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‘The Invisible Man’ (2020): Is Aidan Griffin, Guilty or Innocent?
‘‘Invisible things are the only realities.’’ Edgar Allan Poe
The latest iteration of ‘The Invisible Man’ is as different as you could get from its predecessors in both its central premise and in the plot and background. The main character is normally the man who is invisible but in this new 21st century version we have as the central character an abused victim of the man who is or can make himself invisible, through optical manipulation. For me it is not just optical manipulation that takes place in the film but manipulation is everywhere.
Elisabeth Moss is once again playing a victim, Cecilia Kass, of male control and dominance who again turns the tables upon the alleged perpetrator, Adrian Griffin who is an optical genius and ‘The Invisible Man’ of the title, or maybe not. It is rather reminiscent of her role as Offred in the TV adaptation of ‘The Handmaids Tale’ which I absolutely loved. She is great in this but the film itself is very odd indeed, for a number of reasons.
From the very beginning we are given her story of abuse without any substantive evidence. Most of us, of course, would believe her if she were our friend or sister, as in the film. However, we are not shown any evidence that her ex-partner is responsible for any abuse until the man who is invisible turns up at…