Abstract
For the initiated, the basic plot is unforgettable: A dashing young psychoanalyst (let’s call him M) is reaching the height of his career. Recognized for his brilliance and dedication, M receives adoration verging on celebrity—not least by an important woman in his life (let’s call her Anna). But then the doctor discovers a shocking surprise just outside Anna’s bedroom. M’s life now comes crashing down around him as he sacrifices everything, including his relationship with Anna, to seek the truth: What did plague severely disturbed patients seeking psychoanalytic help? After poring over cases from the archive, M has an astonishing revelation: suffering neurotic patients, with their ghastly tales of violence and abuse, had been haunted not by mere fantasies but by real people. Worse, the devoted doctor famous for healing troubled patients had in fact failed them utterly. The story, notoriously, ends with the abrupt termination of the analyst.
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© 2010 Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock
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Thrailkill, J.F. (2010). Sigmund Freud, Pedophile Priests, and Shyamalan’s Filmic Fairy Tale (The Sixth Sense). In: Weinstock, J.A. (eds) Critical Approaches to the Films of M. Night Shyamalan. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230112094_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230112094_9
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