A child psychologist works with a troubled young boy who says he can see dead people. The reveal at the end changes everything you thought you were watching. It's the most precisely built twist film in Hollywood history.
The Sixth Sense is a 1999 drama, mystery and thriller film directed by M. Night Shyamalan. This breakdown covers 4 techniques (1 narrative, 1 psychology, 1 cinematography and 1 sound), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Blade Runner uses several of the same techniques.
Saving a reveal for the climax that changes the meaning of every scene before it. You have to rebuild the whole film in your head with the new knowledge.
How this film uses it
Shyamalan builds the film so every scene makes sense in 2 ways at the same time, 1 you can see and 1 that is hidden. The reveal completes the film that came before it and breaks nothing, because every detail already fit the truth. You have to replay the film you thought you watched and find the other film that was there all along.
Where to see it
Malcolm's realization at home. This is the moment the film's 2 readings line up, and you instantly rethink every earlier scene.
Keeping it unclear what is real and what is imagined in the film's world. You end up as unsure as the main character.
How this film uses it
The film shows Malcolm's reality as continuous and easy to check. He goes places, meets people and has conversations. The reveal shows that part of that reality was made up. What you took for the film's solid, everyday world was haunted the whole time. The film kept that truth from you by controlling very precisely what it showed.
Where to see it
The anniversary dinner scene. Malcolm speaks to Anna and Anna does not respond. After the reveal, you read the scene as something completely different from what it looked like.
Lighting a scene with strong contrast between bright light and deep shadow, a style borrowed from old paintings called chiaroscuro. How lit a character is hints at their moral or mental state.
How this film uses it
Tak Fujimoto's cinematography keeps the film's world consistently underexposed, meaning darker than normal. That leaves pockets of darkness in ordinary homes, and the dead appear in them. The children's spaces are especially shadowed (closets, corners, the space under beds). In this film, light doesn't mean safety. It is just where the living feel comfortable, and those are 2 different things.
Where to see it
Cole's tent in his bedroom. The child sits in the dark with only a flashlight. The image is telling you that light and dark are the only defenses a child has.
Removing music, background sound or dialogue from a moment where most films would fill it. The quiet forces you to sit with what is on screen.
How this film uses it
Shyamalan cuts the music completely before the film's key reveals. When Cole tells Malcolm his secret, the background sound fades away. The silence works like a frame around the moment and tells you to give it your full attention. Over the film, you learn to treat silence as a signal.
Where to see it
Cole's whispered confession from his hospital bed. The silence before and after it leaves the words on their own, with no background sound to soften them.
Questions
The Sixth Sense: quick answers
What filmmaking techniques does The Sixth Sense use?
CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in The Sixth Sense (1999): Retroactive Reframing Revelation, Unreliable Reality, Chiaroscuro Lighting and Strategic Silence.
Who directed The Sixth Sense?
M. Night Shyamalan directed The Sixth Sense, released in 1999. CineCode also covers Split (2017).
What films are similar to The Sixth Sense?
Films that share techniques with The Sixth Sense include Blade Runner (1982), A Beautiful Mind (2001), Shutter Island (2010), Y Tu Mamá También (2001).
