Identity

Question: At the end we discover the kid survived unscathed in the explosion, which makes one believe Ginny survived too. So what happened to her? Did the kid murder her?

Rory O'Flaherty

Chosen answer: If we say Ginny did not survive, we assume two scenarios: 1.) Each key represents the personality that was killed off in Malcolm's psyche. So, all in all 10 personalities have died. 2.) Ginny was the sixth one to be killed. This means that she has key #5 with her - remember that we are counting the killings in descending order. However, it was not shown anywhere in the movie how Ginny was killed by Timmy. So, it can also be said that aside from Timmy (who was seen walking away from the car explosion), Ginny (whose body was never found after the explosion) also remained alive. Ginny's state is inconclusive.

No she does die. At the end of the movie they show her being suffocated by Timmy.

Nope, that's Timmy's mother that's being suffocated.

No. Timmy suffocated his mother in the bed.

That was his mother, not Ginny.

Answer: Since Timmy is the killer here, it would be correct to assume that he blew up the car and took Ginny away during the commotion and killed her in some way that isn't shown in film. Or else blowing up of the car becomes completely pointless and a classic like this won't show a scene that doesn't have a significance. So blowing up the car was actually a part of the plot to kill Ginny.

Question: Could someone please tell me who was actually murdered? I understand that all the characters at the motel were personalities in the mind of Malcolm Rivers, and that the killer was Timmy, who was also one of Rivers' personalities. So if all the people at the motel were not real, why is Rivers about to be executed for murder, and how did the authorities have photos of the murdered people if there were no actual people murdered?

Answer: The actual, "real-life" killings happened before the events shown in the movie and are shown briefly in a flashback. The authorities knew that Malcolm had done it while believing to be one of his alternate personalities, but did not know which one, and had to be convinced that the killer personality was dead before changing his sentence to life imprisonment. Meanwhile, the killings we see in the motel during the movie, are Malcolm killing off his other personas, leaving in fact only - the killer.

Twotall

Answer: Since Timmy is the killer here, it would be correct to assume that he blew up the car and took Ginny away during the commotion and killed her in some way that isn't shown in film. Or else blowing up of the car becomes completely pointless and a classic like this won't show a scene that doesn't have a significance. So blowing up the car was actually a part of the plot to kill Ginny.

Question: When the prisoner is running away from the motel to escape, how does he end up back at the motel again?

Answer: The motel isn't real, and neither are any of the characters in its proximity. They are all aspects of Malcolm's personalities that are being killed off one by one in order to make sure his true murderous personality is vanquished. As such, the session by which Malcolm is being forced to do all this is designed so that all the personalities are stuck within the same place with no chance of leaving, which explains the bad storm, the road obstruction, etc.

Phaneron

Question: I have two questions. 1 - Is the woman who was hit by the car one of the personalities? And 2 - If she is,why did his psych have her hit by a car and still live for a few hours? I assume she is one due to the numbered key she had when she died.

The_Iceman

Chosen answer: She is indeed one of the identities. This is proven, as you said, by the fact that she has a numbered key. To answer your 2nd question the psych doesn't dictate what order and when the identities are killed. That is all played out in the killer's mind. The psych is only forcing them to interact with one another in hopes that Rivers will start killing them off. This is shown in the scene where Cusack tells Amanda Peet that she has to be the one to escape. His identity is certain hers isn't the killer but he is uncertain of which identity is. If the doc was already aware of which identity the killer was, and had control over how fast they died, he could have killed them all in a plane crash and left only the innocent identity alive. Rivers assumes she hangs on a couple of hours and then perishes, and since she is a figment of his imagination she does so.

oddy knocky

Question: When Michael has his flashbacks at the end, shots include a woman being attacked at a payphone and someone being held down on a bed and stabbed. Did I miss these scenes in the movie?

Shay

Chosen answer: First, if you are referring to the big, bald guy who is the host of the personalities, his name is Malcolm. Second, the murders you are referring to are the real murders he committed which he is on trial for.

T Poston

Question: I understands that all the 10 characters at the motel actually exist inside Malcolm's head, and the fact that their date of birth are same (i.e. 10th May) is to support this. My question is: if Malcolm's head was able to come up with 10 different names of the characters, then why wouldn't he come up with 10 different date of birth as well?

L0gical

Chosen answer: The date of birth is significant because that's the day the identities were "born" in his mind. It's not that he couldn't come up with different dates, it's that his child's mind saw them all as being "born" on that day.

Question: What is the significance of the wound and blood we see on the back of Ray Liotta when he takes off his coat for a minute? The camera focuses in, so it is important, but I have never figured that out. It almost seems just where the wound would be where he stabbed the cop who was driving his car.

Answer: It's the cop's clothes. He takes them after killing him so he wouldn't have to settle for wearing his own prison uniform while a fugitive.

Phaneron

Question: In the scene where Amanda Peet loses her shoe, what's the name of the song playing and the band who performs it?

Answer: Foo Fighters - 'All my life'.

Hamster

Question: In the scene where the doctor shows Rivers his real face in the mirror, why is he so shocked? I mean, if Edward is not real, how could Edward know what his own face looks like? (As in John Cusack's face).

dan coakley..

Chosen answer: Because he believes he looks like the John Cusack character. When he looks into the mirror, he sees a completely different face.

lartaker1975

Question: Does the doctor know that there are 3 murderers among Rivers' personalities? he tells Rivers that the killer cannot survive, who's to say it's Timmy that committed the real murders? Ray Liota and his "prisoner" were also murderers.

dan coakley..

Chosen answer: Ray Liotta and his prisoner were not real killers. They were only murderers in Rivers' mind. The journal that Rivers kept in the hand of all his personalities would have given the doctor insight into what Liotta and his prisoner were like in his patient's mind.

oddy knocky

More mistakes in Identity

Rhodes: All right. You want a plan? Everybody want a plan? Here's the plan, okay? No one's gonna move. We're gonna stay here, like this, in this room until dawn. No one leaves, no-one moves. [Aims at Larry] And if he tries anything I'm gonna shoot him! And if there's something out there and it comes in here, I'm gonna shoot it! And if anyone of us tries anything, I'm gonna shoot 'em!
Ed: We get it!
Rhodes: Good.

More quotes from Identity

Trivia: Pruitt Taylor Vince who plays a killer with multiple personalities in this movie had a similar role in an episode of the X-files in which he played a killer with a slight personality problem.

More trivia for Identity

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