The Eleven O'Clock is a 2016 short film (13 minutes) from Australia, directed by Devin Seale.
A psychiatrist, one Dr. Terry Phillips, comes into his office and greets the temp secretary, Linda. Dr. Phillips says he can't find his work schedule and asks Linda what his next appointment is. It seems his 11 o'clock appointment is a man with a serious delusion: the man thinks that he is a psychiatrist.
Enter Dr. Nathan Klein, who strolls right past the distracted temp. Dr. Klein thinks that the office is his office and Dr. Phillips is actually his patient. The session spirals into chaos as each man tries to examine the other.
Tropes:
- Dramatic Irony: A lot of this in the final conversation between "Doctor" Phillips and the 12 o'clock appointment. The 12 o'clock responds positively to Dr. Phillips's advice to have confidence, saying "If you believe in something enough, it can become reality!". Then she says to the fake doctor, "The regular doctor, he has always made me feel crazy, but talking to you, I feel we're the same!".
- Dr. Psych Patient: Dr. Phillips is actually a disturbed man who imagines that he is a psychiatrist.
- Feet-First Introduction: A shot of clacking heels in the corridor of the office building signals the arrival of the permanent secretary, who is important, because she reveals who the real psychiatrist is.
- Foreshadowing:
- The fact that Linda the temp is a temp, and thus doesn't know who the real doctor is, turns out to be extremely relevant.
- Also foreshadowing is how Dr. Phillips can't find his appointment schedule and doesn't seem to know how to work his desk. It's not his office!
- Insistent Terminology: Each psychiatrist grows irritated when the other man addresses him as "Mister" and insists on being addressed as "Doctor".
- Meaningful Background Event: Look carefully when Dr. Klein is fiddling around the desk right after entering the office, and one can see the framed family photo, which gives away the ending of who the real psychiatrist is.
- Plot-Based Photograph Obfuscation: In the scene where Dr. Phillips at his desk is observing Dr. Klein walk into the office, a coffee cup with pencils in it is staged carefully in front of the photo on the desk. This is to avoid giving away The Reveal.
- Real Time: There's a short epilogue which reveals who the real psychiatrist was, but most of the film is a real-time conversation between Phillips and Klein.
- The Reveal: The closeup of the framed photo on the desk reveals that Dr. Klein, the second man in the office, is the real psychiatrist and "Dr." Phillips is the man with delusions.
- Title Drop: Dr. Phillips asks Linda "who's my eleven o'clock?".
- Word Association Test: The attempt at a word association test dissolves in confusion when each man keeps tossing out words for the other one to respond to.
