IDENTITY

US, 2003, 90 minutes, Colour.
John Cusack, Ray Liotta, Amanda Peet, Alfred Molina, John Hawkes, Clea Du Vall, Rebecca de Mornay, John C. Mc Ginley, Jake Busey, Pruitt Taylor Vince.
Directed by James Mangold.

The dictionary tells us that Identity means one's individual personality. It also means people being the same, identical. It also has psychological overtones of a person's hold on self - identity crisis and so on.

James Mangold made a film about women in an institution for mental illness in 1999, Girl Interrupted. Clearly the topic interested him. But he has taken the patient outside the institution and created a variation on Hitchcock, motels and slasher killers as well as a case study of multiple personality. We hear that Malcolm Rivers (Pruitt Taylor Vince) has killed a number of people at a motel and is to be executed. The film flashes back to the motel on that fateful and fatal night (with continuous rain) and gives us glimpses of the characters and how there is a chain reaction of accidents that gets them into the one place, trapped with floods at each end of the highway.

Once the killings start, the audience has to work hard as to the identity of the killer, especially when the events do not seem to be logical. Mangold has some of the usual types plus some who are quite different in peril at the motel. However, the one anchor of calm is a former LA cop, played with his usual sincere style by John Cusack. Ray Liotta turns up as a tougher cop, with his prisoner, Jake Busey. Amanda Peet is a prostitute who is on her way home to make a new life. There is a self-centred fading actress, a nice family with a rather quiet son, a newlywed couple and a nervy motel manager.

About two thirds into the film, the audience is given information that is new and changes perspectives on what has happened - and there is a final twist that rather undermines faith in psychologists. It is all done with flair, well acted, plenty of suspense and not too gruesome so that audiences who are not into gory thrillers might enjoy it.

1. The impact of the film, psychological drama, murder mystery?

2. The importance of the motel setting, the details of the rooms of the motel, its layout? The motel as a character? The importance of the incessant rain? Light and darkness? The significance of keys? The musical score?

3. The dictionary meaning, individual identity, people being the same and identical, psychological identity? The opening credits and the information given? The poem of the man who wasn't there? It's being reprised at the end? Its explanation of the psychology of Malcolm Rivers?

4. The structure of the film: the credits and the information given, the doctor and the interviews with Malcolm Rivers, the flashbacks, each of the characters being established (with their story going backwards)? The times, the action and the consequences? The people being trapped, the killings? The case and identity? The third act and its emerging that everything was happening in the mind of Malcolm Rivers?

5. Malcolm Rivers, the information about the crime, his voice? The man who wasn't there? The reprise, the lawyers and the doctors considering his case? The immediate execution, the finding of his diary? The midnight hearing, Malcolm Rivers being wheeled in, Ed and his being part of Malcolm Rivers? The doctor, the judge, the lawyers and their various reactions? The plea, the stay of execution from the judge?

6. The situation and the motel: the variety of characters, the personalities, Malcolm creating different facets of himself? The result that the mystery was not logical? The significance of his killing off his various personalities? Ed as dominant? The interplay between Malcolm and Ed, at the interrogation, Ed looking in the mirror and seeing Malcolm? The verdict? The doctor and his identifying Ed as the main killer? Their transferring Malcolm, the irony that the little boy was the major killer, the killer personality? The violence of the ending?

7. Larry, running the motel, his story about Las Vegas, the dead owner, the freezer? His taking over, receiving the guests, allotting the rooms? Scared, being blamed, the condemnation of the group, his being tied up? It emerging that he wasn't the killer, his own violent death?

8. Ed and his driving the actress, her phone calls and attitude, her drinking, her behaviour? The accident, Ed wanting to use the phone? Her going into the best room of the motel, paying the money, wanting to use her mobile phone, going out of the motel, the violence of her death? Her head in the laundromat? Ed and the accident, knocking down George's wife? His expert treatment, his background in the LA Police? His treatment of the actress at the accident? His becoming the hero? Meeting Paris, giving her a lift, driving to get an ambulance, being blocked off by the river at each end? Meeting Lou and Jenny, taking the car? Back at the motel, trying to make contact, Paris's crash and the phone lines down? Rhodes and the criminal arriving? His skill in sewing up the injured woman, the care, his assuming the leadership role, his wisdom?

9. George and his wife, the relationship with Timothy? Timothy playing with the game in the back, George and his precision? The background that George was Timothy's stepfather? The flat tyre, Timothy not coming out of the car, George fixing it, his wife making contact by finger with Timothy on the car window, her stepping back, the accident? Timothy and his refusal to talk? Back at the motel, George's desperation, the sewing up of the wounds, her sleeping well? Coming to consciousness? George, his care? Her death in the bed? George and his being hit by the runaway car?

10. Paris, her work as a prostitute, the man with the cake? Her money, wanting to go back to Florida and start again? Larry and his continued condemnation of her? Her driving, the money, hitting the pole? Getting the lift with Ed? Her caring for Timothy and the woman? Her fears, going to her room? The fright? Her surviving? Her going back to Florida - and appearing in Malcolm's final fantasy, Timothy, her death?

11. Lou and Jeannie, just married, their unwillingness about the phone, their fight, her admitting she wasn't pregnant, having tricked him? Her being upset, locking herself in the bathroom, Lou trying to get in? Her coming out, seeing Lou dead, her scream? Her trying to protect Timothy? Going in the car, the explosion - and their bodies not in the car?

12. Rhodes and the criminal, his police work, tying the criminal to the toilet, his escape, his being suspected of being the murderer, his being found in the cafeteria, being tied up? The violence of his own death? The truth about the two men, the flashback, the two criminals, killing their guard, one assuming the role of the police, the other the criminal? Rhodes and his confrontation of Ed? Death?

13. Ed and his being in charge, sensible young man, police background, driving the actress, caring for the wounded woman, finding the head in the washing machine? The puzzle about everybody having a key near them? The puzzle that all the bodies disappeared, everything was cleaned up? The irony that he was a creation of Malcolm? The assumption of the doctor that he was the killer?

14. The finale in Florida, the death of Paris? The revelation of the truth about the killer personality?

15. How well did the film work as a slasher thriller? As a psychological drama about multiple personality?