芦花寨

　　议员瑞查得（约翰·斯坦丁 John Standing 饰）和妻子克罗丽萨（瓦妮莎·雷德格瑞夫 Vanessa Redgrave 饰）结婚已经三十余年了，彼此之间感情十分稳定。克罗丽萨正在准备一场盛大而奢华的宴会，这样的“工作”她已经进行了无数次，自然将一切打点得井井有条。
　　一位名为彼得（艾伦·考克斯 Alan Cox 饰）不速之客的出现让克罗丽萨的思绪回到了从前，彼时，她是风华正茂的少女，遇见了同样年轻英俊的彼得，两人情投意合，在一起度过了一段难忘的快乐时光。然而，瑞查得的出现却彻底改变了这一对佳偶的命运，最终，克罗丽萨选择了瑞查得，失望的彼得远走他乡。如今，彼得再度回到了克罗丽萨的身边，克罗丽萨发现，一种久违的激情和火热在胸中来回攒动。

　　A struggling writer meets death and falls in love. He must decide if his true love is in this world or the next, and if his dreams of success are worth dying for.

　　上世纪60年代末，大学生张宇铭打伤了强暴他妹妹的坏人，逃往老峨眉山时精疲力竭晕倒，被聪敏伶俐，美丽纯朴的秀娥救回家，并赢得家人的信任。时光伴着情感慢慢延伸，两个年轻男女中间有一种难以言说的情愫在彼此之间滋生。群专人员的到来，让张宇铭感到潜在的危险不得不离开。尽管有太多不舍，今峡湖码头，双方一言不发只是互留了信物告别。 时间转眼到了2010年，秀娥，60岁的老人，经营着一家老峨眉山旅游开发公司等待着一个人。年已六旬的张宇铭已成了一家跨国公司的董事长，回国搞投资。投资开发中巧遇老峨眉山昔日场景，正是他梦里寻它千百回的地方。当年离去的张宇铭回来了，他至今未娶。秀娥来到今峡湖码头等候。鸳鸯树下他们结发，百年好合。

　13岁，初恋。俩人无奈分开。
　　21岁，再会。时光却不再来。
　　31岁，现在。如果能再一次与你相遇。
　　这是一个被命运分离的俩人，直到再次相遇的宏大的爱情故事。

…

　　一个出身中下阶层的男爵，在他只有8岁的时候，蹲在河边看见前来视察灾荒的国王，一个人远离侍卫，孤零零的站在河水泛滥的岸边。这个男孩感受到了国王的寂寞，他对自己发誓，长大以后要到国王的身边，去帮助他。国王的队伍离开后，小男孩把一块石头放进鞋子里，坚持徒步走回家去。他以这种方式和国王一起受难。以这种方式企图接近那个在他眼里伟大的灵魂。这是君主制下最美丽的一个瞬间。多年以后当小男孩成为男爵，成为国王身边的第一侍卫。他的信仰轻易的被一场肮脏的赐婚击得粉碎。他离开国王，离开世俗的生活，成为一名隐居苦寒之地的教士。他从一种信仰之中跌落，在另一种信仰之中，将一块更大的、更为尖锐的石头放进了朝圣者的鞋子。

　　故事发生在一个地处偏远的小镇之上，汤姆（Robert Milli 饰）的莫名失踪让警员约翰（唐纳德·萨瑟兰 Donald Sutherland 饰）百思不得其解，富有责任心和正义感的他决定追踪此案。汤姆在失踪前曾经和一位名叫丹尼尔斯（简·方达 Jane Fonda 饰） 的应召女郎有着密切的联系，根据一封两人之间的情书，约翰来到了纽约。
　　在监视丹尼尔斯的过程中，约翰在这个神秘的女人身上发现了许多可疑之处，她似乎也正在追踪着什么人。之后，又一名受害人的出现让整个案件开始变得险恶起来，而随着调查的深入，一位名叫柯博尔（Charles Cioffi 饰）的男子浮出了水面，他是否就是约翰正在苦苦寻找的那个人呢？

　　刚毕业的女孩夏茉（黄云云）因为自己的兴趣爱好，去了一家大型的广告公司面试，见到了久未谋面的伯秋（陈世杰饰）。因为面试官和伯秋的提问，让夏茉想起了自己的大学四年，想起了刚入学的自己，想起高中时对大学的憧憬和真正入学以后的大学生活，那些脑洞大开的幻想和现实的差距；想起了自己最好的两名姐妹，仗义美艳的晶晶（杨阳饰），和文青嘴碎的小纹（江钰源饰），也想起了自己大学时对徐东阳（韩啸饰）穷追不舍的狗血恋爱。夏茉边思索着广告创意，边回想着四年象牙塔的时光，还有那些不靠谱却美好的记忆。面试结束后没几天，夏茉接到了面试通过的电话，可她却犹豫了。

