Matter of Life and Death, A

Alternative title: Stairway to Heaven
Synopsis: A British wartime aviator who cheats death by miraculously surviving bailing out of his plane without a parachute must argue for his life before a celestial court. Fantasy film, ostensibly produced with the intention of improving Anglo-American relations after the war. A key sequence features a rehearsal of an amateur production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Pyramus and Thisbe scene (V i). Two lovers trying to communicate and being restrained by an imaginary wall echoes one of the film’s major themes.
'A glittering wartime fantasia...it ranks among the greatest films ever made, a shimmering jewel in the crown of British cinema’ (The Guardian, 2019).
Language: English
Country: Great Britain
Medium: Film
Technical information: Black-and-white / Sound
Year of release: 1945
Subjects: Film studies
Keywords: cinema - UK; Shakespeare, William (1564-1616); Film history