The Sixth Sense Twist Explained Simply

The Sixth Sense is a 1999 movie starring Bruce Willis as Dr. Malcolm Crowe, a child psychologist in Philadelphia. The story follows his work with a scared nine-year-old boy named Cole Sear, played by Haley Joel Osment, who says he sees dead people.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sixth_Sense

The film opens with Malcolm at home with his wife Anna when a former patient named Vincent breaks in. Vincent blames Malcolm for failing to help him years ago. He shoots Malcolm in the stomach and then kills himself.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sixth_Sense Months pass, and Malcolm starts seeing Cole, who acts strange and shows marks of harm that his mom Lynn cannot explain. Cole whispers his famous line: “I see dead people. They don’t know they’re dead.”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48DQ_aYP6pA

At first, Malcolm thinks Cole might have schizophrenia. He almost quits the case. But then he listens to an old tape from a session with Vincent. On it, he hears a voice speaking Spanish, begging for help, even though Vincent was alone. This makes Malcolm believe Cole’s gift is real.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sixth_Sense He tells Cole to stop being afraid and to talk to the ghosts instead. Cole learns they need help crossing over.

One key scene shows Cole helping a girl ghost named Kyra. She appears sick and vomiting. Cole finds her family at her funeral and gives her dad a video tape from her room. It proves her mother poisoned her, saving her little sister.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sixth_Sensehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48DQ_aYP6pA This turns Cole’s curse into a purpose.

Now the big twist. Malcolm goes home and sees Anna watching their wedding video in her sleep. She drops his wedding ring. He looks at his hand and sees no ring. Then he remembers his stomach wound from the shooting. Cole had said ghosts only see what they want to see and don’t know they are dead. Malcolm realizes he died that night from the gunshot. He has been a ghost the whole movie, helping Cole without knowing it.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sixth_Sensehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48DQ_aYP6pA

Clues build to this all along. Anna never really looks at or talks directly to Malcolm after the shooting. She seems distant because he is not really there. Other people ignore him too. Ghosts like Vincent and Kyra show their death wounds, but Malcolm never turns to show his because he does not know.https://www.looper.com/1121835/biggest-unanswered-questions-from-the-sixth-sense/ Cole never says Malcolm is a ghost, but he might sense it from how other spirits act.

In the end, Malcolm lets go. He tells Anna he loves her in her sleep. Cole finds peace too, sharing his secret with his mom.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48DQ_aYP6pA

Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sixth_Sense
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48DQ_aYP6pA
https://www.looper.com/1121835/biggest-unanswered-questions-from-the-sixth-sense/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOsx20heuTU