　　Because I could not stop for Death, he kindly stopped for me; the carriage held but just ourselves and immortality” – Emily Dickinson
　　If Death took a holiday, the guns would go silent in Iraq, the slaughter on our nation’s highways would cease, and the news media would be compelled to cover positive events in the humanities, arts, and sciences. Unfortunately, Death has not had a vacation in recorded history, but Mitchell Leisen’s 1934 fantasy, Death Takes a Holiday, allows us to consider the possibility. Co-written by Maxwell Anderson and Gladys Lehman and based on the play "La Morte in Vacanza" by Alberto Casella, Death Takes a Holiday stars Frederic March as the Grim Reaper who takes on human form in an attempt to discover why men fear him so much. Why he has waited 5,000 years to satisfy this curiosity is not explained.
　　[Spoiler] After a brief tryout as a shadowy figure who scares the daylights out of those that cross his path, Death shows up at, of all places, an upscale party at an Italian villa, posing as the mysterious Prince Sirki. Only one person knows who he really is, the host Duke Lambert (Guy Standing), and he is sworn to secrecy. Sirki proceeds to fascinate the guests. Given to bursts of wit and poetry, he can just as quickly turn sullen and threatening, and some soon find out that it is better not to look too deeply into his eyes. During the three days in which the Prince is at the villa, however, people all over the world miraculously escape death and potential suicides are doomed to frustration.
　　To see what’s behind all the conversation about love, the suave but naïve Prince Sirki falls for the irresistible Grazia (Evelyn Venable), the daughter of one of Duke’s friends. Grazia knows who Death is but does not fear him, much to the chagrin of her fiancé, Corrado (Kent Taylor) who has developed a strong disdain for Prince Charming.
　　More sinister than Brad Pitt in the 1998 remake Meet Joe Black, March turns in a very convincing performance as the creepy yet strangely appealing guest. Although the ending is melodramatic, the emotions are very real and the suggestion that Death may in reality be a friend disguised as a foe is quite touching.
　　(Howard Schumann, talkingpix.co.uk)
　　In this wearisome and predictable plot line, Death falls in love and bores us to death talking about it.
　　(Dennis Schwartz, homepages.sover.net)
　　I've heard DRACULA was advertised with the tag line "The Weirdest Love Story ever told!" (this is probably a paraphrase), but at heart, I've never felt that you could honestly call that movie a love story. The tag line would be much more appropriate for this one, since it ultimately boils down to what amounts to a love story. This movie is very good indeed, particularly if you consider that it is built around a concept that could have easily been handled in a cute or facile manner. Instead, it is handled as seriously as possible, with some real thought put into how death would try to come to terms with a life and an outlook that was to that point totally unfamiliar to him; much of the credit does go to Fredric March in the title role. It's quite scary when it needs to be, particularly during the first twenty minutes. From then on, it deals with its themes with subtlety, a quiet wit, an enduring sadness, and an everpresent tension on how Death might react if crossed. It's not perfect; some of the dialogue is self-conscious and artificial, as if the writers knew they were dealing with weighty issues and were trying to be profound. But I am certainly glad they didn't try to turn it into a musical comedy of sorts.
　　(Dave Sindelar, scifilm.org)
　　See also the remake: Death Takes A Holiday (1971)

　　从战场回到祖国的真弓礼吉（森雅之 饰）为了寻找青梅竹马的初恋爱人道子（久我美子 饰）来到东京，一文不名的他和经营旧书收购生意的弟弟阿洋（道三重三 饰）住在简陋的公寓里，靠弟弟的收入勉强过活。某天，礼吉在街上巧遇军校的同学山路直人（宇野重吉 饰），直人靠写英文、法文信件为生，服务的对象则是一群曾和外籍士兵相恋、而如今恋人回国被留在日本的可怜女性。
　　不想拖累弟弟的礼吉接受直人的邀请，来到铃兰地区帮助女人们撰写信件。偶然的一天，他邂逅了寻觅已久的道子，而道子恰是这群苦命女性中的一员……

 小说家李唐（张本煜 饰）接到昔日恋人高丽（王佳佳 饰）的电话，被告知她要来他所在的城市出差三天。在这三天里，他们一起回到了过去，体验了当下，演绎了未来。在他们即将告别时，高丽带着李唐来到玄武湖，她讲述起一件往事，李唐对此错愕无言，恍然间不知当下是何时……

　　已婚男人何慕洋在意外邂逅女记者任梦后，坠入了爱河。妻子江欣非常伤心，何慕洋在婚姻与情感之间的纠缠也身心俱疲，事业更是遭遇了严重危机。最终任梦选择了离开，何慕洋也重新回归到了家庭。

　　曼谷王朝战争期间，抱持着对妻子小奈以及即将出世孩子的思念，小小麦闯过血雨腥风的战场，总算和战友小特、老普、阿信以及阿艾熬到了退伍的那一天。历经千辛万苦，小小麦和伙伴们终于回到老家，然而村中清冷的景象却让众人颇为诧异。幸运的是他见到了妻子，夫妻久别重逢，执手相看泪眼竟无语凝噎。欢喜之余，小小麦更热情地留好哥们在家中居住。到了次日，其余四人赶集玩耍，谁知竟意外听说小奈早已难产的流言。那么他们前一日所看到的究竟是谁？当晚，阿艾来到小小麦的家中，不幸证实了听说的一切。他们该如何从女鬼手中救出自己的好兄弟呢？
　　本片根据泰国著名民间传说改编。