Film Analysis: The Machinist

The Machinist (2004) Director- Brad Anderson

Another of the films we viewed as part of our research into how psychoanalytical theory could be applied to film was The Machinist, which follows Trevor Reznik(Christian Bale) a factory machinist who has been suffering chronic insomnia for the past year and has become severely emaciated because of it. His factory co-workers begin to treat him as the outcast at work due to his alarming appearance and even more so when he in involved with an accident causing a fellow machinist, Miller to lose his arm, Trevor taking the blame for the accident claims he was distracted by a strange worker named Ivan but his employers say there is no record of him working there, to Trevor's disbelief. His only source of peace and comfort seems to be in the arms of Stevie, a prostitute who develops feelings for him and Maria a waitress at an airport cafe where Trevor spends most of his sleepless nights.

Over the course of the film Trevor is haunted by flashes of recurring imagery, and everyday objects seem to become threatening, such as his car cigarette lighter, the time on clocks being at 1.30 and constantly appearing post-it notes with a game of hangman drawn on them. These constant flashes of imagery threaten to send Trevor into state of paranoia. Despite this Trevor tries to establish  relationship with Maria and accompanies her to an amusement park with her son Nicholas, Trevor takes him on a horrific funhouse ride called "Route 666" where the rides shows Trevor disturbing, suggestive images that seem to disgust him and the flashing lights cause Nicholas to suffer an epileptic seizure. After the incident at the amusement park, unable to think clearly anymore Trevor  begins to suspect that all of these circumstances and bizarre events are a collective effort by the people around him to drive him insane, this is fed to him in small clues such as a picture of Ivan and Reynolds a co-worker at the factory that Trevor finds in Ivan's wallet after it was left in a bar, becoming even more alienated Trevor is almost in a similar accident at work to what Miller went through and almost loses his arm, believing his co-workers had set it up he lashes out and is subsequently fired.

 Becoming increasingly distressed Trevor goes to confront Miller believing he tried to set up the accident as an act of revenge, after an argument he is thrown out and sees Ivan driving away from Millers house, Trevor tries to follow him but his car breaks down after a short chase but manages to read his licence plates before Ivan's car disappears. In the hopes of tracing the license plates on Ivan's car he asks at the DMV but is told he cannot request information unless its to report a crime, so Trevor desperately throws himself in front of an oncoming car and returns to the DMV beaten and bloody to ask again, only to be told that the car belonged to him a year previous. After a few more failed confrontation attempts with Ivan, Trevor sees him enter his apartment with Nicholas, believing him to be kidnapped Trevor sneaks in to confront Ivan, With Nicholas nowhere in sight Trevor kills Ivan and drags him out of the apartment. It then cuts to the opening scene of the film with Trevor throwing the body of Ivan who is rolled up in a carpet, off a cliff as someone approaches him, As the carpet unfurls Trevor is horrified as the body of Ivan has disappeared, the voice approaching him turns out to be a very alive Ivan. Back at Trevor's apartment he is staring into a mirror with Ivan behind him repeating to himself "I know who you are", Trevor then remembers the year before, he was driving and was distracted by his cars cigarette lighter and at 1.30pm he ran over and killed a young boy who resembled Nicholas, he drove away and disposed of his car, it seems his guilt was the cause of his insomnia and subsequent weight loss. He then goes to turn himself into the police to report his hit and run, with a now sympathetic Ivan beside him, the film concludes with Trevor in a cell falling to sleep for the first time in a year.

After watching this film I felt quite shocked as the entire lead up to its conclusion was both intriguing and disturbing, the film often gave small narrative clues such as the flashes of imagery like the cigarette lighter, the clocks at 1.30PM and the small post it notes being left in Trevor's apartment, all came together in the conclusion of the film to bring the narrative to a close, explaining why he suffered from insomnia, how he became emaciated and the people who he interacts with. Freud's theories of the id,ego and super ego can be applied to the Machinist as the role of Ivan could be seen as Trevor's id, the repressed part of his personality, he is instinctive and primal and he can't be reasoned with or satisfied, who is created through Trevor's insomnia as he is out of balance and can no longer think rationally, so Ivan was made as a means to act out his desires, Ivan acts like Trevor did, as we see before he hits and kills the child he is dressed exactly like Ivan, so he could be a representation of Trevor's repressed self. Where as the waitress Marie and Nicholas could be seen as Trevor's Super-ego as a means to place guilt on Trevor, and as it is revealed at the end of the film the child he hit and killed with his car resembled Nicholas and the mother resembles Marie, while he never actually knew the two of them, he can interact with them as if he knew them, as they are a manifestation of his guilt over his actions, and may possibly act as a form of repentance as a way to end his insomnia and balance out his life again. The film was constantly offering clues to the narrative, which I found quite interesting as it was enjoyable for me as a viewer to try and piece together the film as it went along only to be shocked by the reveal during the films conclusion, the use of certain imagery and objects was interesting as it helped develop the narrative e.g. the post it notes that Trevor slowly fills in, until they finally spell "Killer" causing a revelation as he remembers the cause of his insomnia and realises his guilt. Overall the film was interesting and was constantly trying to confuse the audience with the enigma of Ivan's character and why Trevor was going through all of the bizarre events that occurred, and also the constant imagery trying to link up the narrative and subtle hints as to what exactly happened to Trevor the year before as the main point of the narrative adds to the mystery of the film.