The two successful Parker Finn films would have a decidedly disturbing grain of truth
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| Image Credit: Paramount Pictures |
With the Smile franchise, director Parker Finn has invented one of the scariest and most inspired horror concepts of recent years. The design of the entity that torments the protagonists of the two films has fascinated audiences and critics and is made, if possible, even more terrifying by its manifestation through the faces of the people who gravitate around them. However, not many people know that the entity of the smile is based on a real psychological phenomenon known as "Fregoli syndrome". It is a very rare disorder that leads those who suffer from it to believe that various individuals are actually a single person in disguise.
A condition that, before the Parker Finn films, had already been directly addressed in the 2015 animated film Anomalisa by Charlie Kaufman. However, in the Smile franchise, this is instead taken to its extreme consequences by giving it a horror reading based on the progressive detachment from reality of its protagonists. The fear experienced by the victims of the entity of the smile pushes them to perceive the people in their lives as a threat and therefore to isolate themselves more and more. In the first film released in 2022, the protagonist Rose Cotter, a psychotherapist, meets a patient who describes a monster that is "wearing people's faces as if they were masks." Soon, Rose will begin to be haunted by the entity ending up pushing away everyone she thought she could trust.
A twist that is further exacerbated in the sequel. While Rose in fact had a circle limited to a few people, the protagonist of Smile 2, the pop star Skye Riley played by Naomi Scott is instead constantly surrounded by fa, entourage, dance troupes, and many others. In short, in this case, the entity has many more people through which it can manifest itself, also creating a perfect metaphor for the weight of celebrity on the crest of the wave: you can never be sure of the real intentions of others, with the possibility that they could turn out to be dangerous stalkers or careerists aiming for their own personal gain.
The disorder is then directly “cited” in the film through the character of Lewis Fregoli (Lukas Gage), Skye Riley’s personal drug dealer who will be used by the entity to manifest itself for the first time in the eyes of the protagonist. But what exactly is Fregoli syndrome? Those who suffer from this condition believe they are persecuted by a single person who changes face to resemble anyone in a crowd. In the book Face Recognition and Its Disorders, psychologist Sarah Bate offers an accurate description of the symptoms of Fregoli syndrome, which takes its name from the Italian actor Leopoldo Fregoli, who became famous for his shape-shifting abilities. In his book, Bate writes the following:
“The condition itself is characterized by the delusional belief that several people are actually the same person, but in disguise, and that this person is stalking them. The disorder was first observed in a 27-year-old woman who believed she was being stalked by two actors she often saw at the theater. She believed that these people were following her closely, taking the form of other people she knew or met.”
Source: CBR
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