Primal Fear (Zwielicht)

Primal Fear (Zwielicht) | USA 1996 | Dir: Gegory Hoblit Writers: Steve Shagan, Ann Biderman, William Diel | Cinematography: Michael Chapman | Music: James Newton Howard | Cast: Richard Gere, Edward Norton, Laura Linney, John Mahoney, Frances McDormand | 125 min | OmU | A star lawyer (Richard Gere) takes on the defense pro bono of a young altar server (Edward Norton in his first feature film role), who is accused of brutally murdering the esteemed Archbishop of Chicago. The centerpiece of the film is a typical US-American court trial as a duel between prosecution and defense before the jury. The central question of guilt and innocence seems to resolve itself neatly when the defendant, under stress, displays right in the courtroom a classic dissociative personality disorder, in which two parts of the personality kept separate from each other can appear side by side – criminal incapacity!