Film Analysis: Swiss Army Man

A mentally deranged Paul Dano falls in love with the farting corpse of Daniel Radcliffe. Does that sound like a compelling idea for a story? Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, who go by the moniker “The Daniels”, take this concept and run with it in their 2016 film, Swiss Army Man. The film follows the adventure of Hank (Dano), a depressed and suicidal castaway, after he stumbles upon a corpse that washes up on the island he is stranded on. Hank discovers that the corpse (Radcliffe), whom he begins referring to as “Manny”, can speak and has other supernatural abilities that prove to be crucial for Hank’s chances of survival. Using the seemingly limitless genre of fantasy, supplemented with an innovative soundtrack, Swiss Army Man develops a

The Daniels waste no time testing the limits of this concept in this film. Within the first five minutes, Hank uses Manny as a makeshift speedboat propelled by the flatulence of the recently deceased body. By introducing such a ridiculous concept right off of the bat, the precedent is set for the absurd antics of the film and the audience is challenged to play along because it only gets more bizarre from there. As time goes on, some of Manny’s other powers are revealed, which include vomiting an endless amount of drinking water and having a built-in compass in the form of his penis. Whether or not Manny’s powers are real or simply a fixation in Hank’s imagination remains ambiguous. The only thing that matters is that they are seemingly real to Hank. The film takes great risks at making the audience feel downright uncomfortable at times with just how far they will deviate from the status quo to simulate what Hank is going

He escorts a group of people, including his father and a news team covering the story, to the beach where the majority of the adventure had taken place. When they arrive, the remnants of the adventures that Hank and Manny shared no longer have the same magical look to them. Instead, the camera shows the scenery from an outside perspective and it appears that it have all been made up in Hank’s head. Just as it seems that all hope is lost, Manny’s body begins to fart uncontrollably and shoots off into the ocean. The music swells up to a crescendo again, emphasizing the climax of the film. This time, however, orchestral instruments accompany the vocals that have been present throughout the film. The addition of instruments is representative of Hank’s return to the “real world”. The other people look on in a mixture of shock and disgust, much like the audience had when the film began. As Manny’s body disappears into the distance, the camera cuts to one of the women who utters “What the fuck?” right before the screen fades to black and the credits