The Machinist is a psychological thriller movie directed by
Brad Anderson, written & screenplay by Scott Kosar & produced by Julio
Fernández, Castelao Productions, Filmax International. The movie stars
Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Aitana Sanchez-Gijon, Michael Ironside, John
Sharian & various other actors. It released on 18 January 2004.
The protagonist is Trevor Reznik played by Christian Bale. The
movie is a suspenseful psychological thriller with many twists & turns.
Psychoanalysis of Christian Bale’s character as Trevor Reznik: - Trevor is a machinist at the
National Corporation. He is single & lives in Mrs. Shrike’s house on rent. He
hardly eats, smokes cigarettes. His quality of life is poor. He pastes post-it
notes that are somewhat cryptic on his refrigerator to remind him of things or
events.
Trevor Reznik is living with extreme guilt as he had
accidently dashed a young boy named Nicholas while driving a red coloured car.
After the accident he looks at the boy & sees the boy’s mother (Aitana
Sanchez-Gijon) running towards her collapsed son. He is shocked & drives away
in fear of getting punished rather than attempting to save Nicholas. Ever since
the accident Trevor lives in denial, & has repressed that accident.
He works with heavy machines in a factory. He is a loner at
his work place & doesn’t have peace at home. He loves a hooker woman named
Stevie (Jennifer Jason Leigh) & spends his money on her. After work a colleague
asks him to join for card game but he refuses it with some other plan. Another
colleague tells “You may not realize this, but some men prefer the company of
women.” Trevor is a spendthrift when he is with women as he travels to eat at an
airport restaurant (where food is relatively expensive) rather than any nearby
restaurant. In the airport restaurant he interacts only with Marie (Aitana
Sanchez-Gijon) a night waitress. He even gives her big tips. It looks like
having something at the airport restaurant isn’t his main intention but his main
intention is to spend some time with Marie. Below is Trevor’s conversation with
Marie at the airport restaurant.
Marie: Ever hear of
pumpkin pie?
Trevor: Nope.
Marie: Trevor?
Trevor: Yeah?
Marie: Can I ask you a
question?
Trevor: Sure.
Marie: Why do you go
out of your way to come here every night?
Trevor: Is it out of
the way?
Marie: An airport? For
coffee & pie?
Trevor: Suppose I went
to Denny's. Suddenly I get an overwhelming urge to skip town. Could I do that
at just any diner?
Marie: Is someone
chasing you?
Trevor: Not yet. But
they will when they find out who I am.
Marie: Oh, really? Who
are you?
Trevor: Can you keep a
secret?
Marie: To the grave.
Trevor: I'm Elvis
Presley. I ran away from home to pursue my blue collar aspirations.
Marie: I thought you
looked familiar..
These above conversation infers that Trevor enjoys women’s
company & is also at peace when he is with them as he looks calm & reveals
his tender side but in reality he’s very emaciated & depressed.
Post-it notes & hallucination: Trevor has a habit of pasting post-it notes on
his refrigerator to remind him of things or events. The note changes to
something that he didn’t write & it begins to symbolise his memory about
the hit & run accident that he had repressed. In reality the notes were
hallucination due to his superego to remind him that he’s a killer.
At times Trevor seems to see a man named Ivan (John Sharian) at
different places like outside his work place, in his work place, in a bar, at
his home etc. One day Trevor gets paired to work with a colleague named Miller
(Michael Ironside). Trevor sees Ivan & gets distracted. It results in a
serious accident & Miller’s hand gets cut in a machine. To prove that he’s
innocent, Trevor explains to his boss by telling that the accident happened due
to Ivan’s distraction. However Trevor’s boss doesn’t accept it & tells Trevor
that nobody named Ivan works in the factory. Below is the conversation that had
happened.
Machine officer: These
accidents are never pretty, Mr. Reznik. It's our job to investigate these
events from every possible angle, so that we might prevent their recurrence. So
we'd appreciated it if you would be a bit more cooperative.
Trevor: I knocked into
the activator. By mistake.
