The Sixth Sense (1999)

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Overview

The Sixth Sense is directed by M. Night Shyamalan who would later become famous for his movies with a twist ending. The movie stars Bruce Willis as Dr. Malcolm Crowe and Haley Joel Osment as Cole Sear. At the time of its release, The Sixth Sense received critical acclaim from critics and is currently one of four genre movies to be ever be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. The movie went on to gross $672,806,292.

The Sixth Sense follows Dr.Malcolm Crowe, a child psychologist, who attempts to cure a boy named Cole Sear of his mysterious aliment. However he gets more than he bargains for when he discovers Cole's secret.

Creation

The story of the Sixth Sense was inspired by the episode "Tales of the Dream Girl" of the Nick TV series, Are you Afraid of the Dark. After watching the episode, Shyamalan bought the rights to the episode and adapted his own script.

Plot Summary

See this? It won't last long

Dr. Malcolm Crowe is a child psychologist living in Philadelphia with his wife Anna Crowe (Olivia Williams). After Malcolm being honored for his work with children, Anna expresses discontent that Malcolm puts his work everything, including her. Suddenly Malcolm and Anna realize that they are not alone in the house. After looking through the house, they approach a bathroom and are confronted a sobbing half-naked man. The man brandishes a gun and declares that he no longer has to be afraid. Malcolm realizes that the unknown man is none other than Vincent Grey (Donnie Wahlberg), a former patient of his who was suffering from hallucinations. Vincent shoots Malcolm and commits suicide afterward.

Next autumn, Malcolm has a new patient named Cole Sear, a 9-year old boy with a condition similar to Vincent's. Malcolm is helping Cole in an effort to atone for his failure with Vincent, but doubts plague him as to if he could even accomplish this task. To add to his problems, Malcolm is worried that his marriage may end due his increasing attention to his work.

"I see dead people"

Malcolm spends the next few days meeting with Cole. He learns that Cole is a very timid boy who always seems restless and fearful. To Malcolm, Cole seems mentally ill and his viewpoint is reinforced when Cole's teacher informs him that Cole has been drawing people being murdered. However, Malcolm does not know that Cole is able to see spirits, a fact that Cole keeps a secret even from his own mother, Lynn (Toni Collette). This secret that Cole keeps puts a strain on his relationship with his mother. Eventually Malcolm is able to gain Cole's trust and Cole confides to Malcolm that he is able to see spirits. Cole explains describes the spirits as beings that walk the earth, but do not know that they are dead. Cole adds that the spirits cannot see other spirits but rather they see what they want to see. At first Malcolm does not believe the story, but he comes to believe later and he realizes that Vincent and Cole have the same condition. Malcolm suggests that Cole should try to talk to the spirits. At first, Cole is hesitant because he is fearful of the spirits, but he soon decides to try it.

Kyra appears in Cole's bedroom

At home, Cole meets a sickly spirit named Kyra (Mischa Barton) and he attempts to talk to her. He learns where the girl had lived in life and goes to her house during the her funeral reception. At the reception, Cole learns that Kyra had died from an illness and that her younger sister has the same illness. It is there that Kyra appears and shows Cole a videotape, which Cole promptly puts in the vhs player so the whole room could see. It is shown that the stepmother of Kyra had been putting cleaner fluid in the food while she took care of Kyra.

Because of this event Cole gains the confidence to confess his secret to his mother, who does not believe him at first. Cole reveals that Lynn's mother did attend her dance recitals and that she was proud of Lynn every day. Lynn breaks into tears and accepts this as truth because Cole could not have known unless he could speak to the dead.

When Malcolm Crowe returns home, he finds his wife sleeping on the coach. As Malcolm looks at his wife, Anna, a wedding ring drops from her hand. Malcolm realizes that he is not wearing his wedding ring. In a series of flashbacks, Malcolm figures out that he was killed by Vincent and that his time spent with Cole was spent as a spirit. Malcolm walks over to Anna and whispers in her ear that she was never "second" and that he always loved her. This allows Anna to move on with her life. At the same time, Malcolm has finally relinquished all his ties to the living world by completing all his unfinished business. At the end, he was able redeem for his failure to understand Vincent through Cole and he was able to give his wife a peace of mind. Malcolm leaves the world of the living, knowing his wife is no longer burdened and that Cole can now live with the ghosts in his life

Production

Originally the script for the Sixth Sense was owned by Disney. When Disney's David Vogel had read the script, he was immediately drawn by the story. This led him to buy the script despite the high price of 2 million dollars and the condition that Shyamalan would direct the film. The decision outraged Disney executives and David Vogel was removed from his position as President of Walt Disney Pictures. Ultimately Disney sold the script to Spyglass Entertainment and only kept a 12.5% distribution fee.

Critical Reception

The Sixth Sense received positive reviews from critics when released. It currently has an 85% on Rotten Tomatoes and 64 rating on Metacritic. On its opening weekend, the Sixth Sense was able to 26.6 million and spent 5 weeks on top of the box office. The Sixth Sense was able to gather 5 Academy Award nominations, 2 Golden Globe Awards and a Screen Writer's Guild Award. It also appeared on the American Film Institute's 10th Anniversary Edition of the 100 years...100 movies list, a list cataloging the best American movies of all time.