Because I could not stop for Death, he kindly stopped for me; the carriage held but just ourselves and immortality” – Emily Dickinson
If Death took a holiday, the guns would go silent in Iraq, the slaughter on our nation’s highways would cease, and the news media would be compelled to cover positive events in the humanities, arts, and sciences. Unfortunately, Death has not had a vacation in recorded history, but Mitchell Leisen’s 1934 fantasy, Death Takes a Holiday, allows us to consider the possibility. Co-written by Maxwell Anderson and Gladys Lehman and based on the play "La Morte in Vacanza" by Alberto Casella, Death Takes a Holiday stars Frederic March as the Grim Reaper who takes on human form in an attempt to discover why men fear him so much. Why he has waited 5,000 years to satisfy this curiosity is not explained.
[Spoiler] After a brief tryout as a shadowy figure who scares the daylights out of those that cross his path, Death shows up at, of all places, an upscale party at an Italian villa, posing as the mysterious Prince Sirki. Only one person knows who he really is, the host Duke Lambert (Guy Standing), and he is sworn to secrecy. Sirki proceeds to fascinate the guests. Given to bursts of wit and poetry, he can just as quickly turn sullen and threatening, and some soon find out that it is better not to look too deeply into his eyes. During the three days in which the Prince is at the villa, however, people all over the world miraculously escape death and potential suicides are doomed to frustration.
To see what’s behind all the conversation about love, the suave but naïve Prince Sirki falls for the irresistible Grazia (Evelyn Venable), the daughter of one of Duke’s friends. Grazia knows who Death is but does not fear him, much to the chagrin of her fiancé, Corrado (Kent Taylor) who has developed a strong disdain for Prince Charming.
More sinister than Brad Pitt in the 1998 remake Meet Joe Black, March turns in a very convincing performance as the creepy yet strangely appealing guest. Although the ending is melodramatic, the emotions are very real and the suggestion that Death may in reality be a friend disguised as a foe is quite touching.
(Howard Schumann, talkingpix.co.uk)
In this wearisome and predictable plot line, Death falls in love and bores us to death talking about it.
(Dennis Schwartz, homepages.sover.net)
I've heard DRACULA was advertised with the tag line "The Weirdest Love Story ever told!" (this is probably a paraphrase), but at heart, I've never felt that you could honestly call that movie a love story. The tag line would be much more appropriate for this one, since it ultimately boils down to what amounts to a love story. This movie is very good indeed, particularly if you consider that it is built around a concept that could have easily been handled in a cute or facile manner. Instead, it is handled as seriously as possible, with some real thought put into how death would try to come to terms with a life and an outlook that was to that point totally unfamiliar to him; much of the credit does go to Fredric March in the title role. It's quite scary when it needs to be, particularly during the first twenty minutes. From then on, it deals with its themes with subtlety, a quiet wit, an enduring sadness, and an everpresent tension on how Death might react if crossed. It's not perfect; some of the dialogue is self-conscious and artificial, as if the writers knew they were dealing with weighty issues and were trying to be profound. But I am certainly glad they didn't try to turn it into a musical comedy of sorts.
(Dave Sindelar, scifilm.org)
See also the remake: Death Takes A Holiday (1971)
直到逝去才知艰辛
Apple所以自然也是浓浓的性冷淡风
即便有些鸡汤，但我还是很喜欢这个故事，在“告别”这件看似很小实则很大的事情上尽可能深挖。非常打动人。阿里演的很好，主角内心那种不舍和纠结，那种想要放手但又忍不住触碰的心态，刻画得非常到位了。本来以为两个阿里相见之后的发展会变得刻意且生硬，但剧作还是比较巧妙地避开了这一点，同时也给予了观众足够的回味空间。片子探讨的话题其实挺值得思考的，记忆与情感，存在与身份，当“我”和我一模一样甚至承接我的意志时，“我”还是我吗？
列车，湖边画画很美好
很久没看到让我哭成这样的电影了。真的很痛很痛。生离死别，原来是要拆开看的啊，生离比死别可能还要痛。
一脸欣慰释然的样子
不能细究，无脑看就完事了。又黄又暴力，有笑又泪点，极佳的爆米花电影。前面太搞笑了，奇奇怪怪的超能力，一打就废，哈哈哈哈笑喷了。鲨鱼男和小老鼠有点可爱，反差萌了属于。小老鼠拯救国家，训鼠者这么吊，是怎么被抓紧来的？
主题可以很大，而实际上主要只是以爱起始的简单抒情。
极具风格的电影，画面考究，表演精彩，就是性冷淡味道很重，让我联想到《her》和《龙虾》，真不愧是Apple TV上的资源，和谐，男主在我看来，优柔寡断，既然做了选择，就要愿赌服输，搞得人人不得安宁，要么你就啥也别做，在家等死吧，这个设定有很多自相矛盾的地方，不鸡蛋里挑骨头了，说实话看到男主脑袋上两个同步贴片的时候，这不就是买了部新手机嘛？重做完系统再导入数据！爱与亲人又一次伟大！
我再也不想看任何口碑爆了的超英片了
惊喜！鼠爹是塔导，差点没认出来。看来没骗人，和滚导真是朋友，“嫉妒”谣言破除😂 这片大投影看相当减压，老过瘾了。可是说好全员恶人，为毛后面就一路朝着混乱善良去了。这不大对劲。
另一种诠释死亡的视角，但生命和精神的延续到底应该沿用那种方式？不是人能控制的，尊崇自然法则吧。片尾如果博士的新顾客是女主那意义或许提升两个档次。
我该感到欣慰吗
看着自己无能为力，看着自己渐渐被代替，与最熟悉自己的自己尝试相处，站在不同的立场与自己对话，为自己和自己着想。这是一部能让共情能力强的观影者如痴如醉的电影，情绪绵绵留长。马赫沙拉阿里的演技太厉害了，嘴角翘起1毫米都是戏。这部电影就是我常说的，看到第一个画面就知道会喜欢的那种。最后，请看着我的眼睛，说你爱我，因为我的眼睛中住着真正的我。
深入探讨太少了，流于表面。与其纠结主角难舍亲情爱情，不如探讨替身获得记忆后会如何发展。
3.5……克隆人的老题材没拍出什么心意，聚焦在家庭，ps未来的这个人机交互界面不是很喜欢…
看到哭，如果让我选择，我也会这么做，让一个新的自己继续活着，如果可能，我要告诉他，照顾好我爱的每一个人，谢谢。
在未来，如果有这样一个克隆体，它和你长得一模一样，拥有你完整的DNA以及所有的记忆，那么，你能接受它吗？又或者，你能接受你的另一半是这样一个克隆体吗？
有时四月会下雪，有时我会感到很难过，有时我希望生命永不终止。爱，直到逝去，才知艰辛。
节奏太慢了，部分场景很漂亮，故意设计了一个看似美满的结局。#20220203
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