Machine officer: What
caused the mistake, Mr. Reznik?
Trevor: I was
distracted.
Machine officer: By
what? What "distracted" you?
Trevor: It was lvan. I
was watching lvan in the pit. The whole thing was my fault. Okay?
Furman: Who did you
say?
Trevor: The new arc
welder. I don't know his last name.
Furman: What new arc
welder?
Trevor: Ivan. The guy
from the swing-shift. Reynolds was picked up on a warrant & this guy took
his place.
Tucker: What are you
talking about, Reznik? Reynolds is right over there in the pit, as usual.
Furman: There is no
"lvan" at National Machining, Reznik.
A significant scene in the movie: In one scene, Trevor is speaking on
phone next to a novel “The Idiot – Dostoyevsky”. It’s a noteworthy scene &
it infers that the novel may have inspired Trevor to some extent.
Poor reality test: While spending time
at Stevie’s house he sees a photograph in which he’s with his friend & big
fish that they had caught. He isn’t able to see himself in the photo. Trevor’s
delusion & paranoia makes him strongly believe that Ivan is in the photo
instead of him. It makes him further believe that Ivan was Stevie’s ex-boyfriend
& Stevie still loves Ivan, that’s why she has kept Ivan’s photo in her
house. He suspects that Stevie & Ivan have a truce & they’ve been conspiring
to harm him. He confronts Stevie about the photograph. Stevie explains to
Trevor that there is no Ivan in the photograph & Trevor is in the
photograph however Trevor doesn’t believe Stevie. Trevor forgets that some
moments ago Stevie took his care as he was badly hurt. He strongly thinks that
Stevie is fooling & cheating on him hence he abuses her. Their argument
agitates Stevie & she isn’t able to tolerate Trevor’s nonsense &
profanity anymore. Stevie realises that Trevor isn’t a normal man but a Psycho
& hence throws Trevor out of her house. The defence mechanism used by
Trevor here was projection.
Some moments before the movie’s end one can come to know that
even Marie & Nicholas were the characters of Trevor’s imagination. After an
argument with Stevie Trevor goes to the airport restaurant again to spend some
time with Marie. Below is the conversation that happens when Trevor reaches the
airport restaurant.
Trevor: Where is Maria?
Waitress: Who?
Trevor: You know who.
Maria. My waitress.
Waitress: My! You're
chatty tonight. Darling, I'm your waitress.
Trevor: What's going on
here? I've never seen you before.
Waitress: What are you
talking about? You come in here every night, sitting on that same stool,
staring at your coffee. To be honest, I was starting to think you were a mute.
Trevor: I want to see
Maria.
Waitress: Mister. There
is no Maria that works here.
This infers that Trevor used to visit the airport restaurant
& used to imagine communicating with Marie. Trevor felt guilty of harming
Nicholas & not helping Marie when she ran to save her son after Trevor
dashed his car to Nicholas. As he had ignored to help Marie, Trevor’s mind
created Marie a woman working at an airport restaurant. The guilt of ignoring
Marie made him visit the airport restaurant & be compassionate to her &
her son Nicholas. He even used to leave big tips for Marie & took them to
an amusement park on mother’s day. The defence mechanism used by Trevor here
was undoing.
Trevor was affectionate to Marie’s son Nicholas & he
thinks that Ivan kidnapped Nicholas. Already in rage as Trevor felt that Ivan
had followed him many times, created big troubles like an accident in his
factory that led to his colleague Miller lose his arm, Trevor lost his job due
to Ivan & Trevor even believed that Ivan collaborated with Stevie & they
both were conspiring against him, he confronts Ivan & eventually kills him but
later finds that Ivan had never kidnapped Nicholas.
Obsessive compulsive disorder: Trevor’s guilt had caused tremendous
conflict in his mind & that has caused psychological problems like Obsessive
compulsive disorder, (compulsive cleaning). To clean his hands he prefers to
wash them with bleach. In my opinion Trevor’s mind is full of guilt & he
wants to clean it but doesn’t know how. To clean is one of his main agendas
& whenever he is in stress or feels anxious or guilty he keeps cleaning his
hands & bathroom tiles with bleach as these are some things he can clean.
