THE HAND
US, 1985, 101 minutes, Colour.
Michael Caine, Andrea Marcovicci, Bruce Mc Gill, Viveca Lindfors.
Directed by Oliver Stone.
The Hand was an unsuccessful attempt to update such old classics as The Hands of Orlac and The Beast With Five Fingers. It puts the severed hand with a life of its own into a contemporary context, that of a cartoonist who loses his hand in an accident. And it has a life of its own - or is symbolic of the inner life of the cartoonist? Whichever
way, it wreaks havoc.
Michael Caine is his usual self in the role of the cartoonist. The supporting cast is quite effective but the film overall lacks the impact intended. It was written and directed by Oliver Stone (Midnight Express, Scarface). Stone was then to go on to a celebrated career, especially with his Vietnam films, winning two Oscars for Best Director with Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July.
1. An interesting idea for horror film? Impact? The issues of violence and the psyche?
2. American location photography, the special effects for the hand (by Carlo Rambaldi of E.T. and Dune fame)? The violent sequences? The musical score?
3. The title and its focus on the hand? Audiences identifying with the situation of the cartoonist and his losing his hand? The impact on his personal life, career? The hand and its life, murderous behaviour?
4. Michael Caine's style as John? His success as a cartoonist? The relationship with his wife and its fragmentation? His daughter? The clash, the accident? His taking the accident calmly? The phantom pains, the recuperation, the physiotherapy? The discussions with his agent? His successor and the cartoons? His decision to go to California, his giving lectures, the relationship with Stella, the friendship with Brian? The discovery of his wife's infidelity? The mayhem around him? The visit to the psychiatrist? His own madness? The reality of the hand - or the hand as a symbol of his violent and aggressive psyche?
5. The sketch of Anne as John's wife? Her wanting to be on her own? Clashes with him? The accident? Her coping with it? Her affair? Her visit to California, the separation? Her death? The daughter and her father's love for her, the school in New York, the visit to California, seeing her father seemingly assault her mother?
6. Stella and her place in the course, her seducing John, the liaison, her cooling on the relationship, the outing with Brian? Brian and the talks with John at the bar? Their deaths? The bodies in the back of the car?
7. The police and the investigations? The psychiatrist and the interviews, her calm analysis, trying to show the hand was a figment of John's psyche? The attack of the hand and killing her?
8. The background of contemporary America, families and break-up, self-assertion and development? The atmosphere of New York, the agent, the cartoonist? Californian colleges? Bored students?
9. The violent sequences - the accident, the severing of the hand. the search for it? Its life, its murdering?
10. A good idea for a horror story? The quality of the film's success? The psychological implications of the hand?
