As Cole’s mum leaves the room she says “ you have got an hour” this makes the audience assume that Malcolm and Cole have an hour to talk, but what she really means is Cole has an hour until dinner. The Camera helps deceive us because Cole’s mum turns around as she says, “ you have got an hour” making it look like she’s talking to Malcolm. After Cole’s mum leaves the room Cole and Malcolm play a game, Malcolm says it’s a mind reading game and if he reads Cole’s mind correctly Cole takes a step forward, but if he reads him mind wrong Cole takes a step back, if Cole get to the chair were Malcolm is sitting, he sits down and talks to Malcolm, but if he gets to the door he can go. We don’t think anything unusual about Malcolm getting some of the questions about Cole right because he must know some background information about Cole as part of his job.
We think Cole and Malcolm’s relationship is good and Malcolm is trying to build up Cole’s trusts with him, we think that have a normal Doctor client relationship. Cole says Malcolm is “nice” but he doesn’t think Malcolm can help him, he says “ you cant help me” Malcolm and Cole talk about Cole’s life at school, when his dad left and about Cole’s mum going to see someone like Malcolm but he didn’t help her, and that’s why Cole thinks Malcolm cant help him. Its important we think Cole and Malcolm have a normal Doctor client relationship so that we think Malcolm is a normal Doctor. We now know that Cole can see dead people because when he’s in the hospital with Malcolm he says, “ I can see dead people”. When Cole sees ghosts it is usually dark and it gets cold, it gets cold when the ghosts are angry, we no this because after the school play Cole says to Malcolm “ when they get mad it gets cold “. When Cole talks to Malcolm it doesn’t get cold and u cant see his breath, this shows that Malcolm is not angry and does not no he’s dead, also if it got cold and we could see Cole’s breath when he’s around Malcolm we would no Malcolm was dead half way threw, and we are not meant to find out until the end.
At the begging of the restaurant scene we see Anna sitting down with her back to the camera, and Malcolm walking towards her threw the restaurant, then there is a close up on Malcolm standing right at the table looking directly at Anna, then he sits down and says “ I’m sorry Anna “ she then looks straight ahead at him he’s looking to his right as he talks, there is no eye contact, direct eye contact is made as the camera moves closer, Malcolm straight away after saying sorry to Anna starts talking about Cole, as the camera moves in they again avoid eye contact, there is a close up on Malcolm still talking to Anna about Cole. The camera pans round the weightier buts the cheque on the table, we see Anna and Malcolm both go to grab it Anna takes the cheque quickly making us think she is angry with Malcolm and doesn’t want him to pay for it, as Anna signs the cheque the camera bends behind Malcolm, as it does so Malcolm apologises for the way he has been acting, Anna is mostly looking down signing the cheque and putting her things in her bag, as Malcolm is apologising Anna looks up making people think that she is agreeing with him, but she is really looking up because someone was laughing she looks down sadly again and says “ happy anniversary “.
During the whole scene we do not see them directly talking to each other and having a proper convocation. We think Anna is angry with Malcolm because he was late, and when he comes he just says sorry and then he starts talking about Cole, then he says sorry to her properly. As she leaves she says “ happy anniversary “ in a sarcastic way, this then means Malcolm forgot it was there anniversary what is another reason why Anna would be angry. This would make Anna think that she is second best and that her and Malcolm don’t have a very good relationship. This scene adds to our belief that Malcolm is alive and not dead.
We know Malcolm and Anna don’t talk much because Malcolm is already dead. But the film leads us to believe that they don’t talk much, because Anna is angry with Malcolm because Malcolm was late and Malcolm don’t really no what to say, because he is an a difficult position. Anna doest really talk she just looks down at the ground making it look like she is angry. When Malcolm does talk he just starts talking about Cole and nothing else. The camera makes it look as if they are looking at each other, but they’re not because Anna can’t see Malcolm. Anna sighs after Malcolm is finished talking, this makes up think that Anna is fed up and has had enough.
The two scenes help our belief of Malcolm being alive because, it looks as if Malcolm is interacting with other people and other things, leaving the audience with no reason to doubt Malcolm being alive. It is important that we believe Malcolm is alive other wise, if we knew he was dead from the start most of the scenes would be pointless and would be boring for the audience. At the end of the film we realise Malcolm is dead when we see him talking to Anna, and all the deceptions Cole gave of dead people we see with Malcolm. We see flash back’s of the two scenes and we realise that Malcolm never talked to anyone and that he didn’t interact with anything, and the only person who could see and hear him is Cole.