Follow TV Tropes

Following

Together In Death / Live-Action Films

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/maxresdefault_257.jpg


  • Discussed in The Addams Family, because of course one of Gomez and Morticia's most romantic scenes is set in the family cemetery.
    Morticia: Just think — someday we'll be buried here, side by side, six feet under, in matching coffins, our lifeless bodies rotting together for all eternity.
    Gomez: [breathless] Cara mia.
    Morticia: Mon sauvage.
  • Beetlejuice has a rare lighthearted approach, where Adam and Barbara Maitland are stuck as ghosts haunting their own home. Even in death, they remain a Happily Married couple.
    • Used in a much creepier way later, when Lydia's family attempts to conduce a sèance but accidentally perform an exorcism instead. We see Adam and Barbara's summoned spirits (in their wedding clothes, no less) progressively drying up and being consumed together... They don't disappear in the end, but only because of Lydia's "Please, I Will Do Anything!" to Beetlejuice himself.
  • Bicentennial Man: At the end of the film, Portia and Andrew are lying in bed awaiting the results of the World Congress. Andrew dies during their speech and Portia orders Galatea to unplug her machine so that she can die with him.
    "See you soon..."
  • The Bitter Tea of General Yen: Yen believes that somewhere in the afterlife, Megan and him can be together as spirits, free from the prejudices that hold them apart. Even in the beginning, he dreams of a place where they're stripped of names, just spirits to love one another, a place where,
    General Yen: There isn't a General Yen or Megan Davis, but just you and me.
  • Blood of the Tribades: Élisabeth and Fantine, after they're murdered by the priests of Bathor, lie together there on the floor. Although tragic, it would have doubtless been their wish in the end.
  • Implied at the end of Bram Stoker's Dracula as Drac/Vlad is presumably forgiven by God. As Mina watches, the vampire curse lifting from her as she gives the final blows. She notices the fresco in the building above her lighting up with a picture of Vlad and Elisabeta (the lover Mina is supposedly reincarnated from) apparently reunited in Heaven.
  • At the end of Braveheart, William Wallace sees his wife's ghost throughout his entire torture/death.
  • Cloud Atlas:
    • Frobisher hopes that this will be the fate of himself and Sixsmith. Considering that the entire plot is about reincarnation, not the afterlife, this may be either false hope or they could be together in another timeframe. Interestingly (in the film at least), they both die the same way — with a gun in their mouth.
    • The film has Sonmi believe that she will be reunited with Hae-Joo in another life, and immediately cuts to Ewing and his wife (the same actor and actress) being reunited at the end of Ewing's voyage. Additionally, both actors played the parents of Rufus Sixsmith's niece. So it's more like they were already together in two very different, much earlier lives, unless Timey-Wimey Ball applies to the reincarnation of souls.
  • The plot of Cloverfield revolves around the protagonist, Rob, trying to reach his estranged girlfriend, Beth, during a crisis involving a giant monster attacking the city. The reunited couple dies after professing their love for one another, in a military bombing aimed at the nearby monster.
  • Colorado Territory (1949). The outlaw's Love Interest chooses to go down shooting rather than surrender to the posse. He grabs her hand in a futile attempt to stop her, so both end up Holding Hands as they're shot.
  • The Constant Gardener Justin (Ralph Fiennes), after obsessively investigating the murder of his activist wife Tessa (Rachel Weisz), is about to be murdered on the site where Tessa was previously killed. As he awaits his inevitable death, he is joined by his wife's spirit.
  • "Buildings burn, people die, but real love is forever" we are told in the movie adaptation of The Crow (1994) in which Eric Draven is murdered along with his fiancée the night before their wedding and comes back from the dead for a Roaring Rampage of Revenge. The theme of the first film, increasingly amplified throughout the subsequent franchise, is that "If two people are truly meant to be together, nothing can keep them apart. Not even death."
