Lucid and The Machinist: Prototypes of the Psychotraumatic Thriller?

Universität Mannheim
Anglistisches Seminar
Landeskunde UK:
Filmfestival Mannheim Heidelberg
Pete Stear
Herbstsemester 2006

Lucid and The Machinist:
Prototypes of the Psychotraumatic Thriller?

Term Paper

by

Lydia Gaukler

6. Semester Diplom-Anglistik mit wirtschaftswissenschaftlicher Qualifikation
Mannheim, den 28. Februar 2007

Content  I

1. Introduction  1

2. The Plots  2
2.1. Lucid  2
2.2. The Machinist  4

3. The characters  5
3.1. The character of Joel Rothman  6
3.2. The character of Trevor Reznik  8

4. The genre of the psychotraumatic thriller  10

5. Films and mental illness  12

6. Analysis  14
6.1. The Machinist as a prototypical psychotraumatic thriller?  15
6.2. Lucid as a prototypical psychotraumatic thriller?  16

7. Conclusion  17

Bibliography  18

“The Machinist is one of those classic stories in which a man goes out on a quest to solve a troubling mystery that ultimately leads right back to himself.”¹

“Lucid tells the enticing tale of one man’s search for redemption in the eyes of his nineyearold daughter, and in the minds of three psychotherapy patients.“²

1. Introduction 

It is common ground that films offer a richness and an intensity that cannot be found in any other medium.³ The unique combination of visual and acoustic elements; the working together of language, gesture, mimic and music; of images and sound, offer an impressive account of reality. Wedding explains: “With the best films, the viewer experiences a sort of dissociative state in which ordinary existence is temporarily suspended. No other art form pervades the consciousness of the individual experiencing it to the same extent and with such power.”⁴ Of course one may argue that some literary works can have the same absorbing effect, still the medium film is undoubtedly a very powerful one when it comes to captivating people’s attention. Films “have become a pervasive and omnipresent part of our society with little conscious awareness of the profound influence the medium may be exerting”⁵.

One extremely widespread and popular genre is the thriller and its subgenres. Ranging from spy, gangster and science-fiction films to horror films, splatters and stalkers, there is hardly any film that has not been labelled a thriller. A relatively new development within the thriller is the topic of mental illness and psychopathology. Two recent examples are The Machinist by Brad Anderson and Lucid by Sean Garrity. In both films, the directors concern themselves with trauma and its impact on the psyche of the respective protagonists.

In his book ‘The Suspense Thriller’, Derry outlines a new thriller subgenre: the psychotraumatic thriller. I shall like to discuss whether Lucid and The Machinist may or may not be subsumed under this label.

In the following, I will first outline the plots of the two films. Then I shall want to concentrate on the acute and post-traumatic stress disorder of the main protagonists. After that, I shall have a look at the thriller genre in general and at the posttraumatic thriller genre in particular. Touching briefly on the question why films are especially well suited to depict psychopathological films and what possibilities directors have to portray mental illness, I shall like to continue with Derry’s eight-part formula of the psychotraumatic thriller. As we will see, the preoccupation with trauma in a film is not enough for the film to be part of this category. Last, I like to finish with a discussion whether The Machinist and Lucid may be seen as representative films of the psychotraumatic thriller. I will come to the conclusion that – in contrast to Lucid – The Machinist is a prototype of the above mentioned subgenre, for several reasons which I shall point out in due course.

2. The Plots 

2.1. Lucid 

Set in Winnipeg, Lucid tells the story of its main protagonist Joel Rothman, a 32- year-old psychologist, who is left by his wife Marissa after being caught in bed with another woman. He is plagued by insomnia, which affects not only his private, but also his professional life: Growing increasingly dizzy and unable to concentrate, he has difficulties in coping with his job, which is why his boss wants him suspended and to move back to Gimli. Joel′s patients are contributing nothing to simplify his life: They are suffering from various extreme symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Chandra Mergulhao is a timid woman with low self-esteem, who is spending her time with nursing her comatose – non-existent – sister. Having diagnosed herself with post-traumatic stress disorder, she now forms theories that the entire city is shrinking and converging in a certain point. Sophie Winters is a suicidal drug addict, who – after several suicidal attempts have failed – has come to believe that she is immortal. Victor Koblinsky is violent and unpredictable in his actions and shows signs of extreme paranoia. Frustrated and angry after the breakdown of his family, he now believes in a government conspiracy against him led by a person named Dave Walker. As the therapy progresses, the three patients not only start to share their delusions, but also to believe that their hallucinations are real. They are haunted by socalled „repeaters", versions of themselves which appear everywhere. While his patients are getting worse, Joel fills his sleepless nights by drawing sheep on the wall, dedicating himself to help his patients by going through their files at night and repeatedly listening to his wife’s last message on his answering machine.

[....]

1 Brad Anderson. Interview. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/machinist/about.php – 19.02.2007.

2 Sean Garrity. Production notes. http://www.Lucidthemovie.com/frames.aspx – 26.02.2007.

3 See Wedding / Boyd / Niemiec (2005): p.2.

4 Wedding / Boyd / Niemiec (2005): p.1.

5 Wedding / Boyd / Niemiec (2005): p.1.