An extremely wealthy man, dying from cancer, undergoes a radical medical procedure that transfers his consciousness into the body of a healthy young man. But all is not as it seems when he starts to uncover the mystery of the body's origin and the organization that will kill to protect its cause. Written by
Plot Synopsis:
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Business tycoon and billionaire Damian Hale (Ben Kingsley) is master of his own universe, until he is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Now on his deathbed, he finds a business card directing him to a man named Professor Albright (Matthew Goode), who informs him about a radical medical procedure called "shedding", in which one's consciousness is transferred to an artificially grown healthy body.
While Damian searches the article about Dr. Francis Jensen, a shedding neurologist, he suddenly collapses and the blood sputum is spurting onto the laptop. In his nursing home, Damian receives a call from Albright, saying that once he transferred into another body, it will not return to his original body and his death will be made to the public. Also, Albright plans Damian to fly to New Orleans to meet his friend, Martin. Damian then buries the box, containing something, in the cemetery. Damian and Martin having a coffee in the restaurant, but Damian collapse again to the floor. He is now brought into Albrights and he decides to transfer to the healthy body, we call him as Young Damian. Now his body is transferred to the new body, Young Damian begins to learn how to walk, swimming, etc. Albright prescribes medication to ease vivid hallucinations which he claims are side effects of the procedure.
Young Damian starts a new life in New Orleans under a pseudonym of Edward Kittner. After Young Damian introduces his new home, he goes to play basketball and befriends his neighbor, Anton. After Young Damian read his own obituaries in the internet, he tries to call his daughter, Claire, but he refuses to talk with her and quickly hangs up the phone. Because he forgot to take his medicine, Young Damian subsequently hallucinate the war, the woman and a child, and the water tower styled as a pumpkin. When Edward asks Albright about the hallucinations, he dismisses his concerns, but accidentally reveals that he knows details of the hallucinations that Edward did not reveal. Albright arranges for him to move to Hawaii for a change of scenery, but Edward, convinced the hallucinations are some kind of memory, researches a landmark he saw in his vision and heads to St. Louis instead.
In St. Louis, Young Damian infiltrates a house and sees the picture frames of himself and his wife, Madeline. Young Damian encounters Madeline, who identifies him as her apparently deceased husband Mark. After that, Albrights men, led by Anton - who reveals that he is one of Albright's employees breaks into the house and attacked Young Damian/Mark and Madeline. Edward learns that the body he inhabits belonged to another man who sold himself to Albright in order to gain the money he needed to cure their sick daughter. Young Damian then excuses him to go to the bathroom for taking medicine. After he took medicine, Young Damian attacks the henchman and kills him. Young Damian sees the fire thrower burns Madelines car. Anton and his henchman overhear the crashing and go to the bathroom. Young Damian shoots another man and Anton told him to the front. Anton goes inside the bathroom then tries to subdue each other, loses the medicine in the process. Young Damian tackles Anton out of the house and he goes back inside the house. The fire thrower burns the house. Young Damian takes Madeline out, but before they can escape, the two goes down under the house. Unseen by Anton and his other men, Young Damian shoots the fire thrower, accidentally burns Anton alive but manage to kill the fire by soaking himself into the tub and kills the henchman. The two escape and collect her daughter, Anna, from school.The two stay at a motel for a while before heading to New Orleans. There, Young Damian researches the internet of Dr. Jensen, the man who invented shedding; Mark notices a tic he shares with Albright in a video of him and sees Albright in the same video as his assistant, and concludes that Jensen has shedded himself into Albright's body. Young Damian again hallucinates, because he loses his medicine, and collapses.
The two drives back to the New Orleans and Young Damian told them to wait in the car. Young Damian finds Dr. Jensens wife, Phyllis, in a nursing home suffering from Alzheimers. Young Damian asks her if he can access his research, but she does not know. When Dr. Phyllis reveals that Albright came every week in her house, to bring butter scotch candy for her, she calls Albright to come in her house. Young Damian tranquilized Dr. Phyllis and he confronts Albright/Dr. Jensen. Young Damian asks Albright for medicine but he warns that if he continues to take the medicine, his "Mark" personality will eventually be completely erased, while if he quits, the "original" Mark will reassert control over his body and kill Damian's personality instead. But Mark flees when more assassins show up, including another man who he recognizes as Anton due to necklace they share Anton reveals that he has shedded multiple times.
