Dead Again Dvd [1991]

Private detective Mike Church (Kenneth Branagh) tries to help the amnesiac Grace (Emma Thompson) recover her memory by having her visit a hypnotist (Derek Jacobi). Grace then experiences a series of memories in which she is Margaret Strauss, the world-famous pianist who was murdered in 1948. Could Grace be Margaret's reincarnation? Church, who has now fallen in love with the young woman, resolves to find out.

The film begins with opening credits intercut with pans across newspaper clippings about a society murder committed by conductor-composer Roman Strauss (Kenneth Branagh). Most of the articles were written by Gray Baker (Andy García), who visited Strauss on the day of his execution. The gates of a mansion in the past fade into the same gates in the present day, now the grounds of a Catholic orphanage. Mike Church (also Branagh) is a smart-alecky Los Angeles private investigator whose jobs usually involve running down deadbeats and finding missing persons. He is called in by Father Timothy (Richard Easton), the priest in charge of the orphanage where Mike was raised, to help identify a woman (Emma Thompson) who showed up in a state of shock, unable to speak, and with amnesia. Mike takes the woman, whom he calls Grace, to stay at his apartment, where he discovers she is terrified of scissors. The two uncover clues to her identity but nothing concrete. Grace regains her voice during a hypnotic session with Franklyn (Derek Jacobi), an antique dealer who claims she is having a "past-life" experience. Under hypnosis, she recalls a couple who lived during the 1940s, a famous composer and his pianist wife, as if she were part of their history. Margaret was brutally murdered, and Roman was executed for her murder. As Mike and Grace fall in love, Grace is upset by the similarities of their courtship to that of Roman and Margaret. Grace becomes afraid of Mike and is unconvinced by his assertions that he's "not Roman." Franklyn hypnotizes Mike, leading to the revelation that Mike is not the reincarnation of Roman, but of Margaret. Now, Mike becomes afraid of Grace. Mike consults with Cozy Carlisle (Robin Williams), a disgraced psychiatrist who lost his license and now works in a shop. Grace consults with Franklyn; each is advised to kill the other. Meanwhile, Mike's friend at the newspaper, Pete (Wayne Knight), uncovers Grace's true identity: Amanda Sharpe, an artist.