ENEMY
DIRECTOR: Denis Villeneuve
CAST: Jake Gyllenhaal, Melanie Laurent, Sarah Gadon, Isabella Rossellini
CLASSIFICATION: 16 SN
RUNNING TIME: 90 minutes
RATING: ***
Jake Gyllenhaal is very good, creating two different characters in this tense and moody exploration of identity thrown into disarray.
He delivers a nuanced performance as two very distinct people in this elegant if rather morbid look at what makes up your self and how much of that is predicated on how others see you.
Adam Bell is a history college professor, a man of routine and sober habits who is stuck in a rut of flat, school, same moves with the girlfriend and then flat, school and more of the same. One day while watching a movie he notices an actor who looks just like him and tracks down this person, called Anthony Claire.
Anthony is an actor, an extrovert who takes care with his appearance, but comes across as careless with the feelings of others.
As Adam, Gyllenhaal evokes your sympathy, but as Anthony he is repelling, and it becomes disorienting once they start interacting and their lives become bizarrely entwined. Where Adam is alienated from those around him, Anthony is alienating despite his ostensible charm.
As Adam interacts with his mother (Rossellini) you start to question his reality and whether this isn’t just in his head. Between the eerie music and disquieting images a sense is created that there is more going on than meets the eye.
The ambient lighting is desaturated and the sun never shines on the highrise buildings which seem curiously devoid of people. Director Denis Villeneuve adds some surreal touches and the last scene makes you question just what happened.
You never get the sense, though, that either of the characters answer for themselves who they really are, or who the other is.
But, Villeneuve consistently creates a story of urban alienation and overall the tone will make you shiver.
If you liked Donnie Darko or Zodiac, you will like this.