Somewhere in Time
A Chicago playwright uses self-hypnosis to find the actress whose vintage portrait hangs in a grand hotel.
- Director: Jeannot Szwarc
- Genre:Drama / Fantasy / Romance
- Runtime:103 minutes
Cast
Christopher Reeve: Richard Collier
Jane Seymour : Elise McKenna
Christopher Plummer : William Fawcett Robinson
Teresa Wright : Laura Roberts
Bill Erwin : Arthur Biehl
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The film begins in May 1972, when playwright Richard Collier is approached by an elderly woman who places a pocket watch in his hand while pleading with him to “come back” to her. Eight years later, Richard, stressed from writing his play, decides to take a break and stays at the Grand Hotel, where he becomes entranced by a strangely captivating photograph of a mysterious, beautiful young woman. With the assistance of Arthur Biehl, an old man who’s been at the hotel since 1910, Richard discovers that she is Elise McKenna, a famous early 20th-century stage actress. Upon digging deeper, he learns that she was the aged woman who gave him the pocket watch eight years earlier, but who subsequently died later that same evening.
Richard learns about auto-suggestive time travel from an old college professor of his. To accomplish this feat of self-hypnosis, one must remove all things from sight that are related to the current time. He is also warned that such a process would leave one very weak, perhaps dangerously so. Back in his hotel room, Richard tries to will himself into the year 1912 using tape-recorded suggestions, only to fail for lack of real conviction. In the hotel’s attic, Richard finds an old guest book from 1912 with his signature in it, and realizes that he will (or did) eventually succeed.
Richard again hypnotizes himself (without the benefit of a modern tape recorder) and allows his absolute faith in his eventual success to become the tipping point or trigger for the journey back through time. He drifts off to sleep and awakens to the sound of whinnying horses in the year 1912. Richard looks all over the hotel for Elise, even meeting Arthur as a little boy, but he has no luck finding her. Finally, he stumbles upon Elise walking by a tree near the lake. She seems to swoon slightly at the sight of him, but then suddenly asks him if he’s the one. McKenna’s manager, William Fawcett Robinson, abruptly intervenes and sends Richard away. Richard stubbornly continues to pursue Elise until she finally agrees to accompany him on a stroll throughout the surrounding idyllic landscape. Richard ultimately asks why Elise wondered aloud if he was “the one” and she replies that Robinson somehow knows that she will meet a man one day who will change her life forever. Richard then shows Elise the same pocket watch which she will give him 60 years in the future. Read more
