THE CELL

Child psychologist Catherine Deane (Jennifer Lopez) is an expert in an experimental

treatment for coma patients: a virtual reality device that allows her to enter into the minds of
her patients and attempt to coax them into consciousness. When serial killer Carl Rudolph
Stargher (Vincent D'Onofrio) falls into a coma before the FBI can locate his final victim,
Agent Peter Novak (Vince Vaughn) persuades Deane to enter Stargher's mind and discover
the victim's location.[1] Stargher's victim is imprisoned in a cell in the form of a glass
enclosure that is slowly filling with water by means of an automatic timer.
Deane enters Stargher's twisted mind, where she is confronted by both the violent and the
innocent parts of the killer's psyche. The innocent half shows her the abuse he suffered at his
father's hands and the birth of his pathology when he drowned an injured bird as a mercy
killing. Deane attempts to nurture the innocent side of Stargher's mind, but his murderous half
thwarts her at every turn.
Despite Deane's best efforts, she becomes trapped in Stargher's dark dreamscape. Novak
volunteers to enter Stargher's mind and attempts to rescue her. He breaks Deane from
Stargher's hold and discovers clues to the whereabouts of his victim. Novak relates his
revelations to his team and they are able to track down the location of Stargher's victim
(Stargher had been entrusted by a company to take care of an advanced water pump, which he
used to fill the cell with water). Novak discovers Stargher's secret underground room and
saves Stargher's victim just in time. Meanwhile, Deane decides to reverse the process and pull
Stargher's mind into her own. She presents Stargher's innocent side with a paradise, but his
murderous side is always present and manifests as a serpent. This time, however, Deane has
all the power; she attacks the serpent/Stargher but discovers she cannot destroy one half
without killing the other. Stargher's innocent side reminds her of the bird he drowned, and she
kills him to put him out of his misery. She adopts Stargher's dog and successfully uses her
new technique on her other coma patient (Colton James).
Some of the scenes in The Cell are inspired by works of art. A scene in which a horse is split
into sections by falling glass panels was inspired by the works of British artist Damien Hirst.
The film also includes scenes based on the work of other late 20th century artists, including
Odd Nerdrum, H. R. Giger and the Brothers Quay. Tarsem who began his career directing
music videos such as En Vogue's "Hold On" and R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion" drew
upon such imagery for Stargher's dream sequences. In particular, he was influenced by videos
directed by Mark Romanek, such as "Closer" and "The Perfect Drug" by Nine Inch Nails,
"Bedtime Story" by Madonna, and the many videos that Floria Sigismondi directed for
Marilyn Manson. During a scene, Jennifer Lopez falls asleep watching a film; the film is
Fantastic Planet.
In the scene where Catherine talks with Carl while he is "cleaning" his first victim, the
scenery resembles the music video "Losing My Religion" by R.E.M.. The scene where Peter

Novak first enters the mind of Carl Stargher, and is confronted by three females with open
mouths to the sky is based on the painting "Dawn" by Norwegian painter Odd Nerdrum. The
scene when Catherine Deane is chasing Carl through a stone hallway, right before she enters
the room with the horse, is based on a painting by H. R. Giger called "Schacht".
A psychiatrist entering the dreams of an insane patient in order to take control of the dreams
and so to cure the patient's mind (this being a very risky attempt, because the insanity may
prevail during such "neuro-participatory therapy") was described in the novella He Who
Shapes (1965) by Roger Zelazny, but the film Dreamscape (1984), subsequently developed
from Zelazny's basic idea, had a completely different plot.