Being John Malkovich

by Christopher Priest

Craig Schwartz is an unemployed puppeteer in New York City, in a forlorn marriage with his pet-obsessed wife, Lotte. He finds work as a file clerk for Dr. Lester on the seventh-and-a-half floor of the Mertin-Flemmer building, which is a floor between the 7th and 8th where the ceiling is very low. He soon develops an attraction to co-worker Maxine Lund, who does not return his affections. While filing, Craig discovers a small hidden door. He crawls through it into a tunnel, and finds himself inside the mind of actor John Malkovich. After about 15 minutes, Craig is ejected, landing on the side of the New Jersey Turnpike. He tells Maxine about the door, and she realizes they can sell the experience for profit.

Lotte enters the portal, and becomes obsessed as the experience awakens her transgender desires. She and Craig visit Dr. Lester's home, where Lotte finds a room filled with John Malkovich memorabilia. Maxine arranges a date with Malkovich while he is inhabited by Lotte, who becomes smitten with Maxine. She reciprocates, but only when Lotte is inside Malkovich, and manipulates him into having sex with her while Lotte is in his mind. Craig, forsaken by both women, locks Lotte in a cage and forces her to set up another tryst with Maxine. There, he inhabits Malkovich instead, and discovers that his puppeteering skills allow him some control over the actor.

Disturbed by losing control of himself, Malkovich consults with his friend Charlie Sheen and becomes suspicious of Maxine. He follows her to the office, where she and Craig charge customers for use of the portal. Entering it, Malkovich finds himself in a world where everyone looks like him and says only "Malkovich" before he is ejected. He demands Craig stop use of the door, but Craig refuses. Lotte is freed by her pet chimpanzee and warns Maxine that Craig is inhabiting Malkovich, but Maxine is more attracted to Craig’s ability to control him.

Lotte confronts Dr. Lester, who reveals that he is Captain Mertin; having discovered the portal to a “vessel body” in the late 1800s, he erected the building to conceal it. He has obtained immortality by moving from one body to the next, which becomes “ripe” on the host’s 44th birthday, allowing him to take possession. Should he enter the portal past midnight on that day, he would instead be trapped in the next newborn vessel, helpless inside the new host's mind. Lester and a group of friends plan to occupy Malkovich once he turns 44, and Lotte warns them that Craig has taken control.

Craig discovers he is able to occupy Malkovich indefinitely. Inhabiting him over the next eight months, he makes Malkovich into a world-class puppeteer and marries Maxine, who becomes pregnant. On Malkovich’s 44th birthday, Lester and Lotte kidnap Maxine. They call to demand that Craig leave Malkovich, threatening to kill Maxine, but he hangs up. In desperation, Lotte attempts to shoot Maxine, who escapes into the portal. She is pursued by Lotte through Malkovich's shame-ridden subconscious before they are both ejected. Maxine confesses that she kept her unborn child because it was conceived while Lotte was in Malkovich's mind, and the women cement their love for each other.

Craig, believing Maxine is still in danger, leaves Malkovich's mind, allowing Lester and his friends to enter. Discovering that Maxine has discarded him for Lotte, a vengeful Craig reenters the portal to take back Malkovich’s mind, but the doorway has passed on, leaving him trapped in the mind of a newborn girl. Seven years later, an elderly Malkovich, now a hive mind, tells Sheen about their plan to extend their lives via the portal, which now leads to the mind of Emily, Maxine's daughter – in whom Craig is permanently trapped, forced to watch Lotte and Maxine live happily together.