At a rest stop, Madeline confronts Mark over his behavior and lack of knowledge of their personal details, and he reveals all that has transpired to her. He takes them to his old friend Martin (Victor Garber) and convinces him to provide for Madeline and Anna to flee to the Caribbean. However, he and Madeline discover Anna playing with Martin's young son Tony (Dylan Lowe), who died two years ago; Martin admits that he used shedding to save his son and that Albright's men are waiting for them. Mark then reveals the dark secret behind shedding and flees to distract Albright's men while Martin, Madeline, and Anna escape. Mark manages to crash Anton's car with him in it and defeat his pursuers, but Madeline and Anna are recaptured.
Mark stops taking his medicine in order to experience more memories, hoping they will lead him to Albright. This succeeds, and Mark pursues Albright to a lab built in an abandoned warehouse. There, Albright captures him and attempts to shed Anton into Mark's body, but Mark, remembering that metal interferes with the shedding process, takes a bullet casing in his mouth, therefore sabotages the procedure which kills Anton in the process. He rescues Madeline and Anna and takes down Albright once and for all. Mark arranges for Madeline and Anna to flee the country as planned, meets his own estranged daughter Claire (Michelle Dockery), and delivers her a letter reconciling with her. He then heads to the Caribbean and stops taking his medicine, dying peacefully. The real Mark reawakens in his own body and discovers a video message from Damian's personality thanking him for the time he gave him. Mark then reunites with his family at last.
Damian Hales apartment is really owned by Donald Trump. It's inspired by Versailles.
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The machines used to transfer the mind from body to body were actually modified medical CT scanners.
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This is a remake of John Frankenheimer's Seconds from 1966.
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The "pumpkin water tower", which is located according to the film at the fictional place Brighton County MO, is in real life in Garyville, LA at these coordinates: 30° 2'21.68"N 90°37'5.73"W.
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This is the second body switch movie starring Ryan Reynolds. The first was The Change-Up (2011).
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The swimming machine that Matthew Goode has Ryan Reynolds use to adjust to his 'new body' is an Endless Pool.
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First film directed by Tarsem Singh not to feature costume design by the late Eiko Ishioka.
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This is the second film to star Ryan Reynolds and Derek Luke.
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Both Ryan Reynolds and Ben Kingsley have starred in Marvel movies. Ben Kingsley appeared in Iron Man 3 (2013) and Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool (2016), X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) and Blade: Trinity (2004). However, only Iron Man 3 was overseen by Marvel Studios.
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Derek Luke starred in Antwone Fisher (2002). His character in Self/less shares a similar name of that movie's titular character (but different spelling) in Anton.
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Released on the same weekend as Minioner (2015) starring Sandra Bullock. Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock previously worked together on The Proposal (2009).
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Despite being top billed and having credit on the posters/trailers, Ben Kingsley is only shown within the first 15 minutes.
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(at around 1h 25 mins) When Damian crashes Martin's SUV on the car in front, the airbags of the SUV as seen from a long distance shot clearly inflate. But on the exact next shot from inside the car, we see Damian still driving with no airbags inflated.
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At the start of the chase from Martin's house the driver's side window is down but it's suddenly rolled up the next instant.
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In dozens of car crashes and collisions in the movie, none of the air bags in the cars ever inflate.
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The Panarai Laminar Marina watched worn by Edward does not have an alarm option though it continually gives off an alarm multiple times during the movie.
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Early in the movie, Damian uses his smartphone in his car to call someone and his phone screen stays on the whole time.
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Near the beginning of the movie, the make of the black SUV tailing Damian changes from Chevrolet to GMC depending on the camera's point of view. Very noticeable as the two makes mainly differ in the front grille area which is very prominent.
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After they run away from the rest house, girl ask to pull over on petrol station, in the car, car handle is missing, but when they passing by the shop written "time clock" handle in front glass is visible.
