"Hello Again": Back from the Dead

Hello Again (1987)

Reimagining the afterlife comedy as an absurdist exploration of memory, mortality, and consequence

• Country: United States

• Genre: Romantic Comedy

• Director: Frank Perry

• Starring: Shelley Long, Judith Ivey, Gabriel Byre, Corbin Bensen, Sela Ward

ShELLEY LONG AS LUCY CHADMAN IN HELLO AGAIN (1987). PHOTO COURTESY OF TOUCHSTONE PICTURES.

Clinical Overview

Lucy, a deceased Long Island housewife, is resurrected a year after her choking death by her spiritualist sister, Zelda, only to discover that her husband, adult son, and best friend have all moved on.

Diagnosis

A remake could sharpen its existential edge by making Lucy a French literature professor and Proust scholar whose choking on a madeleine underscores the absurdity of life.

Prescription

Rather than wringing her hands after her resurrection, Lucy goes berserk. She no longer feels the rules of life apply to her. The people she loves don’t want their lives continually disrupted and feel justified in plotting her demise.