Director David Cronenberg returns to
Horrorfest with 1988's DEAD RINGERS. Jeremy Irons takes on double duty as a
pair of twin gynecologists who share both their private practice and their
women.
One of the twins, Elliot, is the smooth-talker
who gets the girls and accepts the awards. The other, Beverly, is the one with
smarts, who does all the hard work and research. Elliot owes his life and
career to Beverly, but Beverly couldn't get laid if he didn't go undercover as
Elliot.
An actress (Genevieve Bujold) visits the
practice because of her infertility but ends up in a relationship first with
Elliot, and then with Beverly, after Elliot passes her along. Beverly develops
feelings for the actress and they start a real romance. But Beverly wants to
hide the romance from his twin and his twin from his lover. Of course, he can't
hide forever, and it eventually all blows up.
The story is told with Cronenberg's usually
cold detachedness. Most of the horror comes from the exploitation of stuff that
already makes us squeamish – doctor's visits, particularly invasive and private
ones, like those involving our private parts, are very fertile ground for a
huge creep factor, especially when you bring in a couple of duplicitous twin
doctors.
The emotional core of the movie is in Jeremy
Irons' amazing performance. He's totally convincing as both brothers, able to
create two totally different characters while also allowing them to be similar.
The whole "twins" thing never really seems like a gimmick because of
this performance. Also, as the brothers go through changes – going into
depression, becoming delusional, getting addicted to drugs, getting drunk, etc
– Irons has the opportunity not to just to play two different people opposite
himself, but two different very complicated three dimensional people. That's
more than some actors get to do in their whole careers, let alone one movie.
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