Mirage

Spoiler alert!

Scientist David fails to recognize Shela. (0:04)

After someone has jumped or fallen to his death from his building, David enters a bar. Another man in the bar says, "There's been a lot of suicide lately." (0:07)

As David rides the subway he sees a New York Post headline that reads "Charles Calvin Apparent Suicide." (0:11)

David watches a television news broadcast in which a reporter asks wealthy peace advocate Calvin's wife, "Did he seem depressed?" (1:19)

David fails to remember a telephone number that was changed almost 2 years earlier. (0:20)

Attempting to file a police report David cannot recall his own telephone number for a detective. (0:23)

Browsing in a bookstore David opens the book to the bibliography page where he sees the name, Broden, Augustus J., M.D., PhD, Clinical Psychiatry. (0:25)

When David enters Dr. Broden's office, Dr. Broden tells him, "You won't find a couch Mr. Stillwell. I'm a consulting psychiatrist, not an analyst." Referring to a colleague he says, "He was a Freudian."
Broden: "What do you want to know?"
David: "Whether or not I'm insane."
Broden: "Insanity is a legal term you understand, not a medical one. If you know the difference between right and wrong the law considers you sane... The only thing that matters in psychiatry Mr. Stillwell is behavior." (0:30)

David acknowledges to Broden that he cannot recall what he was doing two years ago. (0:33)

When Broden orders David out of his office bewildered David asks, "What is this, some sort of a new shock treatment?"
Broden: "There is no such thing as the sort of amnesia you describe... Unconscious amnesia can exist for an hour or two... two years. Impossible... You invent amnesia... trick the police..." (0:34)

David tells Detective Ted, "If I want a psychiatrist, I'll get one with a diploma." (1:05)

Back in Dr. Broden's office David asks him, "What causes amnesia?"
Broden: "A severe shock, Mr. Stillwell... " (1:21)

David discusses Calvin's death and funeral with the widow. (1:28)

David recalls witnessing Calvin accidentally falling out of his office window. (1:42)

Executive Crawford tells David's friend Josephson, "David's intent on committing suicide." (1:45)

amnesia | Bereavement | cognitive arm | Dissociative Amnesia | insane | psychiatrist | suicide