Dead Again (1991)

Directed by Kenneth Branagh. Starring Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Derek Jacobi, Andy García, Wayne Knight, Hanna Schygulla, Robin Williams, Campbell Scott, Gregor Hesse. [R]

In an apparent effort to outdo Brian De Palma’s Hitchcock fixation, director/star Branagh (working from a Scott Frank script) fashions a melodramatic puzzle dealing with murder, memories, reincarnation, fate, and more. He plays a private eye tasked with uncovering the identity of a (temporarily) mute amnesiac (Thompson), whom he quickly falls for. When hypnotist Jacobi puts her under his spell in order to access her repressed memories, however, it’s suggested through a series of black & white flashbacks that she and Branagh are linked to a brooding German composer and his musician lover from some fifty years ago (each also played by the two stars), and jealousy drove him to murder her (or did he?). The entire conceit is incredulous, where emotion looms over logic down every avenue, but Branagh sells it well, and his excitingly overwrought visuals and directorial flourishes complement the theatrical bombast of the performers, a decision that unleashes Jacobi as a delicious ham, slathers some pretty unconvincing makeup onto García (as a reporter who’s young in the flashbacks and on death’s door in present day), and allows Branagh to stylize every gesture in a way that molds the film’s overall texture. Not for everyone, but those willing to accept its unbridled enthusiasms should have a lot of fun.

77/100