of Heaven and that there is a massive difference between Heaven and Hell. Additionally, as Chris starts to wake up in heaven, he is in a ground of flowers which are also a part of the painting. Marie’s dog Katie is also presented in a painting rather than a real life figure, and she comes out of the sky and storms into the field and reunites with Chris, yet Albert and Chris are not represented as painted figures, and instead are presented as real life people. Albert then appears on the screen and he is blurred out, and he is Chris’ leader in Heaven. In regards to Annie’s purple tree that she painted, Albert and Chris are also shocked to come across that tree, and the purple tree is also based on Annie’s certainty that in the life after death she and Chris will still be able to interact.
Altogether, What Dreams May Come displays a wide range of various film mechanical features.

Out of the many technical features in the film, the mise-en-scene strikes the audience the most and has relevance with the plot and story of the film. The lighting styles are an element of mise-en-scene that have been featured constantly throughout the entire duration of the movie and they accurately express the overall sense of the different scenes. Specifically, high-key lighting shows the happiness of the past and the peacefulness of Heaven, and low-key lighting expresses the danger and spookiness of Hell and the tragic car accidents. Annie’s brilliant artistic ability is also pointed out by the audience with her painting coming to life, meaning that her painting is used as a metaphorical prop, which is another element of mise-en-scene fascinating the viewers. This film also displays the various perspectives of Heaven, Hell, and the past and that all of them have completely different atmospheres from one

another.