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cancer|elderly man|medical|funeral|cemetery|safe deposit box|shot in the ear|lasersight|slow motion scene|letter|disarming someone|chase|shot in the leg|truck|stealing a car|biologist|school bus|school|revelation|hiding in a bathroom|toilet|investigation|repressed memory|inside the mind|one night stand|concert|widower|showdown|streetcar|secret laboratory|interracial relationship|scar|tattoo|spitting blood|stolen identity|british actor playing american character|englishman abroad|central park manhattan new york city|identity|wristwatch|seizure|abandoned warehouse|black comedy|airport|retirement|bridge|aerial shot|surrealism|corpse|moral dilemma|looking at one's self in a mirror|training|wheelchair|resurrection|back from the dead|faked death|two way mirror|water tower|reverse footage|knocked out|pistol whip|electrocution|taser|mansion|friendship|motel|basketball|paranoia|fear|latin american|interracial marriage|interracial friendship|money|private jet|train set|kidnapping|forest|woods|flashlight|home invasion|apartment|character's point of view camera shot|survival|subjective camera|video recording|character repeating someone else's dialogue|hostage|rescue|escape|presumed dead|fainting|gas station|cyberpunk|science runs amok|experimental technology|truck stop|one against many|2010s|high tech|fight the system|brain scan|cell phone|top secret|cover up|near death experience|ambulance|fire truck|redemption|alzheimer's disease|ex soldier|near future|social commentary|corporate executive|photograph|premarital sex|diner|nightclub|bar|restaurant|heavy rain|palm tree|ambush|double cross|betrayal|deception|poetic justice|revenge|virtuality|hallucination|flashback|blood splatter|limousine|tycoon|billionaire|class differences|father daughter estrangement|husband wife relationship|mother son relationship|father son relationship|mother daughter relationship|camera phone|single parent|box office flop|walkie talkie|laptop|italian american|new orleans louisiana|new york city|old age|title at the end|newspaper headline|mad scientist|scientist|professor|fugitive|product placement|on the run|explosion|arson|car set on fire|exploding car|no opening credits|person on fire|burned to death|burned alive|flamethrower|revolver|shotgun|pistol|gunfight|shootout|shot to death|shot in the chest|shot in the head|murder|violence|assassination attempt|assassin|security guard|mercenary|no title at beginning|hand to hand combat|mixed martial arts|brawl|fight|fistfight|overturning car|flipping car|car accident|car crash|warrior|unlikely hero|anti hero|beating|kicked in the stomach|kicked in the face|punched in the chest|punched in the face|bullet|laboratory|father daughter relationship|island|beach|car chase|swimming pool|fire|lie|held at gunpoint|google search|googling for information|reference to google|little girl|daughter|widow|single mother|pills|false memory|host body|coffee|airplane|reference to wikipedia|immortality|soul transference|body swap|doctor|death|terminal illness|rich man|rich|body snatching|mind transfer|bare chested male|independent film|surprise ending|martial arts|necklace yanked off|
AKAs Titles:
(alternative title) - Selfless
Argentina - In/mortal
Bosnia and Herzegovina (Croatian title) - Izvan Sebe
Bulgaria (Bulgarian title) - ‘ез/мŠ€‚ен
Brazil - Sem Retorno
Chile - Inmortal
Germany - Self/less: Der Fremde in mir
Spain - Eternal
France - Renaissances
Croatia - Izvan Sebe
Hungary - –nkvlet
Israel (Hebrew title) - Khai pa'ama'yim
Mexico - In/mortal
Peru - In/mortal
Poland - Klucz do wieczno›ci
Portugal - Outro/Eu
Serbia - Izvan Sebe
Russia - ’не/еб
Turkey (Turkish title) - Selfless
Certifications:
Argentina:13 (with warning) / Canada:PG (British Columbia) / Germany:12 / Ireland:12A / Netherlands:12 / Portugal:M/12 / Singapore:PG13 / South Korea:15 / Sweden:15 / Switzerland:14 / UK:12A / USA:PG-13 (certificate #48654)
Movie Details:
MOVIE
