Cold Heaven

Cold Heaven is a 1991 American supernatural thriller film directed by Nicolas Roeg, and starring Theresa Russell, James Russo, Mark Harmon, Julie Carmen, and Seymour Cassel. Its plot follows a lapsed Catholic woman whose husband inexplicably rises from the dead, profoundly challenging her beliefs. The screenplay, by Allan Scott, is based on the 1983 novel of the same name by Northern Irish-Canadian writer Brian Moore. The film score was by Stanley Myers. Plot Marie Davenport, a lapsed Catholic, is having an affair with Dr. Daniel Corvin, unbeknownst to her husband, Dr. Alex Davenport, also a doctor. She intends to break the news to Alex while attending a medical conference with him in Mexico. While swimming in a bay at Acapulco, Alex is struck by a passing motorboat. He is rushed to the hospital with a massive head laceration, but dies during emergency surgery. The following morning, Marie is notified by the hospital that, prior to Alex's scheduled autopsy, his body inexplicably disappeared. Meanwhile, Daniel learns of Alex's death, and breaks the news of his affair with Marie to his girlfriend, Anna, who is infuriated. Marie returns to her home in Los Angeles while authorities attempt to locate Alex's body. Marie receives an anonymous message—which she presumes is from Daniel—asking her to travel to a hotel in Carmel-by-the-Sea that she has stayed at before, where she first met Daniel. After visiting the local convent, Marie returns to her hotel room, where she is shocked to find Alex, seemingly alive. Alex recounts his memory of that day, and his waking up in the hospital morgue. Exhausted, Alex falls asleep, and appears to be dead, but later returns to life as he wakes. A flummoxed Marie returns to the church and speaks with Monsignor Cassidy, to whom she recounts her apostasy after her mother died when Marie was a teenager. She also tells him of a vision she had the year before while staying in Carmel-by-the-Sea: While walking along the ocean cliffs near the convent, she became fixated on two ponds below, and witnessed the Virgin Mary emerge from the water, instructing her to inform a priest that a sanctuary be rebuilt for the convent.