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'{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2012}} {{Infobox character | name = Keyser Söze | series = | image = | caption = | first = ''[[The Usual Suspects]]'' | cause = | creator = [[Christopher McQuarrie]] | portrayer = [[Kevin Spacey]] | alias = Roger "Verbal" Kint | gender = Male | occupation = Drug lord }} '''Keyser Söze''' ({{IPAc-en|icon|ˈ|k|aɪ|z|ər|_|ˈ|s|oʊ|z|eɪ}} {{respell|KY|zər}} {{respell|SOH|zay}}) is a fictional character in the 1995 film ''[[The Usual Suspects]],'' written by [[Christopher McQuarrie]] and directed by [[Bryan Singer]]. According to Roger "Verbal" Kint ([[Kevin Spacey]]), Söze is a crime lord whose ruthlessness and influence have acquired a legendary, even mythical, status among police and criminals. The character was named the No. 48 villain in the [[American Film Institute]]'s "[[AFI's 100 Years…100 Heroes and Villains]]" in June 2003.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://connect.afi.com/site/DocServer/handv100.pdf?docID=246 |title=AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villians |format=PDF |accessdate=March 19, 2010 |publisher=[[American Film Institute]]}}</ref> ==Background== According to "Verbal" Kint, Söze was once a petty drug dealer who began his criminal career in his native [[Turkey]]. The legendary [[persona]] of Keyser Söze is born when rival Hungarian smugglers invade his house while he is away, [[rape]] his wife and hold his children hostage; when Söze arrives, they kill one of the children to show him their resolve, then threaten to kill his wife and remaining children if he does not surrender his business to them. Rather than give in to their demands, he kills his own family and all but one of the Hungarians, knowing the survivor will tell the [[Mafia]] what has happened. Söze then goes after the mob, killing dozens of people including the mobsters' families, friends and even people who owe them money, as well as destroying their homes and businesses. He then goes "underground", never again doing business in person and remaining invisible even to his henchmen, who almost never know for whom they are working. One of the most famous lines from the movie, spoken by Kint, is: "The greatest trick [[the Devil]] ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist." This statement paraphrases a line in a story by [[Charles Baudelaire]],<ref>Baudelaire, [http://baudelaire.litteratura.com/?rub=oeuvre&srub=pop&id=167# ''Le Joueur Généreux''], where the Devil recounts to a gambler that he has even heard a preacher (''plus subtil que ses confrères'') cry: ''Mes chers frères, n'oubliez jamais, quand vous entendrez vanter le progrès des lumières, que la plus belle des ruses du diable est de vous persuader qu'il n'existe pas!''</ref><ref>[http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Le_Joueur_généreux French text]</ref> as translated from the original French. Neither McQuarrie nor Singer realized this at the time and they "borrowed it from people who were quoting Baudelaire themselves."<ref>[http://www.dvdjournal.com/reviews/u/usualsuspects_se.shtml ''The Usual Suspects: Special Edition''] review by Alexandra DuPont, ''DVD journal,'' accessed February 15, 2008</ref> Söze's ruthlessness is legendary; he is described as having had enemies and disloyal henchmen brutally murdered, along with everyone they hold dear, for the slightest infractions – and as having personally murdered people who have seen and can identify him. Over the years his criminal empire, including the drug trade and the smuggling of weapons and materials flourishes as does his legend; he becomes, as Kint says during his interrogation, "a spook story that criminals tell their kids at night." ==Film revelations== The film ''The Usual Suspects'' consists mostly of flashbacks narrated by Roger "Verbal" Kint ([[Kevin Spacey]]), a [[con artist]] with [[cerebral palsy]]. Verbal has been granted [[immunity from prosecution]] provided he assists investigators, including Customs Agent David Kujan ([[Chazz Palminteri]]) and reveals all details of his involvement with a group of career criminals who are assumed to be responsible for the destruction of a ship and the murder of nearly everyone aboard. While Verbal is telling his story, Kujan learns the name Keyser Söze from [[FBI]] agent Jack Baer ([[Giancarlo Esposito]]) and demands Verbal tell him what he knows. Verbal describes how he and his cohorts are [[blackmail]]ed by Söze, through Söze's lawyer Kobayashi ([[Pete Postlethwaite]]), into destroying a large drug shipment belonging to Söze's Argentinian rivals. All but Kint and a Hungarian are killed in the attack. Baer believes there were no drugs and the true purpose of the attack was to eliminate a passenger on the ship who could identify Söze. Kujan confronts Kint with the theory that Söze is one of the criminals that Verbal had worked with: a corrupt former police officer and professional thief named Dean Keaton ([[Gabriel Byrne]]). Kujan's investigation of Keaton is what involved him in the case. In the final sequence of the movie, it is revealed that Verbal's story is a fabrication, made up of strung-together details culled from a crowded [[bulletin board]] in the messy office of the police detective where Kujan conducted Verbal's interrogation, including the "Kobayashi" logo on his coffee cup. The surviving Hungarian, severely burned and in hospital, describes Keyser Söze to a sketch artist: the drawing faxed in to the police station resembles none other than Verbal Kint. Kujan realizes the truth too late, as Verbal has already walked out on bail, his limp suddenly gone, and gets into a car driven by "Kobayashi". As they drive away, Kujan desperately looks around the crowded streets for Verbal, having realized too late that he had the man he was looking for the entire time.<ref>The section is referenced to the film in which the character exists, ''[[The Usual Suspects]].''</ref> ==In popular culture== Since the release of the film, the name Keyser Söze has gained two popular uses in Western culture: *The first is as a description of a legend, usually of underworld crime, which is a result of the character's presence in ''The Usual Suspects''. *The second is a shorthand reference to being fooled into believing in a person who does not exist. This use of the name is owed to the film's twist ending. In his 1999 review of ''[[Fight Club (film)|Fight Club]]'', film critic [[Roger Ebert]] commented, "A lot of recent films seem unsatisfied unless they can add final scenes that redefine the reality of everything that has gone before; call it the Keyser Söze syndrome."<ref>[http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19991015/REVIEWS/910150302 Fight Club], review by [[Roger Ebert]], ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'', October 15, 1999, accessed February 15, 2008</ref> Keyser Söze has also been referred in the first episode of the tv series Go On, when the protagonist lies about the death of his wife using a bogus word to define her illness, and finally confesses to have "keysersozed" his group leader. ==Further reading== *{{citation |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=LBIjsk-2ok4C|title=The Psychopath in Film |last=Wilson |first=Wayne |year=1999 |publisher=University Press of America |pages=251–279 |ISBN=0-7618-1317-9}} ==External links== {{wikiquote}} * {{IMDb character|0028665}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Soze, Keyser}} [[Category:Fictional mass murderers]] [[Category:Fictional mobsters]] [[Category:Fictional drug dealers]] [[Category:Fictional Turkish people]] [[Category:Fictional con artists]] [[Category:Fictional characters introduced in 1995]] [[fr:Keyser Söze]] [[he:קייזר סוזה]] [[ro:Keyser Söze]]'