It was in my sophomore year of high school that I first fell in love with psychology. I remember sitting in the back right corner of Mrs. Soliday’s classroom and being absolutely amazed by the knowledge I was absorbing. It’s fascinating how your brain, that grey lump of tissue inside your skull, controls so many aspects of your life and defines what makes you unique as an individual: every feeling you’ve ever felt, every thought you’ve ever had, every memory you’ve ever made is all in the brain. So while I’m majoring in this field and can read people as easy as a book, it was a bit of a surprise to see just how much I would love M Night Shyamalan’s new psychological thriller Split.
I’ll admit, I had my qualms about seeing this movie. As a film whose sole plot was based on a mental illness, it’s easy to see how it could touch down onto sensitive ground rather quickly. But for me, it didn’t go into that territory at all. In fact, it had me intently fascinated and intrigued the whole duration.
The film begins at the end of a birthday party, with two best friends Claire and Marcia waiting for their last party guest, Casey (our protagonist), to get picked up. Her ride bails so Claire’s dad offers to drive all three girls home. They wait patiently in the car while he loads up the trunk only to realize that the man who gets in the driver’s seat is not Claire’s father.
All three girls are abducted and taken to a strange basement of sorts, where they discover they are key components to some sort of ritual. Their abductor introduces himself as "Dennis", a very creepy clean-cut man. The girls hatch several plans to attack him, only to realize that there is something terribly wrong with the man who took them when he enters the room wearing a long skirt, referring to himself as "Patricia". Later on, he presents himself as "Hedwig", an entertaining nine-year old boy with a lisp. It’s revealed by Dr. Fletcher, a psychologist, that this man’s name is Kevin and he has 23 different personalities due to his diagnosis of DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder). Whenever he meets with Dr. Fletcher, he poses as "Barry", a sassy fashion designer but this isn’t the truth. His darker personalities Dennis and Patricia are in main control of Kevin’s body and are preparing for his newest personality to arrive, “the beast”.
As for the girls, the movie switches between flashbacks of Casey’s childhood and the girls in the cellar. Claire and Marcia both make a run for it, ultimately getting caught and thrown in a room by themselves with nothing to eat. Casey tries a different approach by manipulating Hedwig, only to get caught herself. Dr. Fletcher begins to realize that something is terribly wrong with Kevin, and discovers that he’s the one that kidnapped the three girls she has seen on TV. He then drugs her while he runs off the greet “the beast”, and this is honestly terrifying. He then transforms into some sort of superhuman that feeds off flesh, Claire and Marcia being his main victims. Before Dr. Fletcher is crushed to death by the beast, she leaves a note warning the girls to call him by his real name. Casey complies and Kevin is brought back to see the horrible things he has done, only to be taken over by all of his personalities moments later. Casey grabs a shotgun and runs for her life, where she ends up in a corner. Just as the beast is about the devour her, he sees the scars on her body from all the times her uncle has molested her. He then decides to spare her and leave after declaring that the most damaged people are the most pure. She is later found by Kevin’s co-worker who brings her to safety. When a police officer tells Casey that her uncle is there to take her home, she hesitates, implying that she reveals the truth about her molestation.
The ending is the only bad thing I have to say about this movie. If you haven’t seen Shyamalan’s other films, specifically Unbreakable, you won’t understand the twist at the end. Bruce Willis appears in a diner referring to Mr.Glass, implying that both Unbreakable and Split are set in the same universe. If you’ve seen his other movies, this ending would’ve been great. If you are like me, it’ll be a bit awkward and confusing.
If there is one thing I’m going to praise about this movie, it’s James McAvoy’s outstanding acting performance. Last semester I took a basic acting class and was shocked by how much work it takes to act. I could barely do justice to the one character I had, so we have to give props to McAvoy for portraying twenty-four roles in one film. He did a fantastic job, each character being distinct and unique from the last. Someone give that man an award.
I’m no movie expert, but I can give you my honest to God opinion about this movie, and I really enjoyed it. In the psychology world, Multiple Personality Disorder is a hot topic of controversy, and I was quite curious to see how they would illustrate it. This movie easily could’ve gone downhill with it focusing on a mental disorder, but it made you sympathize for the main character instead. This sounds strange, but I had a bit of a personal connection with this movie. At the moment, my psychology classes for my major are quite boring but seeing what the brain is capable of in this movie reminded me why I fell in love with psychology in the first place. And while I have a hard time believing that you can transform into a superhuman with your thoughts, I do believe in the power of the human mind, and that’s what makes this movie terrifying.
Final Rating: 4 out 5 stars
