Made in Heaven: Bienvenue au paradis

Watching this movie strikes a chord like no other movie I have ever seen. I first saw it several years ago, and it gripped me from the top of my head to the bottom of my toes. I cried like a baby while viewing this movie... not because it made me sad, but because it "evoked a memory of an intangible experience I am not certain I have had yet".

I continue to be challenged by the possibility this movie represents... Whenever I see this movie playing on cable, I try to flick off it... but am inexorably drawn to it... and must watch it in its entirety.

Thats just the way it is...

A "chick flick" with some thought put into it, "Made in Heaven" reminds us why Timothy Hutton is such a good actor. His wonderful performance in a movie that could have been trite, makes the viewer love the "written-in-the-stars" romance that blossoms on screen. Hutton's character dies and goes to heaven, where he meets Kelly McGillis, who has yet to be born on Earth. The two fall in love and are married in heaven. When her turn to born happens, he convinces the powers-that-be to let him return to Earth and find her. Of course, neither one will remember their love in heaven....and therein lies the rub.

This movie ranks up there with all those that can be watched time and time again and they never seem to get old or boring. I love this movie and recommend it to everyone.

Alan Rudolph's MADE IN HEAVEN is a pleasant, sweet-natured romantic comedy with a twist; the lovers meet in Heaven, after our hero (Timothy Hutton) dies, rescuing a family from a car that plunges into a river. It may seem familiar territory to viewers of Robin Williams' drama, WHAT DREAMS MAY COME, in it's depiction of the afterlife and reincarnation, and the Albert Brooks' fantasy, DEFENDING YOUR LIFE, which also involves a romance in Heaven (in Brooks' case, with Meryl Streep). Without the budget of the Williams' film (which won an Oscar for it's visual effects), or Brooks' occasionally caustic humor about Divine Judgment, MADE IN HEAVEN is a simpler tale, weaving in a theme of predestination between lovers 'meant' to be together, which makes it a perfect 'date' movie.

Hutton, dealing with being dead and in 'Paradise', appreciates the support of his Aunt Lisa (Maureen Stapleton), a long-dead budding painter in a heavenly Paris, but finds that he is lonely, and feels out of place. Then he meets heavenly guide Annie (Kelly McGillis), a new 'soul', who had never 'lived' on earth before, and the pair soon fall for each other, filling both his need for love and companionship, and her's, for an understanding of life, and passion. They marry, after being granted permission by 'The Boss', Emmett (an unbilled Debra Winger, who plays the male role very convincingly!)

Everything seems perfectly heavenly...until Anne's number is called to be born on Earth. Despite Hutton's pleas that the pair were 'meant' to be together, Anne's destiny cannot be changed...but he does convince Emmett to allow him to be 'reborn' on Earth, insisting that the pair's love would bring them together. With the understanding that his new life may not return him to Heaven, Emmett grants him 30 years to connect with Annie...or else.

In true soap opera fashion, the pair live wildly different lives, and have unfulfilling relationships with other partners, while each experiences flashbacks of the true love they had experienced in Heaven. Time is running out, however, and Hutton's 30th birthday is rapidly approaching, without meeting his soulmate...

A modest film, with a great supporting cast (including Tim Daly, Don Murray, Mare Winningham, and Amanda Plummer), MADE IN HEAVEN's theme, that Love truly DOES conquer all, is irresistible.

Grab YOUR soulmate, and enjoy it!

Anytime that a movie is made about heaven, there is always the chance that people may find it unbelievable. This was not the case in this wonderful movie.

Timothy Hutton first plays Mike, a young man who dies tragically saving the lives of a woman and her two kids.

Then he does the worst possible thing that he could do. He falls in love in Heaven. In this movie, no matter who you are in Heaven, you will return to Earth.

He falls in love with Annie, played majestically by Kelly McGillis.

To make a long story short, Annie returns to Earth. And Mike begs to be returned, in hopes to find Annie on Earth as he did in Heaven. He has until his Thirtieth Birthday to find her. With Timothy Hutton and Kelly McGillis leading the way,and wonderful supporting performances by Maureen Stapleton, Mare Winningham, Timothy Daly, and someone who we will just call Emmett, Made in Heaven will touch your heart, make you think, and will show you that you can always find true love.