He has been shown cleaning his hands with bleach whenever he feels guilty for
example after his friend Miller lost his arm due to his Mistake, when he loses
his job, after killing Ivan, etc. The defence mechanism he uses here is
displacement as he’s eliminating his negative energy by doing something similar
i.e. clean.
Chronic insomnia: He claims to Stevie to have not slept for a year, or maybe
he may have slept little & forgot it. Below is a conversation that infers
it.
Stevie: What's wrong?
Trevor: I just want to
lie here.
Stevie: You could fall
asleep if you want. Off the meter.
Trevor: That's the
problem. I can't sleep. Nothing helps.
Stevie: Don't worry
about it, honey. Everyone gets insomnia now & then.
Trevor: Stevie, I
haven't slept in a year.
Paranoid personality disorder: He suspects that Tucker who works
in the corporation dislikes him & has devised a plot against him. He even
felt that Miller influenced his friends to take revenge against him by powering
the machine that got him nearly killed. He even feels that Reynolds is causing
problems. He also suspected that his girlfriend Stevie collaborated with Ivan
& was cheating on him. After suspecting many he gets a feeling that Ivan is
responsible for all the problems & harm that happened to him.
Visual & auditory hallucinations: Speaking with Ivan seeing Ivan at
different occasions, killing Ivan, spending time with Marie & her young son
Nicholas).
Deep dark depression: He looks very depressed, doesn’t eat well, doesn’t
socialise.
Dissociative disorder: He doesn’t remember his car’s number. He doesn’t recognise
the waitress at the airport restaurant who served him many times. Clock time
always 1:30 Whenever wherever Trevor sees any clock i.e. in the airport
restaurant, Marie’s house, etc. he finds the time to be 1:30. He never takes
the clock time seriously but he sees 1:30 always as seconds before dashing his
car to Nicholas he had seen his car clock’s time & it was 1:30.
Self harm: His psychological traumatic pain made him tremendously anxious &
thus to know about a car owner which he suspects is Ivan, he doesn’t hesitate
to harm himself by running in front of a random running car as without harming
self the police won’t give him any information about the car’s owner. This
infers that he his psychological pain is so high that his mind won’t give any
attention to his physical pain caused due to a car accident thus he doesn’t
hesitate to self harm.
The psychological problems affected his physical health. He
is dauntingly skinny. His poor health was a concern amongst his work colleagues
& they felt that Trevor needed some medical help. Trevor’s abnormal weight
also made his work colleagues suspect that Trevor consumes illicit drugs. Below
is the conversation that infers this.
Furman: Frankly, I'm
concerned about you.
Trevor: I've had a lot
on my mind lately.
Furman: Anything we
could help with?
Trevor: No. Thanks.
There's nothing I can't handle.
Furman: Want to see the
doctor?
Trevor: That's not
necessary. I'm fine. Really.
Tucker: Are you doing
drugs, Reznik?
People who encounter him ask him if there’s anything wrong
but he doesn’t say anything.
Trevor’s girlfriend Stevie says “If you were any thinner, you
wouldn't exist.” Strong self-respect or muscular fatigue has made him too tired
to eat or his strong superego prevents him from taking Stevie’s help, below is
the conversation that infers it.
Stevie: Trevor? You
still got a half-hour. I could fix you some eggs.
Trevor: I'm tired. But
thanks.
Trevor not just appears to be tired to eat but also to make
love with Stevie or maybe his superego prevents him from making love with
Stevie. Below is the conversation that infers it.
Stevie: We could do
that.
Trevor: I'm so tired.
Anorexia nervosa: In the movie’s end we see a healthy Trevor driving a car
& accidently dashing a young boy while he was lighting a cigarette to
smoke. Maybe Trevor felt very guilty after the tragic incident & decided to
punish self by abstaining from eating healthily. He doesn’t have proper meals
& lives on black coffee & pie. The waitress who serves Trevor coffee requests
Trevor to eat some more pie & Trevor feels that she is trying to fatten him
up. This infers that he constantly keeps a tab on his weight. Even at home he looks
at his body in a mirror. It infers obsessive tracking of his weight. One can
draw conclusions of some weight or food related disorder i.e. Anorexia nervosa.
