Seconds

The recent film The Skin I Live In (which I still mean to get to) had me thinking of other films where people changed identities. Some of the more popular ones--Face/Off, Darkman, Big, Freaky Friday--don't really explore the identity switch in a serious way and are concerned more with the action or comedy. In Seconds, an aging banker (John Randolph) gets a new identity by being surgically altered into a younger man (a middle aged Rock Hudson). The film was directed by John Frankenheimer.


The banker is handed an address by a stranger, then begins a nervewracking journey (both physical and emotional) to an unnamed business. He is explained the options in which his old body can "die" and the arrangements of the agreement that will allow him to take a new identity and escape his old life.

After surgery he is provided staff to help him learn and acclimate to his new identity as a mildly talented painter with a California beachside studio. He meets an attractive neighbor (Salome Jens) who tries to figure him out. He attends a bacchinalia with her (plenty of female nudes) which contrasts with his past, staid banker's life. (Too much of the focus in this 8 minute scene was not on the character and more involved with the nude celebrants.)

The beginning third of the film seems long, especially since we are not clear what's going on until almost 30 minutes in, but it gives depth to the character of the banker. It shows his desire for the new life while also his fear of what is about to happen to him. I wish the story did get to the new identity part faster. It seemed very much like an episode of Twilight Zone with the creepy people at the mysterious business.

Although the premise was interesting it didn't really explain why the banker wanted this change (although what we are told was very similar to the sentiments of the film Revolutionary Road). Once they make the switch the action of the character also becomes middle aged rather than staying older in physicality (I mean they can change his appearance but they can't change his age, right?)

In his new life the banker is still dissatisfied and doesn't really take advantage of the renewal. When he gets drunk he blabs some details that allude to his past (another overly drawn out scene.) He has regrets that cause him to go back and "meet" his wife. She gives some inkling to us of the banker's dissatisfaction and detachment with his life. He ultimately makes the decision to try again, but the result is not what he expected, a truly Twilight Zone ending.

As indicated I thought several of the scenes were drawn out longer than necessary (the bacchinalia scene was cut for the original American release). I also found it kind of ironic that this film is rated R for the bacchanal scene, but the banker and his wife still sleep in separate beds (it's a 1966 film). This seems like it could be ripe for a modern remake. Although the men with new identities are called "reborns" I don't know why they decided to call the movie "Seconds." Maybe it has to do with what hapens at the very end. A good performance by both Randolph and Hudson.