Split (film)

Three teenage girls - Casey ( Anya Taylor-Joy ), Claire ( Haley Lou Richardson ) and Marsha ( Jessica Sula ) - were kidnapped right from the parking lot by a certain Kevin ( James McAvoy ), who put them to sleep. They come to their senses in a specially equipped basement for them. Then Kevin appears before them, and the girls understand that he suffers from multiple personality disorders - he has 23 of them. Moreover, Kevin’s personality has long been suppressed, and now it is dominated by three personalities - the woman Patricia, who suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Dennis, also suffering from this disorder (he abducted the girls) and 9-year-old boy Hedwig. From Dennis, the girls learn about the existence of a certain 24th personality, who, according to him, is the peak of human evolution, he calls it “The Beast”. Patricia adds that the girls were abducted as “Sacred Food” (she calls it “eating the flesh of wicked virgins”) to awaken this Beast. And from Hedwig they learn with horror that the Beast had already awakened in Kevin, that they were not the first abductees, and that the Beast, according to Hedwig, “did terrible things”. And if Claire and Marsha are very scared, then Casey more or less remains calm and tries to somehow talk to Kevin's personalities so that they help them escape, but all attempts ultimately lead to Dennis locking them all in different rooms.

In parallel, several more storylines unfold in the film. The first is related to Kevin's personal psychiatrist Dr. Fletcher ( Betty Buckley ). It turns out that Kevin had another dominant personality - model and designer Barry, but Dennis and Patricia managed to suppress her. Dennis, pretending to be Barry, went to Fletcher's sessions for some time to try to tell the world about their existence with her help. Although Fletcher discovers a forgery, he is trying to convince Kevin that the Beast does not exist, although she herself admits that physiology can change in people like Kevin during moments of exacerbation. Discussing the case of Kevin with her colleague, she comes to the conclusion that if the Beast appears, then you need to say the full name of Kevin aloud. Then all his 23 personalities will come out, but she has no idea what this will turn out to be. The second storyline consists of Casey’s childhood memories, from which it turns out that since childhood she has been sexually abused by her uncle, who became her guardian after the death of her father.

On the appointed evening, when the Beast is to awaken, Barry, having briefly taken consciousness, calls Fletcher to his home, where Dennis already admits that the Beast is real. It also turns out that Kevin was abused by his mother as a child. Fletcher accidentally discovers the girls, but Dennis puts her to sleep. Then he goes to the local railway station, since the Beast "lives there" - it turns out earlier that Kevin's father, having left his family, left by train. At the appointed moment, he is transformed, becoming physically very strong and hardy. Fletcher comes to his senses and manages to write Kevin’s full name on a piece of paper asking him to be named, but then the Beast appears and kills her, squeezing her arms tightly and breaking her spine. Casey manages to get out of captivity, but Claire and Marsha had already been eaten by the Beast. Casey manages to find Fletcher's note, and she pronounces Kevin's full name. At some point, the Beast transforms into Kevin and it turns out that he has been suppressed for several years by other personalities (the last day he remembers is September 18, 2014). When he sees Fletcher’s body, he understands everything, tells Casey where the shotgun with ammunition lies, and asks him to be killed. Casey takes the gun, but here in Kevin, other personalities begin to wake up, including the Beast himself.

After the chase (during which Casey manages to get into the Beast twice from a gun, but this does not harm him), the Beast pushes Casey into a corner, but then notices scars on her body (left after self-harm caused by psychological traumas from the past) and happily notes that she is "pure." He runs away, and Casey at dawn discovers one of Kevin’s colleagues - it turns out that Casey was in the basement of the Philadelphia Zoo where Kevin worked and lived. Later, when she is sitting in a police car, one of the policemen tells her that her guardian (uncle) came to pick up Casey. She doesn’t answer anything. Meanwhile, hiding in an abandoned building and recovering from injuries, Kevin stands in front of the mirror and conducts a three-voice dialogue on behalf of Patricia, Dennis and Hedwig: collectively controlling Kevin's body, they admire the beast's strength and their plans to change the world.

In a short epilogue at a local diner, visitors watch on TV a report on Kevin’s crimes (nicknamed “The Horde”) and one of the visitors compares Kevin with a certain terrorist in a wheelchair who was arrested 15 years ago. The aged David Dunn ( Bruce Willis ), sitting next to him, calls his nickname “Mr. Glass.”

On August 26, 2015, it was announced that M. Night Shyamalan would shoot the thriller according to his own script ^[3] . He wanted to give the main role to actor Joaquin Phoenix ^[4] , who had previously starred in his films. But the Phoenix turned out to be a busy shooting schedule, and on October 2 it was announced that James Makev was approved for the role of Kevin ^[5] . On October 12, Anya Taylor-Joy , Betty Buckley , Jessica Sula and Haley Lou Richardson joined the picture ^[6] . October 27, it became known that the film was called "Split". It was rented by Universal Studios ^[7] . Initially, in the view of Shyamalan, Kevin was not trimmed. James McAvoy shaved his head for filming in the movie X-Men: Apocalypse and caught the eye of Shyamalan when he was drinking with friends in a bar. Shyamalan, describing Mackavoy as a “drunk skinhead” at that moment, decided that this character was perfect for Kevin.

M. Knight Shyamalan stated that “Split” is his longest film.

Filming process

Filming began on November 11, 2015, took place in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania .

Marketing

The first trailer for the film was released on July 27, 2016 ^[8] .

Sequel

At the end of the film, Bruce Willis appeared in the cameo of David Dunn, the protagonist of Shyamalan's film “ Invulnerable ” (2000). ^[9] Shyamalan subsequently announced plans to produce the third film of the series, in which Dunn and Kevin will meet in a duel ^{[10] [11] [12] [13]} .

On April 26, 2017, M. Knight Shyamalan tweeted that his next work would be both a sequel to the Split and Invulnerable films. Continued called "Glass". In it, the main roles will be played by Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson from “Invulnerable” and James McAvoy and Anya Taylor-Joy from “Split”. The release date for the film in the United States is January 18, 2019 . The genre is a thriller with horror elements ^[14] .

“Split” received mostly positive reviews from critics. On the Rotten Tomatoes website , the film is rated 77% based on 279 reviews with an average rating of 6.5 out of 10 ^[15] . On the Metacritic website , the film has a rating of 62 out of 100 based on 47 critical reviews, which corresponds to the status of “generally positive reviews” ^[16] .

“Split” was released in the United States on January 20, 2017 , collecting $ 14.6 million on the first day and $ 40 million on the first weekend ^[17] . There, the film started better than analysts expected, who in the first 3 days predicted about $ 24 million for it ^[18] . In the United States, Split raised $ 138,291,365. ^[19]

Also, the thriller raised 140,162,993 dollars in world box office ^[20] . General fees - $ 278,454,358. ^[21] . “Split” started in Russia much better than analysts expected, having collected 246.5 million rubles or 4.23 million dollars over the first weekend, thereby setting a record for debut fees among horror films . Previously, this achievement was behind the film “ Destination 5 ”, which in 2011 raised 230.1 million rubles . Also, the start of the movie “Split” was the best in the career of director M. Knight Shyamalan ^{[22] [23]} . For the entire rental period in Russia, the film raised 570.3 million rubles ^[24] .

• Billy Milligan
• Sybil (film, 1976)

• Official movie website
• "Split" on the Internet Movie Database
• "Split" on the Rotten Tomatoes website