Don't Cry for Me, I'm Already Dead

Every once in a while, a movie will open with the information that the main character of the story is already dead, before going back in time and telling their story. Maybe the movie opens on a shot of the body; maybe it's a scene of their funeral; or maybe it comes out in voice over. Regardless, it's a stunningly nervy choice. I'm sure I'm not the only one to think-- okay, now I know how it ends. The getting there had better be good.

And sometimes it is. Some strategies to making this story structure work:

• Keep the mystery of how the character will die going. In this model, we'll still find ourselves on edge, and the stakes will remain high. We want to know how it's going to happen, and, often, we can't help ourselves hoping against hope that it won't. (Sunset Boulevard.)
• Make the getting there epic. As in, the character is legendary, and sure, they died somewhere along the line, but we care about the journey of their life. (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid; Lawrence of Arabia.)
  
• Distract us from the end with a really engaging middle. American Beauty opens with Lester Burnham telling us he's going to die. There's some mystery in that-- especially heading into the third act-- but on first viewing, the beauty of Beauty is that you actually forget for a while that it's coming. What's at stake here isn't really anyone's life... it's this family's quality of life.

If this is a structure you're thinking of using, you'd better have a sense of what makes your getting-there good!