Somewhere in Time is beautifully shot even though it uses soft focus so much I did wonder if my eyesight might be going. It also has a lovely score that’s based somewhat on a “Variations on a Theme by Paganini” by Rachmaninoff. It features very likeable performances from Christopher Reeve as playwright Richard Collier and Jane Seymour as actress Elise McKenna. There’s even a nice, if brief, turn by Christopher Plummer as Elise’s manager. Despite all of the strong aspects of the film, however, the plot is astonishingly strange. While still a college student, Richard meets an old woman who gives him a watch and says, “Come back to me.” He doesn’t do anything about this strange behavior at the time – although you’d think asking her who she is would be of paramount importance – and time passes, quite a bit of time, actually, eight years. He goes to a hotel to work and falls in love with a photograph of Elise from 1912 that’s on display in the hotel museum. (Do lots of hotels have museums?) It turns out she was the old woman he encountered, and he starts doing research to find out as much as possible about her. Then, in a rather abrupt turn, thanks to finding a book on the subject among Elise’s possessions, he begins talking to an old professor of his about time travel because the professor – coincidentally – wrote the book Elise had. Richard gets some old money and, in essence, “wills” himself back to 1912 so that he can meet and fall in love with Elise. I realize that this is a fantasy romance, but it does seem to stretch credulity to think someone could just will themselves back in time. Wouldn’t we all do that in order to change the past, at least some of it? Richard and Elise have very little time together, less than two days, really, but she makes an improvised speech on stage during her performance that is clearly aimed at him and then she returns to make love to him after her manager tries to separate them. Unfortunately, Richard sees a penny from 1979 and that brings him back to the present because, of course, a penny would ruin everything romantic. Was everything that happened to him just a dream or was it a fantasy or did any of it really happen? Is it possible that someone like Arthur (Bill Erwin), now the bellman, could still be working at the same hotel for more than sixty years? The film raises a lot of questions that remain unanswered, and I know that it’s a romantic movie about meeting someone you’re destined to fall in love with and that’s enough for most viewers. I can’t blame them, I suppose, but when Richard starts to starve himself after coming back to the present, I knew where this is headed. I guess if you can will yourself back into the past (although that apparently works just the one time), then you can will yourself to die so that you can reunite with your long-dead loved one.
Oscar
Nomination:
Best Costume Design
