Note: If you’ve never seen “The Sixth Sense” and you’ve managed to avoid spoilers and you don’t want the ending ruined and you’re planning on seeing it one day, don’t read this. Thank you.
There are three ways to watch a movie that contains a big twist:
A. You have no idea there’s a big reveal on the way.
B. You know there’s a surprise ending, but you don’t know any of the details of that ending.
C. You’ve seen the film before, and you’re rewatching it to enjoy the breadcrumbs of clues that were sprinkled along the path
You can only twist once, of course; after that, watching any twist-y film is an exercise in, “Oh man, I didn’t see THAT the first time around!” It’s been 25 years since writer-director M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Sixth Sense” arrived in theaters and became an instant sensation, in large part due to one of the most ingenious twist endings of all time.
“The Sixth Sense’ opened to widespread critical acclaim, earned some $672 million worldwide, garnered six Oscar nominations and launched Shyamalan’s career into the stratosphere. In celebration of a film that left an indelible footprint on the popular culture, a film that remains one of my favorite titles of the 1990s in any genre, let’s dive into the world of “The Sixth Sense.”
You See What Now?
Haley Joel Osment as young Cole Sear (sounds almost like “seer”) telling Bruce Willis’ Malcolm Crowe, “I see dead people,” is an iconic moment, and there was some concern on the studio’s part that it would give away the ending, but it’s filmed in a way that focuses on closeups of Cole, and a reaction from Malcolm that seems utterly “human.” Malcolm is shocked by Cole’s revelation, but only in the context of realizing Cole is worse shape than he thought, and Malcolm might not be able to help him. “Cole has pathologies more severe than initially assessed,” Malcolm says into his recorder. “He’s suffering from visual hallucinations …”
The Rules of ‘Sixth Sense’ Club
Many of the critiques of “The Sixth Sense” written and voiced in the years since the film’s release have focused on a myriad of supposed “plot holes” that become evident upon repeat viewings, and there are some valid points — but the film offers some arguments in favor of itself along the way.
Shortly after Cole tells Malcolm he sees the undead “everywhere,” he essentially maps out the rules of The “Sixth Sense” Club, when he says, “They don’t see each other. They only see what they want to see. They don’t know they’re dead.”
They only see what they want to see. I feel that’s the key to the logic of the entire story. Think about the experience of having a particularly vivid yet not altogether realistic dream; you find yourself at work, or maybe in the home where you grew up, or in some unidentifiable locale where you interact with important people in your life — maybe even someone who has passed away. The dream might contain more than one “scene,” but I’m guessing the dream doesn’t include such details as how you arrived at that locale, or what you did on the morning of the events of your dream. You’re simply … there.
I liken Malcolm’s experiences to being in some kind of in-between world, almost a waking dream. He doesn’t know he’s dead; he’s in denial. He sees only what he wants to see, which means he doesn’t understand that his wife Anna (Olivia Williams) doesn’t actually see him, and he doesn’t realize he’s invisible to everyone but Cole, including the other ghosts Cole sees along the way. Just as the version of ourselves we see in our dreams doesn’t question the circumstances of the dream, Malcolm never asks why Toni Collette’s Lynn doesn’t talk to him about her son, or how he came to be riding the bus with Cole, or why nobody questions his presence at the funeral of a little girl. They only see what they want to see.
Keeping Records
That said, there’s a real-world foundation to the backstory of Malcolm and Cole. We see Ghost Malcolm perusing handwritten notes about Cole before he follows Cole into the church, which indicates Living Malcolm had agreed to take on Cole’s case but had not gotten to it before he died.
As for Malcolm’s note taking: Willis is naturally left-handed, but he wrote with his right hand in the film so as not to draw attention to Malcolm not wearing his wedding ring.
Baby It’s Cold Inside
When living people are in the presence of ghosts, it gets cold, and we see their breath. Shyamalan reportedly didn’t trust the CGI at the time, so he would keep the sets so frigid that we’re seeing actual foggy breath coming from Haley Joel Osment and Olivia Williams.
The Ghost in You
In July of 1990, “Ghost” arrived in theaters. Granted, the stories are very different, but that makes two movies in less than a year that featured great love stories in which the leading man is shot and killed near the beginning of the movie.
Moving Vehicle
As much as I admire Willis’ lead performance and that stop-your-heart ending, I think my favorite scene in the entire film is when Cole and his mother Lynn are in the car, stuck in traffic after an accident, and Cole tells the story about Lynn’s mother hiding in the back at Lynn’s dance recital, and it all hits Lynn like a tsunami: Cole is not a “freak,” Cole really can communicate with the dead, and Lynn’s mother was proud of her every day. Devastating. Brilliant. Haley Joel Osment and Toni Collette deserved their Oscar nominations for that scene alone.
A Twist-y Trio for the Ages
“The Usual Suspects” was released in 1995, “The Sixth Sense” was released in August of 1999 — and “Fight Club” came out just two months after that. If you saw the twists coming in all three of those movies, good on you. What a trio of twist-y classics! They got me each and every time, and I loved it.