Dead Ringers
The chilling story of identical twin gynecologists who share the same practice, same apartment and the same women. When a new patient challenges their eerie bond, they descend into a whirlpool of sexual confusion, drugs and madness.
Member Reviews
Amazing Movie - Very Original! - Delacroix
I would highly recommend this movie to people who like watching original movies. It also helps that Jeremy Irons is an amazing actor. The movie is something where one can't stop watching. Very different. Some may think it's weird but I think it is original. Probably one of the best Cronenberg movies.Better to talk about than to watch - Ubik
This is a very interesting movie, without ever really being an entertaining one. It has a brain, certainly, and it can be analyzed and thought about, but the actual experience of watching it is not a pleasant one. It's too aimless, and slow, and cold, and kinda depressing. It has two complex characters, played by a very impressive Jeremy Irons (we forget that he's not two actors), but the movie observes them from a vast distance, clinically, like a doctor, and so while we may be curious about them, we are never enthralled, or sympathetic. Their lives as twins are alien to us. They're too weird. We don't really care what happens to them, or feel anything for them. They're specimens.
The plot rambles. The first third or so seems focused, but as soon as the female character finds out the secret about 45 minutes in, the movie stalls, doesn't seem to know what it wants to do anymore. Maybe it wants to be a psychological portrait of a certain kind of brother relationship, but both people are so empty, in their respective ways, that there's nothing there, nothing to unearth.
Because this is a Cronenberg film, there are a couple of images that are very creepy, and memorable. The whole bit about the tools for mutant women is unforgettable, but it exists in a story with no heart, no purpose other than to be strange and cold. The story is strange but not compelling. It may be worth seeing to witness a fine performance from Irons, but I suspect you'll have had enough about a half hour before the movie ends.Subtle and nuanced, yet chilling and potent- Zip it! - iginlafire
I've worked my way through almost all of David Cronenberg's body of work, and I have to say I found "Dead Ringers" to be his best film by a fair margin.
I won't go on too much about Jeremy Irons' work in this one- he is simply outstanding. I thought Nicholas Cage in Adaptation did a fantastic job of portraying twin, but I hadn't yet seen this flick. Cage surely studied Irons' delicate balancing act that is so layered you can tell within a second or two which of the two brothers he is playing, even in a static shot or a scene with little dialogue. He says in the commentary that he used different energy points for the duo, playing Elliot "from the forehead" and Beverly "from the neck and shoulders." Whatever than means, he makes it work and his acting achievement in this film surely contributed to his Oscar the following year.
Cronenberg also dazzles technically. This had to be one of the first films to successfully use one actor to play two characters and have that actor appear side by side on screen in the same shot. All of that was done using a special split-screen computer/camera technique that does not look dated or amateurish at all. And in conjunction with his cinematographer, DC presents a modern world that fits in with the "surgical steel gynecological instruments for operating on mutant women" theme the movie gradually unfolds into (yes, you get some genuine eerie "DC" moments in this one!!). The sets and architecture are astounding, and many of the finer details (red surgical scrubs, the brothers' apt.) are meticulously delicious.
And take your pick from one of the multitude of themes in the film- psychosexual analysis, drug addiction, the interdependent nature of identical twins, delusional nature of depression, inner chaos, the doctor-patient relationship, or numerous others. You can definitely see why DC was attracted to the material.
Definitely worth a zip- some of the other reviews here are a little hard on this gem.
Member Reviews
Read All...
Amazing Movie - Very Original! - Delacroix
I would highly recommend this movie to people who like watching original movies. It also helps that Jeremy Irons is an amazing actor. The movie is something where one can't stop watching. Very different. Some may think it's weird but I think it is original. ...Better to talk about than to watch - Ubik
This is a very interesting movie, without ever really being an entertaining one. It has a brain, certainly, and it can be analyzed and thought about, but the actual experience of watching it is not a pleasant one. It's too aimless, and slow, and cold, and ...Subtle and nuanced, yet chilling and potent- Zip it! - iginlafire
I've worked my way through almost all of David Cronenberg's body of work, and I have to say I found "Dead Ringers" to be his best film by a fair margin.
I won't go on too much about Jeremy Irons' work in this one- he is simply outstanding. I thought ...