A Commentary : Being John Malkovitch

A Commentary : Being John Malkovitch

Directed by Spike Jonze, this fantastical film speaks to us with the magical voice of the true artist. For this imaginative film is both clever, perspicacious and thought-provoking. Craig Schwarz is a puppeteer and looking for work as a filing clerk. When he turns up at Lestercorp he finds himself on floor 71/2 where 'overheads are low' because this floor was built for a dwarf, the wife of one Captain Mertin, long ago. The symbolism has begun; surely there is the suggestion there is no room for thinkers today. The world or society does not give one enough headroom. Maybe it does not wish or require you to think too deeply. It later transpires Captain Mertin is now in the body of Dr. Lester as this is all about being someone else. This possession if you like is itself a symbol of not being ourselves, not being original, not being satisfied with the people we are.

Soon Craig Schwarz (John Cusack) finds a portal. This portal takes him into the mind of John Malkovitch. It remains a mystery how this can be effected but that seems unimportant for this story is in the realms of fantasy and is in itself pregnant with meaning. Soon Craig's wife Lotte (Cameron Diaz) is interested in going into Malkovitch's mind also and when she does she finds she likes being a man so much that she wants to change sex. She then begins a lesbian affair with Maxine (Catherine Keener) who is John's lover but now hers, as she is in his mind.

A puppeteer manipulates the strings of his puppet. This film is all about manipulation, the nature of our real selfhood, who we are, who really is in control of us. And also of course, the film asks do we have a soul? What is our real animus? It seems it can so easily, seemingly, be overtaken by someone else. After a person has entered John Malkovitch's mind they are brought back to reality by ending up jouncing onto the side of the New Jersey turnpike. Craig even begins to sell tickets to take a turn at enjoying this phenomenon. Surely a wry and satirical comment on the nature of human behaviour. Craig's discovery is something mind-boggling and fantastical yet man only exploits it. It is interesting too that when John Malkovitch goes into his own mind by the portal he sees everybody else as an image of himself.

When Dr. Lester explains what this film is all about to Lotte he has a book with diagrams. It is quite scientific. As Captain Mertin, on finding the portal ninety years ago, he entered the body of who he is now, Dr. Lester. He found by finding a vessel body he could hop from one to another and so live forever. Is this symbolic of reincarnation? A belief feasible to many and not so preposterous. Whatever we may think, Dr. Lester needs to move on and he is wanting to possess John Malkovitch, but Craig Schwarz will not let go. He is in his mind and John Malkovitch is now a puppeteer, so thoroughgoing is Craig's hold on Malkovitch. Lotte eventually loses it and gets a gun. She is out to shoot Maxine as she feels rejected, seeing John and her 'girlfriend' so happy. When Lotte catches up with the pregnant Maxine, Maxine explains it is their child as Lotte was in John's mind at the time of conception.

Seven years later, John Malkovitch we feel is now possessed by Dr. Lester and he is looking for his next vessel body. He takes a visitor to a room in his house full of photos. As Dr. Lester, he had a room showing photos of John Malkovitch. Now in this room there are photos of Maxine's child - a girl. She is to be the next vessel body. So the saga continues. He's gone from Captain Mertin to Dr. Lester to John Malkovitch to, in the future, Maxine's child. It seems a change of sex is possible. That does not daunt him. So, the theory is fantastical. It is an inspired idea but maybe just a film built around the idea of reincarnation, something that happens to everybody in a world full of mystery, secret beliefs and arcane potential. For yes, the world is full of a secret and occult magic and maybe this film is not so far-fetched after all. It is simply a very entertaining way of illuminating and explicating to us, the audience, what lies in store for us all, when we cross that mystical line which takes us from one level of existence to another.