  • In Deadpool 2, Wade has visions of Vanessa in the afterlife whenever he receives enough damage that he should be dead. When he finally suppresses his powers and dies, he gets to join her. He gets pulled back by Cable saving him with his last time machine charge, but thankfully Wade "borrows" the recharged device and immediately travels back in time to retroactively save Vanessa.
  • Deep Impact:
    • Sarah's parents choose to share one last kiss as the tidal wave from the asteroid kills them.
    • Jenny gives up her place in the Ark for Beth and her daughter, and chooses to spend the end with her estranged father.
    • When the Messiah crew are saying goodbye to their families via video link, Tanner mentions his late wife and says that he's going to be seeing her again soon.
  • The unnamed young couple in Fritz Lang's Destiny, after the young woman accepts fate and (literally) surrenders to Death.
  • In Dil Se.., Meghna is a suicide bomber and she's all ready to complete her mission, even after she develops feelings for Amar. He embraces her, and in doing so, sets off the explosives.
  • End of Days. After Jericho sacrifices himself to stop the Devil from destroying the world by trying to use Jericho's body to rape Christine, he is reunited with his dead wife and child in the afterlife.
  • The ending of Escape from the Planet of the Apes. Cornelius is shot and, either dying or already dead, falls from his perch to the deck of the derelict ship he and Zira have been hiding on. Zira, already wounded, crawls over to him and lays down beside him to die.
  • Classic example; The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. Lucy Muir and Captain Gregg (the ghost) become closer as he dictates his life story to her, which she then sells to a publisher to make her fortune. Realizing that it could never be, he leaves reluctantly. At the end of the movie, when Lucy dies of old age, Captain Gregg is there to escort her spirit to the afterlife.
  • The death of Maximus in Gladiator (though since the protagonist was dying from internal bleeding, this may or may not have been a hallucination). Also alluded to by Maximus's friend Juba, who assures him that they'll meet again in the next world... but not yet.
  • A nonromantic example comes at the end of Glory when Colonel Shaw (played by Matthew Broderick) and Denzel Washington's character are buried side-by-side in a mass grave along with the rest of the the all-black 54th Massachusetts Regiment. This was Truth in Television, as the Confederate soldiers who put Shaw there intended it as an insult since he was their white commander, but Shaw himself would've been honored by this.
  • Guardians of the Galaxy (2014): The idea is brought up by Drax who says he'd be honored to die fighting side by side with his new pals and then says, "And in the end, I will see my wife and daughter." However as they manage to attain victory, this does not come to pass.
  • In the 1987 Japanese film adaptation of Hachikō's story, the ending implies that Hachiko and his owner reunited in the afterlife. The 2009 American version also has a similar ending, showing that as Hachi passes away, he finally sees his owner walk out of the train station to reunite with him.
  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: The dead bodies of Remus and Tonks.
  • Haunter: After Lisa saves the latest family from becoming the murderous ghost's new victims, she is reunited with her family in Heaven on her birthday.
  • Flying Snow (Maggie Cheung) and Broken Sword (Tony Leung) in Hero (2002). Made even worse because she is the one who stabs him to death, as he has betrayed her and others to the King. He dies in her arms as he explains his reasons; he didn't do it out of pure malice, but to show her that he wants peace for the future. She mourns him and then kills herself, joining him. She actually impales herself on her own sword, which is still inside him, so their bodies are left literally stuck together.
  • In Highlander: Endgame, Connor's last thoughts before he is beheaded are of Heather, his mortal wife who he was Happily Married to in the 16th Century. As a gesture of respect, Duncan takes Connor's body to Scotland and lays him to rest with Heather in her grave, finally reuniting the two after four centuries.
  • Iron Man: Tony is captured by terrorists and meets fellow captive Ho Yinsen, who says that he has a family and will reunite with them once he's free. As he's dying, Ho clarifies that they're already dead, and he knew that he was never getting out of there alive.
  • The Last of the Mohicans: The film shows Alice and Uncas having sparks throughout. And after Uncas is killed by Magua in the climax with his body falling off the cliff where the fight took place Alice jumps off deliberately. Essentially following him so to speak.