Déjà vu scenes:
Stevie asks Trevor “You okay?” Trevor replies “Don’t I look
okay?, Stevie then says “If you were any thinner you wouldn't exist.” An exact
conversation happens when Trevor is with Marie at an airport restaurant. Marie
asks Trevor “You okay?” Trevor replies “Don’t I look okay?” Marie then asks
Trevor “If you were any thinner you wouldn't exist.”
In another scene Trevor spends Mother’s Day with Marie &
her young son (Nicholas) at an amusement park. He snaps a photo of them &
it triggers a déjà vu memory: He recalls a photo taken in exactly the same spot
years ago of his mother & himself as a child.
Id, Ego & Superego: Ego tries to maintain a healthy balance between Id &
Superego. Trevor’s ego tries to create a balance between his conscious &
unconscious. Here Ivan is his superego. Ivan keeps reminding him about the hit
& run accident.
Trevor: What have you
done with Nicholas?
Ivan: What have I done
with Nicholas?
Trevor: Nicholas?
Ivan: He can't hear you
now, pal. Come off it. You know he's dead. You ought to see someone about that
faulty memory of yours, pal. Might make your life a little easier.
Thus Trevor's superego keeps dominating his ego & he feels
troubled. To overpower his superego his ego makes him kills Ivan. After killing
Ivan he rolls Ivan’s dead body in a carpet to dump him in a sea. However while
unrolling the carpet he finds the carpet empty. Ivan reappears as he’s seen
holding a torch. Thus his ego fails to overcome his superego.
In ending scene we can see Trevor driving a car & Ivan
sitting next to him. It seems like Ivan persuaded Trevor to confess the hit
& run accident. Thus Trevor’s superego eventually makes him realise that
he’s a killer, something significant that Trevor had repressed for a long time.
Trevor reaches the police station & reports the hit & run accident.
Defence mechanism: The defence mechanisms that Trevor showed were denial, displacement,
dissociation, projection, repression. The defence mechanisms were due to his
struggle being in a disequilibrium condition. He struggled in that
disequilibrium condition due to his mental conflict, many anxieties &
psychological problems. All the defence mechanisms Trevor used were primitive. He
comes to equilibrium as his superego makes him come to consciousness & he
confesses his crime. This resolves his mental conflict & he wishes to
sleep.
It’s true that he ran away from the accident scene to escape
punishment. However he was destined to suffer in some way thus his superego tortured
him much more than the law ever could. Thus “A little guilt goes a long way”
Some incidents of my life similar to this movie
Till 12 years of age I was a mediocre non-vegetarian. I with
my family went on a summer vacation me to Haridwar
in state of Uttarakhand in India. The
temperature was cold & I felt like eating meat to keep my body warm however
I wasn’t able to find non-vegetarian restaurants as Haridwar is a spiritual place. I was curious to know how the people
lived without eating non-vegetarian food in a cold place. I spoke to some
saints & sages & learnt about the pain an animal goes through when it’s
killed & cooked for humans. I felt that we humans are the most evolved
amongst all species & can’t tolerate pain of physical hurt, pain of losing
a family member, etc & animals may also be feeling the same or they may be
feeling more pain as their brain isn’t so enhanced like ours. I was horrified
to read more about the pain & suffering an animal or bird goes through when
another animal or bird is killed in front of it. I felt guilty to have eaten the
dead innocent animal’s & bird’s meat for around 8 years of my life. That
guilt made me punish self. I became a vegetarian & started eating less
food. I wasn’t concerned about losing weight & lost a lot of body mass. My
school & college were a bit far from my house but I preferred to walk
rather than using transport to punish for the wrongdoing as I was somewhat
responsible for many animals that were killed & cooked. This went on till I
turned 18.
