Defending Your Life

Defending Your Life
Defending Your Life poster
Directed by	Albert Brooks
Produced by	Robert Grand Michael Grillo Herb Nanas
Written by	Albert Brooks
Starring	Albert Brooks Meryl Streep Rip Torn Lee Grant
Music by	Errol Garner Michael Gore
Cinematography	Allen Daviau
Editing by	David Finfer
Studio	Geffen Pictures
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	March 22, 1991
Running time	112 min.
Country	United States
Language	English

Defending Your Life is a 1991 romantic comedy/fantasy film about a man who must justify his lifelong fears and insecurities after he dies and arrives in the afterlife. The film was written, directed by, and stars Albert Brooks. It also stars Meryl Streep, Rip Torn and Lee Grant.

The movie was filmed entirely in and around Los Angeles, California. Despite its comedic overtones, Defending Your Life contains elements of drama and allegory.

Plot

Daniel Miller (Albert Brooks), a Los Angeles advertising executive, dies in a car accident on his birthday and is sent to the afterlife. He arrives in Judgment City, a purgatory-like waiting area populated by the recently-deceased of the western half of the United States, where he is to undergo the process of having his life on earth judged. Daniel and the rest of the recently-deceased are offered many Earth-like amenities and activities in the city while they undergo their judgment processes, from all-you-can-eat restaurants (which cause no weight gain and is the best food) to bowling alleys and comedy clubs.

As explained to Daniel, people from Earth use so little of their brains (3-5%) that they spend most of their lives functioning on the basis of their fears. "When you use more than 5% of your brain, you don't want to be on Earth, believe me," explains Bob Diamond (Rip Torn), Daniel's defense attorney. If the Judgement court determines that Daniel has conquered his fears, he will be sent on to the next phase of existence, where he will be able to use more of his brain and thus be able to experience more of what the universe has to offer. Otherwise, his soul will be reincarnated on Earth to live another life in another attempt at moving past fear. In the process, he may advance up the universe's proverbial food chain.

Daniel's judgment process is presided over by two judges (played by Lillian Lehman and George D. Wallace). Diamond argues that Daniel should move onto the next phase. His formidable opponent is Lena Foster (Lee Grant), who Diamond informs Daniel is known as "the Dragon Lady." Each utilizes video-like footage from selected days in the defendant's life, shown to the judges to illustrate their case.

During the procedure, Daniel meets and falls in love with Julia (Meryl Streep), a woman who lived a seemingly perfect life of courage and generosity, especially compared to his. The proceedings do not go well for Daniel. Foster shows a series of episodes in which Daniel did not overcome his fears, as well as various other bad decisions. The final nail in his coffin, it seems, is when Foster, on the last day of arguments, plays footage of his previous night with Julia, in which he declines to sleep with her, for what Foster believes is his same lack of courage. It is ruled that Daniel will return to Earth. Meanwhile, Julia is judged worthy to move on. Before saying goodbye Diamond comforts Daniel with the knowledge the court is not infallible and just because Foster won it doesn't mean she's right. Daniel remains disapointed.

Daniel finds himself strapped in on a tram to return to Earth, when he spots Julia on a different tram across the tram lanes. On a spur-of-the-moment impulse he unstraps himself, escapes from the moving tram, and risks injury to stow away on Julia’s. Although he cannot enter it at first, the entire event is being monitored by both Bob Diamond and Lena Foster, who convince the judges that this last-minute display of courage has earned Daniel the right to move on. They open the doors on Julia’s tram, allowing Daniel in, reuniting him with Julia and allowing them both to move on to their next phases of existence together.

Cast

• Albert Brooks - Daniel Miller
• Rip Torn - Bob Diamond
• Meryl Streep - Julia
• Lee Grant - Lena Foster
• George D. Wallace - Daniel's Judge
• Lillian Lehman - Daniel's Judge
• Rachel Bard - Julia's Judge
• Newell Alexander - Julia's Judge
• S. Scott Bullock - Daniel's Father
• Carol Bivens - Daniel's Mother
• Buck Henry - Dick Stanley, Daniel's substitute attorney

Roger Behr cameos as a comedian. Shirley MacLaine has a cameo appearance as herself acting as the holographic host of the "Past Lives Pavilion" (a reference to her publicly known belief in reincarnation). Glen Chin cameos as a sumo wrestler.

Video releases

Defending Your Life was released on VHS and Laserdisc in early 1992. Both of these editions have since gone out of print. Warner Bros. Home Video released a DVD on April 3, 2001, in a cardboard snap case. It features 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen formatting, and subtitles in English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. Apart from cast and crew information and the film's theatrical trailer, the DVD contains no extras. Warners also re-released the film in 2001 in a two-pack DVD set with Brooks' Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World.

Reception

Variety called it an "inventive and mild bit of whimsy" in which Brooks has a "little fun with the Liliom idea of being judged in a fanciful afterlife, but he doesn't carry his conceit nearly far enough."^[1] Roger Ebert called it "funny in a warm, fuzzy way" and a film with a "splendidly satisfactory ending, which is unusual for an Albert Brooks film."^[2] The New York Times called it "the most perceptive and convincing among a recent spate of carpe diem movies"— a reference to films such as Dead Poets Society (1989), Field of Dreams (1989), and Ghost (1990).^[3] Richard Schickel wrote:^[4]

Defending Your Life is better developed as a situation than it is as a comedy (though there are some nice bits, like a hotel lobby sign that reads, WELCOME KIWANIS DEAD). But Brooks has always been more of a muser than a tummler, and perhaps more depressive than he is manic. He asks us to banish the cha-cha-cha beat of conventional comedy from mind and bend to a slower rhythm. His pace is not that of a comic standing up at a microphone barking one-liners, but of an intelligent man sitting down by the fire mulling things over. And in this case offering us a large slice of angel food for thought.

The film received mostly positive reviews from critics and holds a 96% rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes (based on 26 reviews).^[5]

The film was not a box office success, grossing about $16 million in the United States. It received three Saturn Award nominations for Best Actress (Meryl Streep), Best Fantasy Film, and Best Writing (Albert Brooks).^[6]

See also

• What Dreams May Come, a novel by Richard Matheson published in 1978. It was adapted into a film of the same name in 1998 starring Robin Williams, and its plot explores similar themes.

References

1. ^ "Defending Your Life". Variety. 1991. http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117790339.htm. Retrieved 2009-10-18. ^{[dead link]}
2. ^ Roger Ebert (April 5, 1991). "Defending Your Life". Chicago Sun-Times. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19910405/REVIEWS/104050301/1023. Retrieved 2009-10-18. 
3. ^ Caryn James (April 21, 1991). "Carpe Diem Becomes Hot Advice". The New York Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9D0CE7DA1339F932A15757C0A967958260. Retrieved 2009-10-18. 
4. ^ Richard Schickel (March 25, 1991). "Defending Your Life". Time. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,972587,00.html. Retrieved 2009-10-18. 
5. ^ Defending Your Life at Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2009-10-18.
6. ^ Awards for Defending Your Life from the Internet Movie Database

External links

• Defending Your Life at the Internet Movie Database
• Defending Your Life at AllRovi
• Defending Your Life at Rotten Tomatoes
• Defending Your Life (DVD) at Warner Bros.
• Film-series' speech by James Bowman