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80 Daniel Barrattof the mise-en-scène: namely, the frosted glass of the shower door. WhenMalcolm discovers a bottle of anti-depressants in the bathroom cabinet,his concern for Anna is signaled through facial expressions and a shift inthe music track. Through the process of schematic construction, it is morelikely that we will interpret these two ambiguous episodes as specificsymptoms of a deteriorating marriage, and less likely that we will interpretthem as consequences of the death of a spouse: Sean is regarded as aromantic rival to Malcolm (not a potential replacement for the deceasedMalcolm), while Anna is seen to be depressed at the state of her relationshipwith Malcolm (not at the death of Malcolm and her life as a widow).After Cole is taken to hospital following the traumatic incident atthe birthday party, we witness one brief scene in which Malcolm and Lynnappear together (11). Lynn is interrogated by a young doctor about thecuts and bruises on Cole’s body (Shyamalan’s cameo role). Given that thedoctor–parent schema is also successfully activated, Shyamalan does notneed to present a clear shot which establishes that Malcolm is also present.Once again, stylistic strategies come to the fore. When the doctor insinuatesthat Lynn has been abusing Cole, Malcolm’s presence – and his reactionof disgust – is communicated to us by means of two cutaway reaction shots,thus maintaining the visual, if not the spatial, separation of the characters.The central scene of The Sixth Sense is the revelatory sequence in thehospital (12). In this sequence, the primary and secondary storylines arecorroborated, elaborated, and connected, the secondary storyline effectivelyproviding the motivation for the primary one. To begin with, Malcolm revealsthe cause of his sadness: he is preoccupied with his failure to help VincentGray and this preoccupation has caused him to become a stranger to hiswife. The crucial connection is that Malcolm hopes that he will be able tomake amends, with respect to both Anna and Gray, by helping Cole. Inreturn, Cole reveals the cause of his anxiety: he can see “dead people,” deadpeople who “don’t know they’re dead” and who “walk around like regularpeople” (Figure 3.10). After both of these revelations, our cognitive andour affective concerns become more focused. For instance, the question“What is the cause of Cole’s anxiety?” is replaced by the question “Is Coledeluded in some way or does he really see ghosts?” Malcolm, for one, isskeptical, privately noting in his Dictaphone that he suspects that Cole issuffering from visual hallucinations, paranoia, and “some kind of schoolageschizophrenia.”In the third part of the film, the questions surrounding the primarystoryline are answered by a number of horror sequences, each of which is