Tilda Swinton is only in one scene in David Finchers The Killer, and she makes it count.
This article containsThe Killerspoilers.
She also provides clarity about why our Killer is so preternaturally gifted… and doomed.
He truly does not have a real conversation with anyone, save for the audience.
As a consequence, Fassbender goes from the hunter of the many to the one hunted by a few.
He wants to look her in the eye.
The sequence is illuminating because we see two kindred spirits who are nonetheless diametrically opposed in personalities and temperament.
Swintons Expert is extroverted, warm, and ingratiating.
Or so she says.
So it is that Fassbender is not at this table for just a dish of cold-blooded revenge.
But for nine minutes of screen time, Swinton stops by to completely decimate his facade of implacability.
He really is craving conversation, a problem Swintons character doesnt seem to have.
She enjoys her life and seemingly made peace with what shes done to get it.
And yet, it is worth noting she is sitting there alone.
She doesnt appear to have a significant other like the Killer.
While being garrulous, she is in some respects just as lonely as our Killer.
The reality is that neither are perfectly calibrated machines.
Theyre human, and over the course of the movie we witness both make mistakes.
He survives his, for now, and she does not.
And she claims the last thing hell think about is her face.
Even so, she is the Ghost of Christmas Future for this story.
Her confidence narrowed her options and, eventually, lowered her guard.
But Fassbenders Killer is no less supremely confident.
Hes an artist bored with his pastels.
His final monologue is as follows: The need to feel secure is a slippery slope.
Fate is a placebo.
The only life path, the one behind you.
Maybe youre just like me, one of the Many.
The Many fight only each other tooth and nail, sometimes to the death.
We die over the scraps.
Thats the real killer truth in this life.
