Review: Split

M. Night Shyamalan has been slowly but surely working his way back from the critical and commercial disappointments that have plagued him since the terrific one-two punch of The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable established him as the auteur du jour nearly two decades ago. Whilst not necessarily one of his better offerings, his latest film, the horror-thriller Split, should build on the goodwill he earned for 2015's surprise hit, The Visit.

The film begins with the kidnapping of three girls in broad daylight. Two of the girls, Claire (Haley Lu Richardson) and Marcia (Jessica Sula), are good friends whilst the third, Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy), is an outsider who, as suggested by the flashbacks to her childhood, may have steel beneath her calm demeanour. The trio wake up in a windowless room and are welcomed by their captor.

Or is it captors? There may be one man standing before them but within him are 23 personalities, with a potential 24th that may be the most dangerous of all. As the film listens in on the girls' captor's sessions with his psychiatrist Dr. Fletcher (Betty Buckley), it is revealed that the man is afflicted with DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder) and that his dominant personality, Barry, is under attack from his more troubled personalities, mainly Dennis and Patricia, who are responsible for the girls' abduction and who drop more than subtle hints to the girls that they are to be offerings to a burgeoning personality named the Beast.

There's talk of how people with DID, most of whom have birthed their various personalities as a safeguard from past traumas, may be blessed with some form of supernatural powers. "Have these individuals, through their suffering, unlocked the potential of the brain?" Dr. Fletcher posits. "Is this the ultimate doorway to all things we call unknown. Is this where our sense of the supernatural comes from?" It's an interesting premise that Shyamalan plays with here, and many may find it even more so once the director reveals his ultimate end game, though it's slightly fumbled by placing it within such a lurid and often exploitative framework.

Nevertheless, Shyamalan keeps audiences guessing and pulls off many a suspenseful scene with ease, even if the script's often clunky coincidences and expositions threaten to undermine his efforts. The main (and arguably only) attraction though is James McAvoy, who is simply outstanding as Barry and Dennis and Patricia and...whatever other personality decides to "enter the light." There's one particularly astonishing scene when he cycles through about half a dozen characters within a handful of minutes, the camera never leaving his face, each transformation so complete and convincing that one almost wants to stand up and applaud.

Split

Directed by: M. Night Shyamalan

Written by: M. Night Shyamalan

Starring: James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy, Betty Buckley, Haley Lu Richardson, Jessica Sula, Brad William Henke