“We are glorious! We will no longer be afraid! Only through pain can you achieve your greatness! The impure are the untouched, the unburned, the unslain! Rejoice! The broken are more evolved. Rejoice.”
Split is the story of three teenaged girls, Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy); Claire (Haley Lu Richardson); and Marcia (Jessica Sula) who are kidnapped by a man with 23 personalities named Kevin (James McAvoy). The three try to survive and escape before they meet the mysterious fate some of the personalities have planned for them.
Split is at its core the story of traumatized individuals and their attempts at coping with their pain. McAvoy’s character Kevin is struggling not only with his personality disorder, but the battle for his body between these multiple personalities; some harmless and some….not so much. The motivation for the warring between Kevin’s numerous personalities is rooted in their desire to be protected. The creation of some of the rougher personalities within Kevin are the result of Kevin needing strong protectors and needing to feel empowered due to his past trauma, as theorized by his therapist Dr. Karen Fletcher (Betty Buckley). His plan to kidnap the girls is a sort of grand solution to protect these personalities from the kind of trauma that created them in the first place. The plot line makes you think about the place that pain has in our lives, how it can linger over the course of one’s life and snowball into something bigger, and the power of the human brain/psyche. Are the personalities and their respective physical characteristics things that existed innately within Kevin or did his mind create them as a response to trauma?
As the movie goes on, we discover that the distance and personality traits displayed by Casey also have their roots in pain. The slow reveal of her backstory is well done and not exploitative given the nature of her past. Casey’s story arc is well executed as we begin by being introduced to a girl who doesn’t want to fight to survive her kidnapping become the strongest girl in the group, then use her newfound strength to finally confront the longtime albatross in her life in her last scene in the film (I love the hints at this fight or flight choice placed throughout the movie).
Casey’s backstory isn’t the only surprise as the much talked about surprise reveal in the end scene is a cherry on top of an enjoyable theatrical experience for anyone who remembers director M. Night Shyamalan’s late 90s-early 2000s run. The film is a return to prominence for the director who debuted with a classic film then became synonymous with cinematic disappointment in his subsequent outings. Split is the beginning of a story that has audiences actually anticipating his work again.
McAvoy is incredible in the title role to the point where I felt disappointment that the film was released in so early in the year and not later when Oscar consideration ramps up. The way he deftly handles having to portray 8 different people within one man and the struggle associated with it deserves its props and has vaulted James McAvoy into the Gyllenhall, Gosling, Hardy, Fassbender Best Young Actor conversation. The attention to detail with adding in specific quirks for each personality (of differing ages and sexes) shows an actor dedicated to his craft and talented enough to pull it off. Anya Taylor-Joy continues her ascent to stardom from 2016’s The Witch and Morgan as the female lead here. Her portrayal of a young woman with a tumultuous life that has survived unspeakable trauma forced to summon strength in another fight shows a young actress on the brink of breaking out.
Split’s score composed by West Thordson is also pretty good with the standout being Meeting the Others. The song is very reminiscent of Moby’s classic from Heat, God Moving Over the Face of the Waters.
In sum, Split is an engrossing thriller with great performances from great actors, that also sets up an intriguing universe that hopefully presents us with good followup sequel(s) in the future. McAvoy’s performance alone is worth a home viewing. That it happened in an early year genre film will prevent it from receiving the recognition it deserves.
Image: Universal Pictures
