After.Life

Following an horrific car accident, Anna Taylor (Christina Ricci) wakes up on a metal table with a funeral director Eliot Deacon (Liam Neeson) preparing her body for burial. Deacon explains her life is over and she is in a strange limbo due to a power he possesses – he can talk with dead people (yes, it’s very Sixth Sense).

What follows is a battle between Anna refusing to accept her death and Deacon’s determination to complete his work before the service, all the while complaining about the awkwardness of the dead and their denial of the facts.

Against this is a sub-plot involving Anna’s family, most noticeably her boyfriend Paul (Justin Long), and their reactions to her death. It’s a deliberately paced movie, with little action – even the car crash that killed Anna is handled mostly off-screen. This is much more a psychological piece, a power struggle between two very fine actors.

Ricci spends much of the film naked. It does not feel gratuitous though (honestly). The mood of the film, shot mostly against the cold, clinical backdrop of a mortuary workshop –stark white walls and stainless steel – prevents the film seeming exploitative. Her performance too is strong, showing no self-consciousness towards her nakedness.

But the real star here is Neeson. He switches with ease between the put upon mortician stuck in a life of endlessly dealing with the dead and their complaints, and the compassionate funeral director assisting the still living to cope with their grief. Intelligent, psychological drama.

Page updated 7 March, 2011