The transmigration of souls is
usually associated with reincarnation. In the film, All of Me (1984), at the
moment of death, a person’s soul can be put “into” another person who is alive
such that both people “co-exist” consciously and can control the same body. The
comedy is at its best when Steve Martin, who plays Roger Cobb, into whose body
the dying millionaire, Edwina Cutwater, is transferred, physically enacts an
alternating struggle between Edwina’s feminine movements and Roger’s masculine
movements. Martin’s physical talent is amazing. The tension within Roger’s (and
Edwina’s) shared body is gradually resolved as the two “souls” become friends—attesting
to the underlying goodness of Edwina in stark distinction to the sordid
character of Terry Hoskins, who has falsely agreed to let Edwina share her body—two
souls and one body—instead of Roger’s in exchange for $20 million. It is the
goodness of Roger and the unfolding of Edwina’s goodness up against the
absolute badness of Terry that underlies the film’s narrative. In the end, the
good win out, and Terry’s soul is put into a horse when Edwina’s soul is transferred
by a Hindu guru from Roger to Terry. With Terry’s body all to herself, Edwina
is free to become romantically involved with Roger. The good souls win and the squalid
one is put in a horse. The upshot is that justice does indeed apply to souls.
The full essay is at "All of Me."
