Clay Beresford (Hayden Christensen) is in love with Sam (Jessica Alba), his mother’s personal assistant who is mad and half sick of mental psychonomia. Clay requires a heart transplant. Dr. Jack Harper (Terrence Howard) is Clay’s heart surgeon and friend. Clay asks Dr. Harper to arrange his elopement with Sam. They marry privately at midnight, then Clay goes to the hospital for the operation. While Clay’s new wife and his mother, Lilith (Lena Olin), await completion of his surgery, Clay encounters anesthesia awareness.
The surgical pain causes Clay to have a clairvoyant experience exposing Dr. Harper’s plot to murder Clay, also revealing that Sam worked at the hospital under Dr. Harper and has conspired with him against Clay. Sam’s plan was to kill Clay, and then poison the donor heart to cause its rejection, thus murdering Clay to collect insurance money to pay off Dr. Harper’s malpractice lawsuits.
The scheme unravels and Lilith, realizing what has happened, sacrifices herself so that Clay can live, having barely survived the surgery and attempt on his life. She commits suicide and her heart is switched for the poisoned one. During a shared out-of-body experience, Lilith reveals that she killed his abusive father and that she is proud of what Clay has become. The film closes with Dr. Harper and his conspirators being arrested, his final line being, “He is awake”.
Production Information
Portions of Awake were filmed on Fordham University’s Lincoln Center campus (Lowenstein Hall is converted to look like a hospital; the statue of “St. Peter: Fisher of Men” is visible in the film). In addition, many scenes, including Dr. Jack Harper’s office, the cafeteria where Lilith commits suicide, and the elevator bank, were filmed in Bellevue Hospital.
Production notes provided by The Weinstein Company.
Awake
Starring: Hayden Christensen, Jessica Alba, Lena Olin, Terrence Howard, Steven Hinkle, Jennifer Pedersen, Sam Robards, Poorna Jagannathan, Court Young
Directed by: Joby Harold
Screenplay by: Joby Harold
Release: November 30, 2007
MPAA Rating: R for language, an intense disturbing situation, and brief drug use.
Studio: The Weinstein Company
Box Office Totals
Domestic: $14,374,840 (46.9%)
Foreign: $16,298,029 (53.1%)
Total: $30,672,869 (Worldwide)