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Keyser Söze (pronounced /ˈkaɪzɚ ˈsoʊzeɪ/) is a fictional character in the 1995 film The Usual Suspects, written by Christopher McQuarrie. Söze is an underworld kingpin whose ruthlessness and influence have a legendary, even mythical status among law enforcement agents and criminals alike. The character has become a common cultural reference point due to his role in the film's famous twist ending.
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Background
Söze's past is unknown, but the story told by Verbal has Söze beginning his criminal career in Turkey as a low-level drug dealer. The entity that is Keyser Söze is truly born, however, when rival smugglers working for the Hungarian mob invade his house while he is away, raping his wife and holding his children hostage. When Söze arrives they kill one of the children to show him that they mean business. They then threaten to kill his wife and remaining children if he does not surrender his business to them. Rather than give in to their demands, he murders his family and all but one of the Hungarians, whom he spares knowing that the survivor would tell the mafia what he is planning to do. After burying his family, Söze goes after the mob, killing dozens of people, including the mobsters' families, friends, and even people who owe them money, as well as destroying their homes and businesses. He then goes "underground", never again doing business in person and remaining invisible even to his henchmen, who almost never know who they are working for. One of the most famous lines from the movie, spoken by Kint is: "The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he didn't exist." This is a paraphrased quote from a story by Baudelaire.[1] When he does commit crimes, it is always in disguise and under a fake name, leaving no one the wiser. Söze's ruthlessness is legendary, having enemies and disloyal henchmen brutally murdered, along with everyone they hold dear, for the slightest infractions. If someone working for Söze without realizing it unwittingly steals from him, however, he would offer them the chance to redeem themselves. Over the years his criminal empire, centered around the drug trade, flourishes, as does his legend; he becomes "a spook story that criminals tell their kids at night", and on a par with the Devil in the world of crime.
Film revelations
The film The Usual Suspects consists mostly of flashbacks narrated by con artist Roger "Verbal" Kint (Kevin Spacey), a petty criminal with cerebral palsy affecting one leg and one arm. Verbal has been granted near-total immunity from prosecution provided he assists investigators, including Customs Agent Dave Kujan (Chazz Palminteri), and reveals all details of his involvement with a group of notorious criminals assumed responsible for the destruction of a ship and the murder of nearly everyone aboard. While Verbal is telling his story, Kujan learns the name Keyser Söze from FBI agent Jack Baer (Giancarlo Esposito), including Söze's reputation as a shadowy criminal mastermind, and demands Verbal tell him what he knows. Apparently deeply distraught, Verbal describes how he and a small group of career criminals are blackmailed by Söze, through Söze's Pakistani lawyer Kobayashi (Pete Postlethwaite), into destroying a large drug shipment belonging to Söze's Hungarian rivals. All but Verbal and one Hungarian are killed during the attack. Baer believes there were no drugs and the true purpose of the attack was to eliminate a passenger on the ship that had seen and could identify Söze. Kujan confronts Verbal with the theory that Söze is, in fact, one of the criminals that Verbal had worked with: a corrupt former police officer and professional thief named Dean Keaton (Gabriel Byrne). Kujan's ongoing investigation of Keaton is what involved him in the case initially.
In the final scenes of the movie, it is suggested that Verbal's story is an elaborate concoction, made up of strung-together details culled from a crowded bulletin board in the office where the interrogation took place. The filmic methods used to persuade the audience of this included a buzzing montage of voices from the movie, effectively cut and pasted with pictures and text from the board, as well as the "KOBAYASHI" manufacturer's logo printed on the bottom of Kujan's coffee cup. The surviving Hungarian, severely burned and hospitalized, describes to a sketch artist a man he saw during the attack that he believes is Keyser Söze. The sketch, which appears to be a near-perfect drawing of Verbal, is faxed to the police station too late. Verbal has already walked out on bail, his cerebral palsy limp suddenly fading. He uses a gold cigarette lighter similar to one Söze was seen with at the beginning of the film to light a cigarette with a steady hand, and climbs into a car driven by the character he has referred to throughout as Kobayashi. As they drive away, Kujan desperately looks around the crowded streets for Verbal having realized, too late, Verbal's true identity.
Cultural impact
Since the release of the film, the name Keyser Söze has taken on a life of its own. It has two popular uses in Western culture: the first is as a description of a legend, usually of underworld crime, which is a result of the character's Satanic presence in The Usual Suspects. The second use of the name in popular culture is to one who has fooled many as to his or her true identity and agenda. This use of the name is owed to the film's legendary twist, which is widely considered one of the greatest surprise endings in film history. On his 1999 review of Fight Club, film critic Roger Ebert commented, "A lot of recent films seem unsatisfied unless they can add final scenes that redefine the reality of everything that has gone before; call it the Keyser Söze syndrome."
Portrayal in film
Scott B. Morgan, a long-haired production assistant on the film, was asked on the day of filming to play the infamous mystery man in the only frames the audience ever sees him - walking through fire in a flash-back sequence. Morgan's few, barely identifiable seconds of cult stardom were the only time he ever appeared on film, despite going on to a production career in reality television.
References
- ^ Charles Baudelaire Le Joueur Généreux, Mes chers frères, n'oubliez jamais, quand vous entendrez vanter le progrès des lumières, que la plus belle des ruses du diable est de vous persuader qu'il n'existe pas!
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