The Sixth Sense is a 1999 psychological thriller film, written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It tells the story of Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment), a troubled, isolated boy who is able to see and talk to the dead, and an equally troubled child psychologist (Bruce Willis) who tries to help him. The film established Shyamalan as a writer and director, and introduced the cinema public to his signatures, most notably his affinity for twist endings. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards, including the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Plot overview
As the film opens, Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) a prominent child psychologist, returns home one night with his wife, Anna Crowe (Olivia Williams), from an event in which he was honored for his efforts with children. The two discover they are not alone -- Vincent Grey (Donnie Wahlberg), a former patient of Crowe's, appears in the doorway of their bathroom brandishing a gun saying, "I don't want to be afraid no more." Grey accuses Crowe of failing him, and Crowe recognizes Vincent as a former patient whom he once treated as a child for hallucinations. Grey shoots Crowe in the stomach, and seconds later turns the gun on himself. The scene fades away with Crowe's wife by his side.
The next fall, Crowe is shown working with another boy, nine year-old Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment), with a condition similar to Vincent's. Crowe becomes dedicated to this patient, though he is haunted by doubts over his ability to help him after his failure with Vincent. Meanwhile, he apparently begins to neglect his wife, with whom his relationship is falling apart.
Crowe earns Cole's trust and Cole eventually confides in him that he "sees dead people that walk around like regular people." Though Crowe at first thinks Cole is delusional, he eventually comes to believe that Cole is telling the truth and that Vincent may have had the same ability as Cole. He realizes this one night as he is listening to one of his old tapes, recorded while he was treating Vincent, and hears the pleading voices of dead people in the background. He suggests to Cole that he try to find a purpose for his gift by communicating with the ghosts, perhaps to aid them in their unfinished business on Earth. Cole at first does not want to, because the ghosts terrify him, but he soon decides to try it.
Cole finally talks to one of the ghosts, a very sick girl who appears in his bedroom. He finds out where the girl -- Kyra Collins (Mischa Barton) -- lived and goes to her house during her funeral reception. Kyra's ghost appears and gives to Cole a box, which is opened to reveal a videotape. When Cole gives it to Kyra's father, the tape reveals that while Kyra was bedridden with illness, she was being poisoned by her mother. The mother has Münchausen syndrome by proxy.[2] Now believing in his ability to use his gift to positive effect, Cole confesses his secret to his mother, Lynn (Toni Collette). Although his mother at first does not believe him, Cole soon tells Lynn that her own mother (Cole's grandmother) once went to see her perform in a dance recital one night when she was a child, and that Lynn was not aware of this because her mother stayed in the back of the audience where she could not be seen. He also tells her the answer to a question she asked when alone at her mother's grave. Lynn tearfully accepts this as the truth. Cole also counsels Crowe on his marriage, suggesting he try talking to his wife while she is asleep.
His faith in himself now restored as a result of his success with Cole, Crowe returns to his home, where he finds his wife asleep on the couch with the couple's wedding video on in the background, not for the first time. As she sleeps, Anna's hand releases Malcolm's wedding ring (which he suddenly discovers he has not been wearing), revealing the twist ending of the film: Crowe himself was unknowingly one of Cole's ghosts, having been killed in the opening scene. Due to Cole's efforts, Crowe's unfinished business -- rectifying his failure to understand Vincent -- is finally complete. Recalling Cole's advice, Crowe speaks to his sleeping wife and fulfills the second reason he returned, saying she was "never second," and that he loves her. Releasing her to move on with her own life, he is free to leave behind the world of the living. The film ends on a short clip of their wedding tape that fades into white.
