LilyDaleLady Disappointing film from a director who has done much work, including his famous "Crash". "Third Person" attempts to build on that legacy, but is much weaker in concept and execution. I am surprised how many reviews here absolutely miss the real story here -- it is about a famous fiction writer, "Michael" (Liam Neeson), who is holed up in a fancy suite in Paris. The three story "threads" are actually fiction he is MAKING UP while writing a book -- a book we know from his editor is not well received, as his editor tells him "his new work is not as strong or shocking" as his first novel.So he is attempting to "juice up" some intense stories to get published, and part of how he is doing this to exploit people -- first to exploit his mistress, who has shared with him the dark secret story of her incestuous relationship with her father. The other two stories are purely fictional and are ways that Michael is working out the tragedy of his son's drowning death -- which occurred when he was too wrapped up in a phone call from his lover (the incestuous one, played by Olivia Wilde) to pay attention to a toddler in a swimming pool. The death has broken up his marriage to Kim Basinger.Story One has Adrien Brody, as a dishonest fashion designer who steals others designs, but who gets involved with a Roma Gypsy woman -- who needs help ransoming her kidnapped daughter, but who in fact is likely just running a scam on a wealthy American. Brody's character also has lost a daughter in an identical swimming pool accident (and his wife, Maria Bello, looks hauntingly similar to Kim Basinger).Story Two has Mila Kunis, as an ex-actress forced to clean hotel rooms and desperately trying to get back visitation rights to her little boy...after she lost custody for (presumably) putting plastic bags on the boy's head (!!!) to teach him a lesson about playing with dry cleaning bags. (This is very confusing and not well-explained). As a result, her ex-husband very logically does not want her to have unsupervised visitation with the boy.It took a me while into the film to piece this together -- duh on me -- because looking back, it is very obvious, with 3 of stories having to do with a child who is put in danger or killed because of parental neglect and the guilt that ensues. If that were not enough -- DUH! -- the title of the film is THIRD PERSON, i.e., a story told in the third person -- FICTION.Most of the story with the mistress may be fiction as well -- she disappears at the end -- though the true part is that Michael knows she had a incestuous affair with her father, and cruelly exploits that to have a "shocking story" for his new book.The other tip off is the 3 stories are set in different places -- the hotel room in Paris where Michael is writing his novel -- the hotel in NYC where Mila Kunis is a maid -- and Italy, where Adrien Brody meets the gypsy woman. Yet, we see Mila cleaning Michael's hotel room -- or leaving an critical note in his room -- or smashing flowers in his girlfriend's suite -- when this should be impossible as she should be in NYC. But of course...she does not exist at all, except in Michael's imagination, so he moves her in and out of HIS reality.This sounds cleverer than it really is. In fact, it is exhausting and tiring to watch. It also feels like the deaths of two children (and near death of another child) are simply used for exploitation -- so the characters can "feel sad". Even worse is the unconvincing incest, used for shock value (EW!). In the end, nothing comes of any of it -- except perhaps his book is published --the editor loves the new shocking material even though he KNOWS Michael is horribly exploiting and hurting his girlfriend, as readers will know who she is in real life. (How readers would know who he is having affairs with in real life, I have no idea. It is far more plausible that readers would know he lost a child to drowning, as that would be a public police matter and therefore, be hurtful to his wife & family, exploiting THEIR privacy.)So it's about the "creative" process and how writers (and one presumes, filmmakers) exploit everything in their lives, in order to get published or produced. Making one wonder how much the director is exploiting HIS loved ones here.All in all, too hard to follow -- inconsistent and illogical in places -- not as clever as the director thinks -- and exploitative.

dostromjaye I give this movie a solid 9 out of 10 because it's not clear about the ending, now that being said I loved the ending. My husband and I discussed this movie for at least an hour and will watch it again. I won't spoil it for anyone but give this one a chance. Sometimes reviewers don't 'get' a movie so give it poor ratings.

SnoopyStyle Writer Michael (Liam Neeson) left his wife Elaine (Kim Basinger) and is living in a hotel having an affair with society reporter Anna (Olivia Wilde) who wants his help to write her novel. Former soap star Julia (Mila Kunis) gets a hotel maid job so that she can get visitation rights to her son with her lawyer Theresa Lowry (Maria Bello) and her ex Richard Weiss (James Franco). In Italy, businessman Scott (Adrien Brody) is getting entangled with illegal Monika (Moran Atias) and her young daughter. The three stories intertwine.Paul Haggis does his interconnected stories again. I like this idea slightly more than Crash. At least, this one isn't trying to preach something obvious. He's not hitting the audience over the head with some kind of social commentary. Neeson and Wilde have a little bit of fun. I find Kunis' character compelling. On the other hand, I hate Brody's story. It starts with the ridiculous bomb scare. The comedy bit about a shoe bomb just makes it so much worse. The hotel clerk discriminating against her is another bad step. A villain would take the money before asking for more. No bad guy would let somebody walk out with the cash. That whole story seems to be a farce. I can't stand Brody's story and the extended running time doesn't help.

Floated2 Third Person (2014) is written and directed by Paul Haggis, the award-winning filmmaker who, in 2006, became the first screenwriter to write two Best Film Oscar winning films back-to-back, Million Dollar Baby (2004) directed by Clint Eastwood, and Crash (2005) which he directed himself. Liam Neeson plays a 50-ish Pulitzer-Prize winning writer, Michael, who has left his wife (Kim Basinger) and is holed up in an elegant Paris hotel room, attempting the new novel that will resurrect his failing career. Constantly writing and editing, Michael struggles with his book. As we watch him write, some of his conversations appear verbatim on his computer. Here we may be wondering whether we are viewing fragments of his novel come alive or whether his writing is more nonfiction than one would think. In the end, the viewers get a glance at everything taken place. The ending is well done as it can interpreted in several different ways.