I was 19 years old & was studying Pharmacy I was required
to kill frogs to test drugs on their heart. I reluctantly killed some frogs as
it was a part of my course. I felt very horrible & hence didn’t do my
Bachelors in Pharmacy as I felt that I’ll be forced to kill more animals &
studied Psychology instead. The guilt of killing frogs left me in a deep dark
depression. For some days I didn’t eat anything. As I was depressed I used to
walk a lot & walking helped me vent my frustration. Long walks everyday
having less food daily made me very lean.
Just like some people in the movie suspect Trevor of taking
drugs, some of my friends suspected me of taking drugs as I had lost a lot of
weight. Trevor’s friend asks Trevor if he requires medical help & a friend
of mine had also asked me the same. Trevor’s girlfriend Stevie asks Trevor to
eat & Trevor replies that he’s tired. Something similar had happened to me
a female friend used to ask me to eat & I used to reply, “I’m too tired to
eat.”
For some time I weighed only around 50 kilos only, which is
too less for a person of 180 cm height. Eventually I realised that this isn’t
the right way to deal with my past wrongdoing & I thought of some other
defence mechanism like altruism & sublimation. I decided to help atleast 3
people every week or devote 2 hours per week for others. I stopped thinking about
my past & spent time in something productive.
In the movie Trevor suffers from Paranoia & I suffer from
Anthropophobia. Trevor is highly introverted & so I am. Trevor suffered
from chronic Insomnia & even I suffered from Insomnia but only for some
weeks. Just like Trevor used to paste reminder notes on his refrigerator I used
to paste reminder notes on my refrigerator.
In year 2006 I suffered from knee pain for a long time,
luckily it got cured after a long treatment. Again in the end of year 2011 I
started suffering from knee pain. Unfortunately this time many doctors weren’t
able to diagnose its cause as X-ray & CT scan didn’t show any abnormality.
Some doctors & my friends felt that the knee pain is due to some
psychosomatic problems but as I was studying Psychology that time I knew that
it wasn’t psychosomatic. Even my parents didn’t believe me & felt that I
was lying to them. As many people kept telling me that this disorder is
psychosomatic I decided to know whether it’s true. I started to enjoy &
party as I felt that if I’ll be happy & tension free I won’t feel any pain.
I went to many discos & pubs but didn’t enjoy anything there. I even
started taking antidepressant drugs but didn’t find any benefit. Eventually I
started visiting dance bars & enjoyed the company of some bar girls. I even
fell in love with a bar girl just like Trevor gets into a relationship with a
hooker. Trevor enjoyed women’s company & was also at peace when he is with
them as he looked calm & revealed his tender side but in reality he was emaciated
& depressed. Similarly I enjoyed women’s company as they weren’t aggressive.
They listen & don’t jump to conclusions & drop a solution bomb. I felt
peaceful & serene whenever I spent time with any woman & made them
laugh, showed compassion, even when I was tensed due to my knee pain. Just like
Trevor got solace by being with Stevie even I got solace by spending time with
a bar girl & seeing her dance. Just like Trevor spent money on Stevie. I
spent a lot of money on her. Just like Stevie gave Trevor unconditional
affection & love. I got unconditional affection & love from her. I was
always happy with her but still my knee pained. I realised that my problem wasn’t
psychosomatic. Just like Trevor’s relationship with Stevie broke due to a bald
man Ivan, even my relationship with that girl broke due to a bald man.
Just like Trevor used to visit an airport restaurant to have
coffee & pie & left tips, even I used to visit an airport to have anything
& left tips.
N.B. If you’re below 19 years old then I would recommend you
to not watch this movie as it contains profane words, ugly scenes, & the
story is a bit painful as it deals with a man suffering.
References: -
1. Kosar, Scott. The Machinist. English. Directed by Scott
Kosar. Produced by Julio Fernández, Antonia Nava Carlos Fernández. Performed by
Christian Bale. Paramount Vantage, 2004.
2. American
Psychiatric Association: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,
Fourth Edition, Text Revision. Washington, DC, American Psychiatric
Association, 2000.