Directed by: Dennis Villeneuve. Written by: Javier Gullon. Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Melanié Laurent, Sarah Gadon and Isabella Rossellini. Released on the 2nd January 2015
I do hope people go see Enemy, Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of José Saramago’s novel O Homem Duplicado, which translates as The Duplicated Man. It follows a Toronto based college professor named Adam (Jake Gyllenhaal), who lives a mundane and repetitive routine, livened up only by his nightly sexual encounters with Mary (Melanié Laurent). His suppressive paradigm of no-pleasure-whatsoever transcends to astonishment when he witnesses his exact look-alike as an extra in a movie. Learning his screen pseudonym to be Daniel St Claire, real name Anthony Claire, Adam tracks him down. Anthony (Yes, Gyllenhaal again) is also Toronto based, and a jobbing actor who has a six-month pregnant wife by the name of Helen (Sarah Gadon). His life is much more active and seemingly more involved than Adam’s is. When Anthony becomes aware of his doppelgänger, and finally meets him, the initial obsession Adam had disintegrates, and in a reversal of misfortunes, a more dangerous obsession ignites inside Anthony.
Enemy first premièred at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2013, though the distributors have been kicking their heels in the mean time as it has only just arrived over here. This might be to do with the film itself having its own doppelgänger in the form of Richard Ayoade’s The Double. If both movies were released simultaneously, it is arguable that they would have both faltered at the British Box Office, plagued by their own parallels. However, it is also arguable that Ayoade’s film would have survived this plague; its vaccination being the refreshing dark comedy that Enemy lacks. This is not to say that the film is not at all versatile; the formula of course is not original, but Villeneuve’s handling of his own puzzle takes us to previously locked levels. There are allegorical references to totalitarianism, which the director admits was purposeful, he says, ‘sometimes you have compulsions that you can’t control coming from the subconscious… they are the dictator inside ourselves’. I have to say, that this perception has some holes, one would think that a history teacher would recognise his own totalitarian state of mind when his individuality is compromised. Enemy also has palpable sexual themes – frustration but predominantly lust, which lie down at the forefront of Villeneuve’s sixth feature. This raw, carnal display reminded me most of Blue Velvet, though perhaps Isabella Rosselini’s role as Adam’s (and possibly Anthony’s) mother, swayed my reminiscence toward Lynch’s classic.
I did say, that I hoped people go see Enemy, and I do, because in spite of certain issues, it is a very well made movie, and Gyllenhaal is, as he has been in his last three performances, fascinating and fantastic in the lead role(s). It is a shame then, that the women in this film are vacuously written, as I feel Helen especially is the key to this intriguing story. Villeneuve’s film is opaque on the surface, though beneath the nebulous ‘double’ concept lies, I believe, a multi-stranded explanation. ‘Chaos is order yet undeciphered’ is a line from Saramago’s novel, and the film’s opening, but the chaos is decipherable. Both Adam and Anthony exist in the subconscious, yet only one of them is of conscious existence. My hypothesis is that Adam was in fact a failed movie actor, who is now a depressed history teacher living with his wife Helen, and both are at very vulnerable stages in their lives. I also feel that the story is being told through Helen’s eyes, which is why it is a shame her character isn’t more well founded. The representation of both Adam and Anthony are how she views her husband on a daily basis, and Mary is Helen’s paranoia of what Adam is seeking; a sexy and successful, no-strings-attached business woman. What we are seeing is in fact a mirage of what is developing in Helen’s psyche. Now my view could be way off the yellow brick road, but with a story that has so many tangled facets to it, there is no reason why this notion mightn’t be viable.
Talking of tangled (no not the Disney film), I must mention the giant spider. Its presence in Enemy is a metaphor for the unfurling events in the film. What is a metaphor of? Well at the beginning it is used in what appears to be a sex dungeon, where a female volunteer slides her foot in front of it, and it also appears in the denouement cowering in the bedroom, in replace of Helen. It could be a metaphor of either Helen being misunderstood; that Adam is being pushed away by her, but in fact she is just being vulnerable, rather than antagonistic. On a wider scale, or a world-wide-web if you like, it could serve as Adam’s position in this dictatorial regime that is his life, which is contextually relevant to Canada’s state at the moment, according to varied opinions. Adam is stuck in this web, unable to express his identity, which is why the failed-actor aspect of Anthony is pertinent, because acting is a freedom of expression.
Enemy holds a well woven narrative hiding inside it, ready to be unravelled by audience guess work. Gyllenhaal is proving to be a ready actor for Oscar consideration, although this film won’t be nominated, as it has been sporadically released over the world for the past year. Here’s hoping he gets a well deserved nod for Nightcrawler. Villeneuve shows his understanding of Toronto with understated class and style. His influences are particularly significant, with Dead Ringers beeping at me for the duration, with shades of Rosemary’s Baby cropping up also. Villenueve made Enemy before he went on to make Prisoners with Gyllenhaal, though in my opinion Enemy runs at a more consistent pace, and is overall my preferred film of the duo. It is a tale of identity, duality and causality, and their conscious existence in a subconscious mind.
For my next posts, I will be submitting The Seven Best Tom Cruise Films and, before that, I shall be gifting you lucky people with another Mini Movie Memo (and then an afterthought...) post. Keep your eyes peeled.
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