  • The French film Love Me if You Dare (French title Jeux d'enfants). Since our Star-Crossed Lovers can only be together on a dare, they end up getting themselves buried in concrete. This way they can share a kiss that will last forever while also giving you nightmares forever. It's hard to say how aware they are of the consequences of what they do, though.
    • It's also hard to say whether they died or not, because you seem to see a shot of them living to an old age. Is it heaven? But still.
  • The Magnificent Seven (2016) with Goodnight Robicheaux and Billy Rocks. Goodnight says that Billy goes wherever he goes, and this is proven true when they are shot down together in the bell tower by Bogue's gatling gun. In the final shot of the film, where we see the four crosses marking the graves of the fallen members of the Seven, they have been buried beside each other.
  • A non-romantic example in Man of Steel: as the gravity field encroaches, Perry reaches out and holds Jenny's hand instead of leaving her to die alone.
  • Mythica: The Godslayer: Dagen tells Marek about a dream he has of the two of them living on a beach together. A couple of Heroic Suicides later...
  • Allie and Noah in The Notebook after spending many years being Happily Married.
  • At the beginning of No Time to Die, James Bond visits the grave of his First Love Vesper Lynd and declares "I miss you". By the end of the film, now that he has died as well, they could be considered an example of this trope.
  • Oblivion (2013): What Julia thinks (and accepts) will happen during the Trojan Prisoner gambit. Jack has other ideas.
  • The Outlaw and His Wife: A desperate, starving, grieving Halla wanders out of their Snowed-In cabin and into the blizzard to die. When Eyvind finds her he lies down next to her, and they wind up frozen to death together.
  • The myth of Katerina and Arturo in the movie Overboard.
  • In Parking (1985), after Orpheus is shot and killed, he reunites with Eurydice in the afterlife.
  • Pompeii: Milo and Cassia at the very end. Instead of trying to escape the oncoming ash cloud (they wouldn't have succeeded anyway), they spend their last moments in a passionate kiss. Their magma-encased bodies are still locked in an eternal embrace.
  • In The Predator, Baxley and Coyle perform a mutual Mercy Kill by shooting each other after being both mortally wounded. A very poignant moment in an otherwise wacky action-comedy.
  • In Promising Young Woman, after Cassie devotes years of her life to getting revenge for her best friend Nina's rape and subsequent suicide, she ultimately ends up murder by Nina's attacker. But it turns out she planned for this possibility, and left behind instructions and evidence that lead to him getting arrested, both for Nina's rape and her own murder. Her final posthumous message is signed "Love, Cassie & Nina."
  • A non-human example occurs in the film Rodan. During the climax of the film, the area where the Rodans are nested is being bombarded with an aerial assault. The female Rodan falls into a volcano and dies. Unable to bear being without his mate, the male Rodan dives into the volcano with her and dies as well. Fortunately, their offspring survives and later goes on to become an ally of Godzilla.
  • Rogue One: In their last moments, Jyn and Cassian embrace as the blast radius of the Death Star sweeps toward them, secure in the knowledge that their mission succeeded. They disappear together in a blaze of light.
    • Chirrut and Baze are killed a few minutes apart during the final battle. After Chirrut is mortally injured Baze starts repeating Chirrut's Survival Mantra as he wades back into the fight. When a stormtrooper flings a live grenade at Baze he looks over at Chirrut's body before he's killed in the explosion.
  • Samurai Rebellion: Yogoro is cradling Ichi's freshly dead corpse when he is stabbed by the steward's thugs. After he dies while still holding onto her, Isaburo buries them both in a common grave.
  • Kelly and Katsumi from Sayonara. The U.S. Air Force is insisting that he come back to America without her, so the two, inspired by a puppet show depicting a traditional star-crossed-lovers/together-in-death story, commit suicide by consuming poison. Marlon Brando's character finds their bodies when he comes — a little too late — to inform them that the Air Force has decided to allow airmen to take war brides home.
