Psychology technique · used in 5 films
Putting characters in a situation where they must choose between cooperating and betraying each other, and every option has a serious moral cost. Their choice shows who they are.
Examples
Akira Kurosawa · 1963
Gondo's dilemma takes up the entire first act: save his company or pay the ransom for a child he is not responsible for. Kurosawa refuses to make the 'right' choice painless.
Where to see it: The extended argument in Gondo's living room. His executives, his wife and the police all push him toward different decisions.
Christopher Nolan · 2008
The Joker puts explosives on 2 ferries and gives each group the detonator for the other boat. The scene is a live test of his belief that people will choose saving themselves over mercy. The film uses the outcome to prove him wrong.
Where to see it: The ferry sequence in Act 3. Each boat holds the detonator for the other.
Ridley Scott · 2008
Ferris and Salaam each have to choose between honesty and betrayal. Ferris shares information with Salaam against Hoffman's orders, then invents a terrorist identity for an innocent man. Salaam throws Ferris out of Jordan when he feels deceived, and later uses him. Each choice has a cost, and trust costs the most.
Where to see it: The Sadiki frame-up: posing as a Dubai financier, Ferris makes the innocent architect Omar Sadiki look like a terrorist mastermind.
Denis Villeneuve · 2013
Keller decides to imprison and torture Alex, and that copies the logic of the kidnapper he's trying to beat. Every choice he makes (to act, to escalate, to continue) is measured against the person he was before his daughter disappeared. The film never solves the dilemma. It stays inside it.
Where to see it: Keller's escalating confrontations with Alex in the improvised cell. The father ends up in the same position as the criminal he is hunting.
Alex Garland · 2014
A prisoner's dilemma is a situation where 2 people each have to decide whether to trust the other. Every relationship in the film is one. Caleb has to decide whether to trust Ava or Nathan. Ava has to decide whether Caleb can be used or trusted. Nathan knows both of them are scheming against him. Garland sets up each session as a move in a game where at least 1 player doesn't know the rules, or even what game it is.
Where to see it: Ava's sessions with Caleb. Each exchange is a move in a game, and neither of them can check its terms. You can see the dilemma in every pause before someone speaks.
Questions
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