History Film / DeathBecomesHer

A [[https://deathbecomesherbroadway.com musical adaptation]] is scheduled to premiere in Chicago on April 30th, 2024, starring Creator/MeganHilty as Madeline Ashton, Creator/JenniferSimard as Helen Sharp, Creator/ChristopherSieber as Ernest Menville, and Music/MichelleWilliams as [[AdaptationNameChange Viola Van Horn]].

* AlphaBitch: Implied with Madeline, not so much when she's a WhiteDwarfStarlet. Not so much Alpha, that is, - she's still a Bitch alright.
* AmusingInjuries: This film has the most disturbing catalogue of such injuries this side of a Creator/TexAvery cartoon.
* AnAesop:

* AndIMustScream: When all is said and done, this is what comes of immortality in this movie, as Lisle stresses than a person who takes the potion can only stay in the public eye for 10 years before going underground '''literally forever'''. That means no outside contact with other people save other immortals, with whom companionship is not guaranteed, basically forcing an exile less the secret of eternal life is revealed to the wider world, and everyone knows isolation can result in maddening boredom. And the thing about eternal life is that you cannot escape it, ever. It gets worse if you die immortal, since you will gradually rot away, and if completely dismemberment isn't enough to cease one's function, then what is?

* ArtisticLicensePhysics: The BrickJoke regarding stairs. When Madeline (and then later, Helen) is about to tumble down the steps, she seems to barely keep balance using the bottom of her heels even though the majority of her weight was leaning toward the stairwell. In reality, it wouldn't necessarily take a ''Series/{{Mythbusters}}'' episode to conclude that someone would automatically fall in that situation. This possibly was just a minor {{Slapstick}} gag PlayedForLaughs given the tone of the story.

* BatmanGambit: Helen's complex plan to murder Madeline also relies on the unlikely event of Madeline inviting her over for dinner. This becomes a moot point thanks to Ernest.
** On the other hand, the plan would still have probably worked just the same if Ernest had managed to make Madeline drink from one of those glasses under any pretext.

* TheUnfairSex: Very, very much averted. Ernest is depicted as a NiceGuy and TheWoobie[[invoked]] no matter what he does -- including dumping his fiancé for her friend and trying to murder his nasty wife -- while the main women in the film are thoroughly irredeemable. Some of it gets subverted on the grounds that Ernest dumping Helen for Madeline bit him hard when his life turned into a joke, going from a respected plastic surgeon to a funeral cosmetologist, becoming an alcoholic, and getting stuck in a loveless relationship. It's not so much that Ernest is a NiceGuy, as the shit he pulls isn't as bad as the vindictive hatred Helen and Madeline have for each other.
* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: Madeline and Helen, who are both vain and selfish female leads with the former concerned with obtaining her youth and the latter wanting to steal back Ernest and get her revenge on Madeline. Their manipulative and murderous ways make them lean more toward VillainProtagonist.

** The doctor who takes Madeline's vital signs after her tumble down the stairs, who's initially sceptical about her "revival", [[{{Irony}} ends up needing to be revived himself and dies shortly after]].

** A key example for Helen is her telling Ernest she still brought him to Madeline's play despite fear he'd fall out of love, because she wanted to apply the "Madeline Ashton" test to see if he was true to her. On two levels does Helen tragically neglect to realize this is on her. First, if her past experience taught her that Madeline steals her lovers without fail, then perhaps common sense would dictate she shouldn't have introduced her fiancé to her hated rival to begin with. She had a choice to not go through with it at all. Second, when Ernest ''does'' fail the "test", she sees it more as an excuse to obsess over her hatred towards Madeline for the next 7 years, instead of realizing that perhaps Ernest (and all her past boyfriends) weren't worth it if they could be swayed so easily.

* DramaticallyMissingThePoint: The movie begins with Helen explaining to Ernest that though she worries he'll fall out of love with her to pursue Madeline, she still brought him to her play because she wanted to apply the "Madeline Ashton" test to see if he was true to her. On two levels does Helen tragically misunderstand the purpose of her own test. First, if her past experience taught her that Madeline steals her lovers without fail, then perhaps common sense would dictate she shouldn't have introduced her fiancé to her hated rival to begin with. She had a choice to not go through with it at all. Second, when Ernest ''does'' fail the "test", she sees it more as an excuse to obsess over her hatred towards Madeline for the next 7 years, instead of realizing that perhaps Ernest (and all her past boyfriends) weren't worth it if they could be swayed so easily.

* NeverMyFault: Neither Madeline nor Helen are willing to accept any responsibility for the bad things that happen in their lives, endlessly blaming each other and any other excuse they can come up with.

* DramaticallyMissingThePoint: The movie begins with Helen explaining to Ernest that though she worries he'll fall out of love with her to pursue Madeline, she still brought him to her play because she wanted to apply the "Madeline Ashton" test to see if he was true to her. On two levels does Helen tragically misunderstand the purpose of her own test. First, if her past experience taught her that Madeline steals her lovers without fail, then perhaps common sense would dictate she shouldn't have introduced her fiancé to her hated rival to begin with. She had a choice to leave well enough alone. Second, when Ernest ''does'' fail the "test", she sees it more as an excuse to obsess over Madeline and her hatred of her, instead of realizing that perhaps Ernest (and all her past boyfriends) weren't worth it if they could be swayed so easily.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler:After Ernest escaped, he managed to find happiness in the following 37 years and truly atoned for his misdeeds. He found love, had children, had a thriving career and newfound fame, developed fulfilling hobbies and devoted his time to helping people realize that getting older was not the end of the world -- ''and'' he opened an AA chapter and two clinics, to boot. When he does die, Madeline and Helen arrive at his funeral dressed all in black and mock most of the eulogy, even though they're pretty much badly-painted, barely-holding-together corpses.]]

* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Lisle and company are genuinely puzzled when Ernest refuses the potion. They are too self-centred and shallow to care about the reasons he has for not wanting to be immortal. They similarly mock the eulogy at his funeral which says that while Ernest has died, his legacy would live on and it was through his family, friends and good deeds that he had achieved immortality.

* TrueBeautyIsOnTheInside: Ernest's relationship with both Madeline and Helen is a study in the consequences of only liking somebody for their looks. He broke up with one woman to marry the other because she was prettier. But many years later, Madeline's looks have faded, and he's left with nothing but a shrew who has [[AwfulWeddedLife ruined his life]]. And it doesn't help that the two women's rivalry makes them tiresome in his eyes. [[spoiler: Towards the climax, he's [[CharacterDevelopment come to a place]] where he recognizes that the potion wouldn't really make him happy and simply damn him to eternity with Madeline and Helen. In the end, after his death, his eulogy implies that he developed many redeeming qualities long after his youth and looks faded.]]

* YankTheDogsChain: When faced with a life-or-death situation, Madeline and Helen nearly convince Ernest to take the potion. No doubt he believed for a moment that they were concerned for his well-being for once. ...And then they say out loud that he ''must'' take the potion because they need him to maintain their dead bodies. This is reconstructed, as it finally lets Ernest see both girls' [[ItsAllAboutMe true nature]] and truly sever his ties with them.

A [[https://deathbecomesherbroadway.com musical adaptation]] is scheduled to premiere in Chicago on April 30th, 2024, starring Creator/MeganHilty as Madeline Ashton and Creator/JenniferSimard as Helen Sharp.