The Wisdom of Crocodiles 2000

In a world where love can be a deadly obsession, Steven Grlscz (played by a charismatic yet enigmatic figure) walks the fine line between desire and destruction. This reclusive vampire has a peculiar predilection - he can only sustain himself on the blood of women who have fallen deeply in love with him. To achieve this, Steven employs his cunning intellect to meticulously research each potential victim, manipulating their emotions until they succumb to his charms. However, this twisted game comes at a terrible cost: every time Steven takes a life, he must expel the physical manifestations of his victims’ dominant emotions - crystalline structures that pierce his very being like daggers. The agony is akin to passing kidney stones, prompting him to seek a perfect lover who can quench his eternal thirst and spare him this pain.

As Steven watches the police remove the lifeless body of one of his former conquests from a tree, he stumbles upon Maria Vaughan at the Waterloo Station of the London Underground. With an air of serendipity, he intervenes to prevent her attempted suicide and begins courting her with deliberate charm. The inevitable happens - she falls deeply in love with him - and Steven proposes, only to reveal his true nature by inviting her into the intimacy of his bedroom, where he drains her life away.

The aftermath of Maria’s death is marked by a series of eerie events. A bystander notices Steven’s van, which sparks a chain reaction that eventually leads the police to his doorstep. Meanwhile, Maria’s corpse washes up on an illegal fishing boat, prompting Steven to summon the authorities. The visit from two detectives - the seasoned lead Inspector Healey and his trusted sidekick Sergeant Roche - sets off alarm bells in Steven’s mind.

As he navigates the complexities of human relationships, Steven becomes fixated on Anne Levels, a free-spirited engineer whose independence and whimsical nature captivate him. He woos her with an air of mystery, although Anne is quick to sense that something is amiss. Unbeknownst to her, Steven has already caught the attention of Inspector Healey, who remains suspicious of his suspect despite Steven’s innocent facade.

The plot thickens when Inspector Healey and Sergeant Roche follow Steven and Anne after a dinner date, only to be ambushed by a gang in the Underground. The leader of the group pilfers Healey’s crucifix, a sentimental gift from his wife, but Steven intervenes, using his persuasive powers to calm the situation and ensure Healey’s safe passage. While this act of heroism seems to have earned him some goodwill with the authorities, Healey’s wariness towards Steven remains unchanged - a cautionary tale that even the most seemingly altruistic actions can be motivated by hidden agendas.

As Steven’s bond with Anne deepens, a subtle yet profound shift takes place within him. His extraordinary healing abilities begin to wane, as if the very fabric of his essence is slowly unraveling. A minor laceration, once a trivial matter, now stubbornly refuses to heal, its open wound a tangible manifestation of Steven’s inner turmoil. Meanwhile, Healey’s relentless pursuit of justice yields a breakthrough: a grainy photograph of the van’s driver, though a glare renders Steven’s face all but invisible. Despite this obstacle, Steven is summoned for a police lineup, where a toll operator he had earlier encountered serves as an eyewitness. However, when questioned by inspectors, the witness’s recollection falters, his memories muddled by the sheer volume of people he had interacted with that day. The inference lingers that Steven might be somehow responsible for this cognitive haze, given his uncanny ability to perceive the world through a one-way glass, as if he possesses an intuitive understanding of the inspectors’ thoughts.

As tensions escalate, Anne and Steven are brutally attacked by the Underground’s enforcers, who demand Anne in exchange for Steven’s freedom. With calculated deliberation, Steven acquiesces to their demands, allowing himself to be taken from Anne’s side. However, as he gains distance from his captors, he seizes the opportunity to overpower them and rescue Anne from their clutches. The couple spends the night together, and in the warmth of each other’s company, Steven finds himself surrendering to the depths of his emotions, genuinely falling for Anne. As they converse into the night, their discussion turns to a fascinating psychological concept: the notion that humanity possesses three distinct mentalities – the human mind, the mammalian mind, and the reptilian mind – with the latter representing our most primal, survival-driven instincts.

Anne shares a poignant childhood anecdote with Steven, asking whether her actions were motivated by her “horse” or “crocodile” mind. This intimate conversation serves as the genesis for the film’s title, a phrase that echoes through the narrative like a mantra. As Steven navigates his daily life, he is confronted by Healey, who reveals that he is no longer considered a suspect in Maria’s murder. Though Healey personally harbors doubts about Steven’s innocence, their philosophical exchange provides insight into the complexities of good and evil.

In a symbolic gesture, Steven returns Healey’s crucifix to him, reclaiming an object that had been taken from the Underground gang. As the stakes continue to rise, Steven finds himself poised at the threshold of a new reality, one where his love for Anne and his connection to the world around him are inextricably linked.

As the sun dips below the horizon, Steven’s life is forever changed by a phone call from Anne, whose insistent tone demands that she pay him a visit. When she arrives at his apartment, Steven attempts to satiate his thirst by drinking from her, just as he had with Maria before her. However, instead of succumbing to his vampiric desires, he finds himself unable to proceed. The weight of his secrets finally becomes too much for him, and he confesses the truth to a shocked Anne, revealing that he is slowly dying due to his inability to feed on the blood of someone who loves him in return. Despite the danger and the knowledge of his past transgressions, Anne decides to remain by his side, determined to nurse him back to health.

As Steven’s body begins to succumb to its insatiable hunger, he informs Anne that he has run out of bandages and sends her on a mission to procure more. However, she returns sooner than expected, only to find Steven preparing to finally take the life he so desperately craves. His pursuit of Anne takes them to the rooftop, where she claims that any love they once shared is now long gone. Undeterred, Steven argues that even if her heart no longer beats with affection, her blood still holds a residual spark of their past connection. Rather than succumb to his fangs, Anne makes a desperate bid for freedom by leaping from the rooftop. Although Steven manages to grab hold of her arm, Anne retaliates by using her trusty metal chopstick - an object that had previously served as both hairpin and good luck charm - to jab at his hand with deadly precision.

As the pain courses through his veins, Steven’s screams pierce the night air, but he refuses to relinquish his grip on Anne. With a Herculean effort, he pulls her back to safety, only to watch as she departs from him, leaving behind a trail of devastation. In the aftermath of their tumultuous encounter, Steven retreats to his study, surrounded by sketches of all the women whose lives he had previously claimed over the centuries. As the darkness closes in around him, he finally succumbs to his wounds, his mortal coil extinguished as the last rays of light fade from his eyes.