Enemy (2013)

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Screenplay: Javier Gullón (based on the book by José Saramago)

Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Sarah Gadon, Mélanie Laurent 

Music: Daniel Bensi, Saunder Jurriaans

Time: 90 minutes

Bottom-line: An eerie thriller, with too many convoluted interpretations

Denis Villeneuve’s second Hollywood film after Prisoners­, Enemy is a psychological thriller with several David Lynchian surreal bits mixed with it. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal – in one (or two, rather!) of his best performances yet – Sarah Gadon and Mélanie Laurent, the film starts out with a simple plot, but eventually uses a lot of subtle hints and psychological interpretations to give a story that leaves you wondering what the hell you just saw.

 

Gyllenhaal as Adam (left) and Anthony (right); the
picture shows the difference in their traits - Adam
being cowed into submission by Anthony

Chaos is order yet undeciphered.

Toronto: Adam Bell (Gyllenhaal) is a college history professor, who seems to lead a dull life: he has a blank face, drooping shoulders, and even his girlfriend, Mary (Laurent) can’t seem to cheer him up much. Following the advice of a friend, he rents a movie, and spots his physical doppelganger – a man named Anthony Claire, who has done very minor roles in just three films. As he tracks down Anthony, he finds that they are identical in every way – even sharing a scar on their chest. However, Anthony is hot-headed and craves for sexual pleasures, and has a (very) pregnant wife, Helen (Gadon). What starts out as a simple search for a man turns into a nightmare for everyone involved.

 

Laurent as Mary

There have been numerous films made about twins – including several where the fact that there are twins involved is the plot twist. In Enemy, the plot is not that great. The strong suits of the film are the anxious, suspenseful sequences, and the silent encounters between characters. The scene where the two doppelgangers meet for the first time is quite intense, and equally riveting are the ones where Helen meets Adam for the first time, and when Anthony follows Mary in the bus, and later when Adam and Helen meet again. I was hoping for more such bits in the plot, which could have been extended to well beyond 90 minutes.

Dialogues are kept to a minimum, and the silence itself is chilling. Most scenes are shot in a yellowish sepia hue, giving an eerie visual appearance. Villeneuve sort of expects us to guess what the gameplay of the characters would be, and while there aren’t any real “plot twists”, it is exciting to keep predicting what would happen the next instant, almost entirely through the second half. There are several explanations and interpretations of the plot, starting from the question of whether there are indeed two doppelgangers. Tarantulas are a recurring theme of the film, from the “unrelated” opening sequence in an underground room to the climax.

 

Gadon as Helen

Jake Gyllenhaal is simply outstanding in this film. He plays two polar-opposite characters – their behaviour, nuances, expressions and dialogues – perfectly. Usually, the dialogues and the context are the only things that tell the two characters apart. Gadon and Laurent have done well too – the former playing the troubled, worried wife, and the latter playing the innocent victim to the course of events that follow the meeting of the doppelgangers.

Now, you may have seen anti-climaxes, plot twists at the last minute, or the other extreme where you don’t know how to make sense of the ending. Enemy falls under the third category, but if there was ever an ending – the final image before the screen cuts to black – that will impact you like a train hitting a fishbowl, Enemy’s would be a top contender. It is not the most satisfying climax, but try getting that image out of your head!

My Rating: 3.5/5

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 75%