http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/14/movies/enemy-stars-jake-gyllenhaal-twice.html
When Your Twin Is Far More Interesting--
‘Enemy’ Stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Twice By A. O. SCOTT
MARCH 13, 2014
The double is an ancient and irresistible literary theme, especially beloved by philosophically minded scaremongers like
Edgar Allan Poe, whose tale
“William Wilson” is a concise classic on the matter. The idea of a second self — who might be the manifestation of madness, an allegory come to life or the result of a supernatural glitch in the order of things — is both frightening and fascinating. Movies make the conceit literal with the simple trick of using the same actor in two roles. Who can forget the two
Kim Novaks driving
James Stewart around the bend in
“Vertigo”?
In
“Enemy,” Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of a novella by the Nobel Prize-winning Portuguese novelist
José Saramago,
Jake Gyllenhaal plays two uncannily identical residents of an unnamed Canadian city. They are physically identical, in any case, but temperamentally distinct in ways that begin to suggest
Dr. Jekyll and
Mr. Hyde, to name another famous literary pair. And the question that haunts the film is whether they are really different people at all, or just sides of a single disordered personality.
Mr. Villeneuve is for the most part less interested in solving that puzzle than exploring its implications, especially for
Adam, the first guy we meet. He is a history professor who seems to lead a solitary, disciplined and less than entirely happy life. He lectures his students on
Hegel and returns to the spare, high-rise apartment where he is sometimes visited by his girlfriend, Mary (Mélanie Laurent). One night, while watching a DVD, Adam spots an extra who looks exactly like him. After a bit of Internet stalking — and some of the more traditional kind — he finds his way to
Anthony, who lives in a better-furnished high-rise apartment with his pregnant wife,
Helen (
Sarah Gadon).
The resemblance between the two men is so precise that when Adam telephones Anthony’s house, Helen mistakes him for her husband. Anthony wears a beard, drives a motorcycle and favors leather jackets and sunglasses, whereas Adam is strictly a corduroy-jacket and Volvo kind of guy. He also seems a little nicer than his double, though perhaps not as much fun to be around. In any case, much of the fun in “Enemy,” which is tightly constructed and expertly shot, lies in Mr. Gyllenhaal’s playful and subtle performances. He was the best, most enigmatic part of
“Prisoners,” Mr. Villeneuve’s somber thriller from last fall, and he continues to refine his quiet, watchful presence into a powerful and idiosyncratic acting style.
Whether “Enemy” transcends its own gimmickry is an open question and may in the end be beside the point. Its style is alluring and lurid, a study in hushed tones and yellowy hues, with jolts of anxiety provided by loud, scary music (by
Danny Bensi and
Saunder Jurriaans). You may be left wondering about the giant spiders and the underground sex club that resembles an out-of-town tryout for an
“Eyes Wide Shut” stage revue, but you also might feel cheated if loose ends were tied up too neatly. There is only so much sense a movie like this needs to make, and this one succeeds in being divertingly clever and effectively creepy.
