A British wartime pilot falls in love with an American radio operator while his plane falls from the sky. After bailing out without a parachute, he wakes up on an English beach having seemingly cheated death. However, when a messenger from the afterlife outlines that it was an administrative error which spared his life, he must mount a defence for his right to stay amongst the living. Intended to smooth tensions between the wartime allies Britain and America, Powell and Pressburger’s stylish melodrama unfolds as a richly humanistic journey through time and space, ultimately presenting a case for the enduring power of love.

Reviews

‘It’s basically an intellectual battle, held in an amphitheatre as large as a galaxy, about the right to life and the inherent tensions in US-UK political relations. In other words, essential viewing.’
★★★★★
Kevin Maher, The Times

‘A Matter of Life and Death is the utterly unique, enduringly rich and strange romantic fantasia from Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.’
★★★★★
Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian