Scenes and dialogue from Batman Returns (1992) play in constant rotation in my mind. It’s the weirdest, most unique superhero movie ever made, in my estimation, and it’s also a delightfully subversive Christmas movie, too. It has everything going for it, from outrageously over the top characters to sumptuously gothic set designs, from a pitch-perfect Danny Elfman score to a ridiculously quotable screenplay from Daniel Waters and Wesley Strick. These are just a few reasons why I keep writing about it.
Lately, I’ve been thinking about one extraordinary scene in particular. It’s the moment when the previously meek administrative assistant Selina Kyle (Michelle Pfeiffer) returns home after having been miraculously reanimated by alley cats—and that’s after her evil boss Max Schreck (Christopher Walken) pushed her through a window. After plummeting to what appears to be her death, neighborhood kitties start to surround her lifeless body, licking and nibbling on her until, suddenly, Selina’s eyes flicker madly before popping wide open to signal her return to the living.
That scene is amazing enough, but then what follows for Selina is an absolutely iconic cinematic moment. From director Tim Burton’s staging of the scene, to Michelle Pfeiffer’s jaw dropping performance, and on to the stunning set design of Selina’s apartment, it’s a flawless four minutes and change. I am completely enraptured by it every time I watch, almost as if I’ve never seen it before. This is thanks largely to Michelle’s tour de force performance. Retuning home in a daze—reanimating is a bitch—Selina mutters, “Honey, I’m home … Oh, i forgot. I’m not married.” Soon enough she’s jolted out of her undead stupor. A woman possessed, strutting around the ultra-girlie pink apartment and trashing her old way of life, Michelle sells Selina’s drastic change in personality and demeanor with every confident step she takes or maniacal grin she makes.
If one could win an Academy Award just for one scene, Michelle would’ve surely deserved it for Selina’s startling, and downright inspirational, transformation into an alpha cat. Watching her gleefully destroy her boring old clothes and stuffed animals—one stuffy meets a particularly nasty end thanks to the garbage disposal—is positively cathartic for anyone who’s ever wanted to blow up their past and just start fresh. No moment represents this better than when Selina breaks the “o” and the “t” from her neon pink “Hello There” sign, so it now reads “Hell Here.” The metaphor is clear, and Selina’s “new normal” is anything but that now.
Michelle is pure, raw power in this scene. She’s absolutely captivating, holding us in the palm of her hand as she transforms into the ferocious Catwoman. The scene culminates with Selina slipping into her new skin, the Catwoman costume she spends some of the scene stitching together. Standing in the window, resplendent in her sexy, skintight new duds, the “Hell Here” sign emanating a pink glow behind her, Selina purrs to one of her little feline friends, “I don’t know about you Miss Kitty, but I feel so much yummier.” This memorable scene is indeed one of Michelle Pfeiffer’s yummiest, most iconic, scenes of her career.
The Starfire Lounge 
It’s one of the most memorable scenes of the picture. For sure.
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