Screenplay analysis

The Sixth Sense (imdb link)
Screenplay by: M. Night Shyamalan

‘The Sixth Sense’ is about a disillusioned child psychiatrist who needs to come to grips with his failure in the past while he also tries to fix his marriage.

For a different way to describe the movie see the section on structure further down on this page.

Character Introductions (in the order of appearance)

Anna Crowe (Olivia Williams):

LIGHT, QUICK FOOTSTEPS AS ANNA CROWE moves down the stairs.

Anna is the rare combination of beauty and innocence.  She
stands in the chilly basement in an elegant summer dress
that outlines her slender body.  Her gentle eyes move across
the empty room and come to rest on a rack of wine bottles
covering one entire wall.

Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis):

MALCOLM CROWE sits on the floor at the coffee table, his
vest and tie on the sofa behind him.  A jacket and an
overcoat lay on a briefcase next to him.

Malcolm is in his thirties with thick, wavy hair and
striking, intelligent eyes that squint from years of intense
study.  His charming, easy-going smile spreads across his
face.

Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment):

COLE SEAR steps out his front door.  Cole is a munchkin of a
boy with large, black eyes that seem to take in everything
around him.

His hair is dark, with a small patch of jet white on the
side. Cole carefully locks the door behind him.

He moves to the bottom of the stairs and looks around
nervously.

Anxiously.

The eight-year-old child reaches into his pocket and slips
on a pair of VERY LARGE GLASSES.  They look comical on him.

Lynn Sear (Toni Colette):

LYNN SEAR reaches in and pulls out a blouse.

She shakes it in the air and slips it on as she dresses
hurriedly for work.

Lynn is a woman in her late twenties.  One hundred percent
South Philly.  Hair teased. She chews on an early morning
piece of Trident.  Under all of it, Lynn Sear is an
attractive and sweet-looking young woman.

Script Structure

What makes this script interesting is that you can approach it from two very different angles. First I take the one described above:

The movie ‘The Sixth Sense’ is about a disillusioned child psychiatrist who needs to come to grips with his failure in helping a patient in the past while he also tries to fix his marriage.

(work in progress)

 











































































































































































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