Everything that happens in The Spanish Prisoner is a trick. Every character, even the hobbling old lady you think is just a dress extra, is present for a purpose. Every remark, however apparently trivial, merits careful examination.

Introduction: Deceptive Appearances and Elusive Truths

If there is a theme that appears in all Mamet films and often tends to dominate and overwhelm other distinctive themes that permeate his body of work in American cinema, that theme is ‘deceptive appearances’ and the tendency of people to misinterpret reality, often with dire consequences. Potentially every sequence, scene or even shot in a Mamet film can function as a smokescreen, hiding underneath a completely different layer of reality. And even when this deeper layer of reality is revealed underneath the surface, it is quite often the case that this is yet another smokescreen with reality and truth buried even deeper, to the extent that it becomes questionable whether reality is indeed accessible for characters and spectators alike. A good example of this is the scene discussed in the opening pages of this book. Joe Ross and Susan Ricci's verbal interaction on the plane to New York was originally perceived as Joe's attempt to ‘entertain’ himself by cultivating in Susan's mind the possibility of romance with him, only for this to turn out to be a precisely calculated move by Susan as part of her role in an elaborate confidence game designed to make Joe hand in his ultra-precious invention.