Death Becomes Her
In 1978, on Broadway, the decadent and narcissist actress Madeline Ashton is performing Songbird, based on Tennessee Williams' Sweet Bird of Youth. Then she receives her rival Helen Sharp, who is an aspiring writer, and her fiancee Ernest Menville, who is a plastic surgeon, in her dressing-room. Soon Menville calls off his commitment with Helen and marries Madeline. Seven years later, Helen is obese in a psychiatric hospital and obsessed in seeking revenge on Madeline. In 1992, the marriage of Madeline and Menville is finished and he is no longer a surgeon but an alcoholic caretaker. Out of the blue, they are invited to a party where Helen will release her novel Forever Young and Madeline goes to a beauty shop. The owner gives a business card of the specialist in rejuvenation Lisle Von Rhuman to her. When the envious Madeline sees Helen thin in a perfect shape, she decides to seek out Lisle and buys a potion to become young again. Further, she advises that Madeline must take care of her body. Meanwhile Helen seduces Menville and they plot a scheme to kill Madeline. When Madeline comes home, she has an argument Menville and he pushes her from the staircase. She breaks her neck but becomes a living dead. When Helen arrives at Menville's house expecting that Madeline is dead, she is murdered by Madeline. But she also becomes a living dead and they conclude they need Menville to help them to maintain their bodies. But Menville wants to leave them.
Despite a mid-range budget of $55.0M, Death Becomes Her became a box office success, earning $149.0M worldwide—a 171% return.
Plot Structure
Story beats plotted across runtime
Narrative Arc
Emotional journey through the story's key moments
Story Circle
Blueprint 15-beat structure
Arcplot Score Breakdown
Weighted: Precision (70%) + Arc (15%) + Theme (15%)
Death Becomes Her (1992) demonstrates deliberately positioned narrative design, characteristic of Robert Zemeckis's storytelling approach. This structural analysis examines how the film's 12-point plot structure maps to proven narrative frameworks across 1 hour and 44 minutes. With an Arcplot score of 7.0, the film balances conventional beats with creative variation.
Structural Analysis
The Status Quo at 1 minutes (1% through the runtime) establishes Madeline Ashton performs in a disastrous musical on Broadway, revealing her fading star status and desperate need for validation through youth and beauty.. Structural examination shows that this early placement immediately immerses viewers in the story world.
The inciting incident occurs at 12 minutes when Seven years later, Madeline discovers she's aging and losing her beauty, while Ernest has become an alcoholic mortician. Her career and marriage are crumbling.. At 12% through the film, this Disruption aligns precisely with traditional story structure. This beat shifts the emotional landscape, launching the protagonist into the central conflict.
At 52 minutes, the Midpoint arrives at 50% of the runtime—precisely centered, creating perfect narrative symmetry. Structural examination shows that this crucial beat Helen shoots Madeline through the stomach with a shotgun. Madeline survives but is permanently damaged, raising the stakes: immortality means eternal decay, not eternal youth., fundamentally raising what's at risk. The emotional intensity shifts, dividing the narrative into clear before-and-after phases.
The Collapse moment at 78 minutes (75% through) represents the emotional nadir. Here, Madeline accidentally pushes Helen down the stairs, breaking her neck completely backward. The "death" of their humanity is complete—they are now truly living corpses dependent on each other., shows the protagonist at their lowest point. This beat's placement in the final quarter sets up the climactic reversal.
The Synthesis at 83 minutes initiates the final act resolution at 80% of the runtime. Twenty-seven years later: Ernest has lived a full mortal life and dies peacefully. Madeline and Helen attend his funeral as decrepit, painted mannequins, forever maintaining their corpses., demonstrating the transformation achieved throughout the journey.
Emotional Journey
Death Becomes Her's emotional architecture traces a deliberate progression across 12 carefully calibrated beats.
Narrative Framework
This structural analysis employs proven narrative structure principles that track dramatic progression. By mapping Death Becomes Her against these established plot points, we can identify how Robert Zemeckis utilizes or subverts traditional narrative conventions. The plot point approach reveals not only adherence to structural principles but also creative choices that distinguish Death Becomes Her within the comedy genre.
Robert Zemeckis's Structural Approach
Among the 19 Robert Zemeckis films analyzed on Arcplot, the average structural score is 6.9, demonstrating varied approaches to story architecture. Death Becomes Her represents one of the director's most structurally precise works. For comparative analysis, explore the complete Robert Zemeckis filmography.
Comparative Analysis
Additional comedy films include The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, The Bad Guys and Lake Placid. For more Robert Zemeckis analyses, see Flight, What Lies Beneath and Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
Plot Points by Act
Act I
SetupStatus Quo
Madeline Ashton performs in a disastrous musical on Broadway, revealing her fading star status and desperate need for validation through youth and beauty.
Theme
Helen tells Ernest that Madeline "lives her life like she's already dead," foreshadowing the film's central theme about the emptiness of pursuing eternal youth at the cost of truly living.
Worldbuilding
Madeline steals Ernest from Helen, establishing the rivalry and vanity-driven world of aging actresses desperate to maintain beauty and relevance. Helen is institutionalized after her breakdown.
Disruption
Seven years later, Madeline discovers she's aging and losing her beauty, while Ernest has become an alcoholic mortician. Her career and marriage are crumbling.
Resistance
Madeline encounters a mysteriously youthful Helen and spirals into desperation. She receives a mysterious card for Lisle Von Rhuman, debating whether to pursue this unknown solution to aging.
Act II
ConfrontationPremise
The dark comedy of immortality plays out: Madeline and Helen fight, resulting in grotesque "deaths" they survive. The fun and games of their unkillable bodies and escalating violence.
Midpoint
Helen shoots Madeline through the stomach with a shotgun. Madeline survives but is permanently damaged, raising the stakes: immortality means eternal decay, not eternal youth.
Opposition
Both women realize they need Ernest to maintain their deteriorating bodies. They compete for him while their physical conditions worsen. Ernest tries to escape but is trapped between them.
Collapse
Madeline accidentally pushes Helen down the stairs, breaking her neck completely backward. The "death" of their humanity is complete—they are now truly living corpses dependent on each other.
Crisis
Madeline and Helen realize they must work together to survive, facing the dark truth that they're trapped in decaying bodies forever, utterly dependent on each other and Ernest.
Act III
ResolutionSynthesis
Twenty-seven years later: Ernest has lived a full mortal life and dies peacefully. Madeline and Helen attend his funeral as decrepit, painted mannequins, forever maintaining their corpses.
Transformation
Madeline and Helen tumble down the church steps, shattering into pieces at Ernest's funeral. They're revealed as hollow, broken shells—eternally "alive" but forever dead inside.