Warning: this article does contain spoilers for the movie "Split." So if you don’t want to know what happens, then stop reading now. However, please feel free to still share this article, and come back and read it once you’ve seen the movie!
M. Night Shyamalan’s latest creation is about a man named Kevin Wendell Crumb who has a diagnosis of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), also commonly referred to as split- personality disorder. Hence, the title of the movie being Split. It is a sort of sequel to the 2000 movie Unbreakable, however, you don’t have to see it to watch "Split." I’ve seen a lot of reviews and opinions lately about the movie, but I want to take a different approach and analyze the movie in order to review it.
There are so many small details within this movie that it is impossible to go over every single one individually. However, each one ties beautifully into what Crumb’s personalities are trying to accomplish. The theme, in my opinion, is the premise that we are what we believe ourselves to be, which is something repeated by Dr. Fletcher over and over again. Each personality is completely different all the way down to their physical strength. Dennis is the strongest, while Hedwig is a 9-year-old that is overpowered by Casey. It all leads up to the manifestation of the 24th personality: The Beast. As far-fetched as I found the crawling on the walls and impenetrable skin to be, it still made sense for the theme of the movie. If we are what we believe ourselves to be, then the Beast is indestructible because he believes that he is. This movie also seems to be trying to raise awareness about the reality of mental illness. There are people in the world who truly do suffer from not only DID, but also from diagnoses such as depression and anxiety, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and many others. I think that this movie really touches on that fact.
From the very beginning it is made clear that the movie is meant to feel realistic in order to draw the audience in. It opens with Casey being at a birthday lunch for a classmate and she is the pity invitee. So when she gets kidnapped along with her other two classmates, it’s a fluke thing. She wasn’t meant to be there. But the movie continuously flashes back to when Casey was a child in order to allow the audience to understand her role. I’ve seen a lot of people saying that Anya Taylor-Joy’s portrayal of Casey was dim and boring. I strongly disagree; in fact, I found Claire and Marcia’s characters to be dim and boring because of how predictable they were. Casey was taught how to hunt by her father and uncle, and is very disciplined in the skill. It’s those skills that allowed her to survive. It is also made clear that throughout her life she has been sexually abused by her uncle. This abuse has damaged her psychologically and is what gives her the ability to identify with her captor in order to get inside his head. In fact, in one of the final scenes, her last shirt is ripped off, exposing the scars from where she has cut herself. When the Beast sees this, he calls her pure because she is damaged like him, and chooses to spare her life. Her issues are ultimately what saves her. Shyamalan didn’t make these plot decisions for no reason. Casey’s character had to be the way she was in order for her to survive.
James McAvoy played his roles phenomenally. Each personality was so distinct that the audience was even able to tell that Dennis was pretending to be Barry before it was mentioned by Dr. Fletcher. Each character was unique all the way down to minor gestures. Each character even had different speech patterns and specific facial expressions. McAvoy makes you have a completely different feeling toward each personality. Dennis creeps you out and makes you want to cry, while Hedwig makes you laugh and feel sorry for his innocence. Patricia is utterly terrifying with her Mommy Dearest disposition, and Barry is extremely likable and makes the audience empathetic toward him and the other "good" personalities. The ability to be the same actor playing 6 or more roles in one movie is absolutely amazing, and I think McAvoy deserves an Oscar for his performance.
Other than the Beast crawling on walls and swinging from rafters being a little much for me personally, I think this movie was extremely well written and executed. It is clear that the director and actors thought out every single line and movement and how they should be executed to support the purpose of the movie. If you haven’t seen "Split," then I highly recommend it... et cetera. et cetera.
