Plot
Adam, is a college professor who is in a repetitive life. He goes to work, he gets home, eats, makes love to his girlfriend, and does it over and over and over. One day he watches a movie, in which he spots an actor who is the spitting image of him – a man named Anthony who is married with a wife and baby on the way.
Adam soon goes hunting for him. When they both meet, how will they react? Will they be friends? Or will they each want what the other has?
Direction
I believe this is my first Denis Villeneuve film that I have reviewed, and I found this to be an abursdist style that I’m trying to be fond of. This was made the same year as another Villeneuve/Gyllenhaal project ‘Prisoners’ which I will be watching/reviewing later in the month.
I quite enjoyed his work behind the camera, it was very soft and easy to watch in way of colours etc, I found some of the harsher colours turned down a little to be a little easier – and almost gave a ‘soft/boring’ approach. This almost adds to a little bit of the uncomfort for the viewer, that the characters are going through on screen.
Cast/Characters
Jake Gyllenhaal, who since starting this review blog has become one of my favourite actors is brilliant here. Playing both Adam and Anthony – who are both very different character types. Adam is soft natured, with very low self esteem is polar opposite to Anthony, who is confident, and almost aggressively arrogant.
Mélanie Laurent as Adam’s girlfriend is sound. I found her a little underused.
Sarah Gaddon as Anthony’s wife has a little more to do – and she is the only one of the two ladies to discover that Adam and Anthony look alike – and later in the film – have a moment with Adam.
Isabella Rossellini as a tad underused as Adam’s mother, and I wish we got more of her. It would have been great if Anthony/Adam and her were able to have a scene together.
Screenplay/Setting/Themes
The themes here are hard to read into without really researching it, and if you are not able to really immerse yourself into the themes – you might struggle with this one… just like I did.
Repetition one theme, as Adam lives his life in the same monotonous cycle every day. He wakes up, eats, goes to work, makes love to his girlfriend. Repeat. While this would be satisfactory for most individuals – it seems like he wants more.
Spiders are also a key theme, and even after a deep dive into the analysis of what they could represent Adam’s fear of commitment, a misogynistic view of women, or the repeating the cycle of life for one of the men.
There is also the unanswered question of whether or not Adam and Anthony are two people, or are they the individual psyche of just one man?
Overall
The unanswered questions, the unusual narrative and the absurdist nature of the narrative, make this one of the hardest reviews I have written. I quite liked that it made me think so much, and hated that it made me think this much.
The ambiguity of the final moments of the film, make this a film worth to be watched, and hard to solve.
If you’re looking for a film that will leave you guessing, then this is for you. If you would rather just escape into a world and not think so hard, give this one a miss.
3.5/5
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Ryan's Movie Reviews 