Cast
As is usual in his films, Shyamalan is seen in a brief cameo.
| Actor/Actress |
Role |
Salary & Other compensation[3] |
| Bruce Willis |
Dr. Malcolm Crowe |
$14,000,000 + Private jet allowance: $450,000 & Other allowance: $339,492. |
| Haley Joel Osment |
Cole Sear |
$150,000. |
| Toni Collette |
Lynn Sear |
$1,000,000. |
| Olivia Williams |
Anna Crowe |
|
| Donnie Wahlberg |
Vincent Grey |
|
| Glenn Fitzgerald |
Sean |
|
| Mischa Barton |
Kyra Collins |
$26,050. |
| Trevor Morgan |
Tommy Tammisimo |
|
| M. Night Shyamalan |
Dr. Hill |
Write & direct: $2,600,000. |
Production
M. Night Shyamalan said that the "The Tale of the Dream Girl" episode of Nickelodeon's television series Are You Afraid of the Dark? directed by David Winning was an inspiration for the film.[4]
According to the book DisneyWar, Disney's David Vogel read Shyamalan's speculative script and instantly loved it. Without obtaining approval from his boss, Vogel bought the rights to the script, despite the high price of US$2 million and the stipulation that Shyamalan could direct the film. Disney later stripped Vogel of the title of President of Walt Disney Pictures, and Vogel left the company. Disney, apparently in a show of little confidence in the film, sold the distribution rights to Spyglass Entertainment, and kept only a 12.5% distribution fee for itself.
Shyamalan's production script for the film is unusual; nearly all of the information usually included in screenplays is absent. Because Shyamalan intended to direct the film himself, he omitted from the screenplay most of the information that a screenwriter would normally convey to a director.
In the commentary from the film Superbad, Michael Cera said that he made his first film audition for the role of Cole Sear.
Donnie Wahlberg lost 43 pounds to achieve his character's emaciated look.
There are also some discrepancies between the script and the film. In the screenplay, when Malcolm Crowe is on his way to meet Cole Sear for the first time (in the first scene after he is shot), Malcolm abruptly stops and grips his abdomen while grimacing in pain.
After Malcolm is shot, Cole Sear is the only other character who interacts with him in dialogue. In both the script and the film, Malcolm is present (but unnoticed) during a conversation between Cole's mother Lynn and a child psychologist. In the script, Malcolm speaks one line of dialogue in this sequence, making Lynn seem to be responding to him when she is actually responding to the psychologist. In the film, this line is omitted.
The left-handed Bruce Willis learned to write with his right hand for the film, to hide from the audience that Crowe was no longer wearing his wedding ring.[5] All of the clothes Malcolm wears during the film are items he wore or touched the evening before his death, which included his overcoat, his blue sweater and the different layers of his suit. Though the filmmakers were careful about clues of Malcolm's true state, the camera zooms slowly towards his face when Cole says "I see dead people." In a special feature the filmmakers mention they initially feared this shot would be a giveaway, but decided to leave it in.[6]
The color red is intentionally absent from most of the film, but is used prominently in a few isolated shots for "anything in the real world that has been tainted by the other world"[7] and "to connote really explosively emotional moments and situations".[8] Examples include the door of the church where Cole seeks sanctuary; the color of the balloon, carpet, and Cole's sweater at the birthday party; the tent in which he first encounters Kyra; the numbers on Malcolm's tape player; the doorknob on the locked closet door Malcolm can't open; Kyra's mother's dress at the wake; and the shawl wrapped around the sleeping Anna when Malcolm realizes he is a ghost.
Reception
The film received very positive reviews from critics, with an 85% 'Fresh' rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[9]
The film had a production budget of approximately $40 million (plus $25 million for prints and advertising). It grossed $26.6 million in its opening weekend and spent five weeks as the #1 film at the U.S. box office.[1] It earned $293,506,292 in the United States and a worldwide gross of $672,806,292, ranking it 27th on the list of box-office money earners in the U.S. as of March 2008.[10] In the United Kingdom, it was given at first a limited release at 9 screens, and entered at #8 before climbing up to #1 the following week with 430 theatres playing the film.[11][12]
The film was nominated for six Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay (M. Night Shyamalan), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Haley Joel Osment), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Toni Collette), and Best Editing (Andrew Mondshein).
By vote of the members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, The Sixth Sense was awarded the Nebula Award for Best Script in 1999. The film was #71 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments, for the scene where Cole encounters a female ghost in his tent. It was also recently named the 89th Best Film of all time by the American Film Institute in 2007.
The line "I see dead people" from the film became a popular catchphrase after its release, reaching #44 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies Quote List. The Sixth Sense also captured the 60th place in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills, honoring America's most "heart pounding movies of all-time". It also appears on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies list.
References
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