THE CELL

'''The Cell''' is a 2000 suspense film written by Mark Protosevich and directed by Tarsem Singh. Its storyline about an experimental mind-technology permits the staging of several stunning surreal sequences very different from most big-budget Hollywood films. The movie was nominated for the Academy Award for Makeup. Some external scenes in the film were shot at the Neurosciences Institute in La Jolla, California.

Contents

Plot

Artistic influences

Box office

Cast

References

External links

Plot

Child psychologist Catherine Deane (Jennifer Lopez) is an expert in an experimental treatment for coma patients. This involves wearing a virtual reality suit and complete sensory immersion within the minds of her patients in order to coax them out of their coma. Here, she can meet and communicate with them in dream-like sequences. The story begins inside a little boy's mind with Catherine, dressed in a white gown riding a black horse, in a desert to meet with him. Catherine attempts to talk to the boy, Edward, whom Catherine calls Mr. E (an obvious allusion to the child's hidden mental troubles which are a "Mystery"). The Boy turns out to be tormented by a "Mokelock" which he'd gotten from Mother Goose that drives the boy away from Catherine, who was trying to get him to go sailing.
Meanwhile, there is a serial killer named Carl Rudolph Stargher, played by Vincent D'Onofrio. He does an extremely disturbing and unusual thing with his victims. Each of them is a beautiful young blond; he captures them and then imprisons them in a glass cell which is then slowly filled with water until they drown (with this being videotaped for his later viewing pleasure). He then takes them out and bleaches their bodies so they resemble dolls, constructs and places a collar around their necks, sexually abuses the bodies, and dumps them in remote locations. Just as the police finally apprehend him, he falls into a coma due to his unusual form of schizophrenia before the police can find out where his latest abductee, and her glass cell, is located. Catherine is contacted by the FBI to venture into Carl's mind to find the answer before the cell fills with water and it is too late. The killer's mind, however, is an extremely strange, abstract, sexual, violent and disturbing place, drastically different from those of her previous patient's. She finds it difficult to stay in the hostile and frightening environment for any considerable length of time. During her repeated attempts to find a way to communicate with Stargher, she realizes that there are basically two separate 'entities' within the man's psyche.
The dominant personality represents the serial killer within Stargher, usually appearing to Catherine as the adult Stargher, but his form is often twisted into a demonic, almost god-like phantasm. He treats her as a lower being, a pet for him to toy with, as he views her as another potential victim. His previous victims are represented by human 'dolls', each placed in a display case and posed in grotesque and highly submissive sexual positions, revealing the extreme perversion of Stargher. The submissive personality takes the form of a frightened little boy, who often lures Catherine into memories from Stargher's childhood. The boy seems interested in helping Catherine, and she too feels an obligation to help set this innocent part of Stargher's mind free from the dark influence of his alter ego. After obtaining enough clues to the final abductee's whereabouts, Catherine attempts to separate the boy from the demonic serial killer ego by inviting him into her own mind. Catherine possesses more power while inside her own mind, and attempts to kill the evil entity. Upon noticing that both the boy and the serial killer receive injuries when one is harmed, she realizes the evil half cannot be killed without also killing the innocent half. In danger of losing control of her own mind to the dark entity, Catherine must make a difficult decision to kill the boy in order to stop the 'infection' of evil.

Artistic influences

The movie is notable for its numerous abstract, artistic and sometimes disturbing scenes, sets, costumes and props which are inspired by several famous works of art. The scene in which a horse is split into sections was inspired by the works of British artist Damien Hirst, whose works were included in the controversial "Sensation" art exhibition. The film also includes scenes based on the work of other late 20th century artists, including Odd Nerdrum, H. R. Giger and the Brothers Quay. Additionally, some scenes appear to be influenced by the style of Floria Sigismondi and French artists Pierre et Gilles.
The animated sequence that Catherine watches on television near the beginning of the film is from ''Fantastic Planet'', a French animated feature from 1973 which tells the story of humans enslaved as pets by giant blue-skinned aliens.

Box office

US box office domestic takings: $61,280,963^[1]

Cast

★ Jennifer Lopez

★ Vince Vaughn

★ Vincent D'Onofrio

★ Jake Weber

★ Dylan Baker

★ Marianne Jean-Baptiste

★ Tara Subkoff

★ Catherine Sutherland

★ Pruitt Taylor Vince

★ Colton James

★ Musetta Vander

★ Jake Thomas

References

1. the-numbers.com, "The Cell" box office data

External links

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