  • In Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, both main characters admit that they feared Dying Alone. With the apocalypse a few weeks away, they go on a roadtrip so that Dodge can reunite with his high-school sweetheart and Penny can get back to her family in England. Naturally, it instead ends with the two spending their last minutes together before the Fade to White.
  • An example between True Companions in 71: Into the Fire, between the two best friends, Oh Jang-beom and Ku Kap-Joo, being surrounded by hordes and hordes of North Korean soldiers, and defending the school until they've succumbed to multiple injuries.
  • In Shredder Orpheus, this trope is exploited when Hades has the Furies kill Orpheus, letting his soul reunite with the equally-dead Eurydice to boost EBN's ratings again.
  • In the final moments of Somewhere in Time (with Chris Reeve and Jane Seymour), a Downer Ending where the Star-Crossed Lovers seem to be separated forever and then both die is transformed into a Together in Death Bittersweet Ending by showing them meeting and embracing in the afterlife.
  • A good example of the non-romantic variant is probably found in the final scene of Return of the Jedi, where Anakin Skywalker is shown reunited with his two Jedi mentors (most notably Obi-Wan, his best friend when he was still a Jedi), having become a benign spirit and part of the Light Side of the Force.
  • Towards the conclusion of Suicide Squad (2016), when the team's final efforts seem doomed to failure, Katana takes a moment to weep over her sword — Soultaker, in which her murdered husband's soul is trapped — and to reassure her late spouse that they'll be together soon.
  • Titanic (1997):
    • It ends with Rose dying and being reunited, not just with Jack, but everyone who died that fateful night.
    • Also noteworthy is Ida Straus, the elderly woman who decides to die with her husband Isidor instead of taking a place on a lifeboat, a course of action that will almost certainly result in her having to live on without him. Their last scene is of them in a bed, holding hands, as the water begins to pour in. This is based in a Real Life example of the trope. A deleted scene shows Ida refusing to get into the lifeboat.
      Ida: We've been together for forty years. And where you go, I go. Don't argue with me Isidor. You know it does no good. (Isidor nods and hugs her)
  • A creepy example in Tormented (1960): after Tom is Hoist by His Own Petard, Vi's body is discovered and lain on the beach beside his, and her arm automatically wraps itself around him.
  • Caster and his wife in the climax of Transcendence.
  • Underground has a bittersweet ending in which all of the cast has died, yet somehow re-emerge to have a celebration in an idyllic seaside picnic, which breaks off from the land and floats into the ocean, implying that they are all in heaven.
  • The Void: In the final scene Daniel and Allison are reunited on the other side after both of them died, but are trapped in an alien landscape staring right at an Eldritch Abomination.
  • In When Evil Calls, Kirsty and Molly die wrapped in each other's arms in the bathtub: victims of Kirsty's wish.
  • Wild Tales presents a non-romantic example in the ending of the third story. Diego has pulled Mario into his car before it explodes. When the police come to the site of the explosion, all they can see is two skeletons snuggled together, so they assume they were a couple.
  • In The Woman in Black, the young lawyer wants nothing more for to be with his dead wife and to be with his young son. The ghost for whom he has done the service, in a case of Blue-and-Orange Morality kills both him and the boy — the only way that can happen.
  • The World Is Not Enough has James Bond telling Renard that Elektra is "waiting for him" before killing him.
  • Nearly every screen version of Wuthering Heights shows Heathcliff and Cathy's spirits reunited on the moors at the end — a precedent set by the classic 1939 version, which was originally just going to conclude with a shot of Heathcliff's corpse, but ended up with a more romantic Focus Group Ending instead. The various TV adaptations also tend to end this way (see under "Live-Action TV").
  • At the end of Zardoz Zed and Consuela grow old and die together. In the previous scene most of the Eternals were killed by Exterminators, so they all got to die together and fulfill their dream of being mortal again.


Top