Enemy (2013 film)

Enemy
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Denis Villeneuve
Produced by	M.A. Faura Niv Fichman
Screenplay by	Javier Gullón
Based on	The Double by José Saramago
Starring	Jake Gyllenhaal Mélanie Laurent Sarah Gadon Isabella Rossellini
Music by	Daniel Bensi Saunder Jurriaans
Cinematography	Nicolas Bolduc
Edited by	Matthew Hannam
Production company	Mecanismo Films micro_scope Rhombus Media Roxbury Pictures
Distributed by	E1 Films (Canada) Alfa Pictures (Spain) A24 (United States)
Release dates	8 September 2013 (2013-09-08) (TIFF) 14 March 2014 (2014-03-14) (Canada) 28 March 2014 (2014-03-28) (Spain)
Running time	90 minutes[1]
Country	Canada Spain
Language	English
Box office	$3.4 million[2][3]

Enemy is a 2013 Canadian-Spanish psychological thriller film directed by Denis Villeneuve, loosely adapted by Javier Gullón from José Saramago's 2002 novel The Double.^[4] The film stars Jake Gyllenhaal as two men who are physically identical, but different in terms of personality. Mélanie Laurent and Sarah Gadon co-star as the romantic partners of the men. It was screened in the Special Presentation section at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival.^[5]

Enemy earned five Canadian Screen Awards, including Best Director for Villeneuve,^[6] as well as a Canadian Screen Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role for Sarah Gadon and Best Picture.^[7] It was named Best Canadian Film of the Year at the Toronto Film Critics Association Awards 2014.^[8]

Plot

A man attends an erotic show at an underground club that culminates with a naked woman on the verge of crushing a live tarantula under her platform high-heel. Elsewhere, a pregnant young woman sits alone on a bed.

Adam Bell, a solitary college history professor, rents a movie, Where There's a Will There's a Way, on the recommendation of a colleague. Adam sees an actor briefly; the man at the show. Verifying online, Adam identifies the actor as Daniel St. Claire, the stage name for Anthony Claire. Adam rents the other two films in which Anthony has appeared and develops an interest in the man, who appears to be his physical doppelgänger.

Adam's girlfriend Mary becomes troubled by the change in his behavior. Adam stalks Anthony, visiting his office and calling him at home. Everyone, including Anthony's pregnant wife Helen, confuses both. In a separate dream-like image, a giant spider lurks among the Toronto skyline.

Adam and Anthony eventually meet in a hotel room and discover they are perfectly identical; a scar both have appears on the left abdomen above the pancreas, but Adam is reserved and bookish while Anthony is hot-headed and sexual. After following Mary to work, Anthony confronts Adam, accuses him of impregnating Helen, and demands Adam's clothes and car keys in order to stage a sexual liaison with Mary, promising to disappear forever afterwards. Adam complies, and Anthony takes Mary to the hotel where the two men met. Meanwhile, Adam breaks into Anthony's apartment and sleeps with Helen, who seems to realize her partner is different and asks Adam to stay.

At the hotel, Mary panics when she sees Anthony's ring mark and demands to know who he is, as Adam does not wear a ring. She forces Anthony to drive her home, but the two get into a fight, and the car is involved in a high-speed crash, which presumably kills them both.

The next day Adam dresses in Anthony's clothes and finds the club key in a jacket pocket, ready to begin life as Anthony. Helen gets out of the shower and enters the bedroom. Adam asks Helen if she is doing anything that night and follows up the question by telling her he will be busy then. As he enters the bedroom, he beholds the now room-sized tarantula, frightened and cowered against the rear wall. Strangely, instead of being scared, Adam stares mute and sighs.

Cast

• Jake Gyllenhaal as Adam Bell / Anthony Claire
• Mélanie Laurent as Mary
• Sarah Gadon as Helen Claire
• Isabella Rossellini as Mother
• Kedar Brown as a security guard
• Darryl Dinn as the video store clerk
• Joshua Peace as Carl, Adam's colleague
• Tim Post as Anthony's concierge
• Misha Highstead, Megan Mane, Alexis Uiga as the Ladies in the Dark Room
• Jane Moffat as Eve (uncredited)
• Stephen R. Hart as Bouncer (uncredited)

Analysis

A review in Indiewire compared the film to Christopher Nolan's Memento, and called it an "engrossing Kafka-eque[sic] mindfuck cum provocative psychological thriller" that "doesn't reveal itself easily".^[9] Both director Villeneuve and leading actor Gyllenhaal spoke of their desire to make the film a challenging exploration of the subconscious.^[10][11][12] To Villeneuve, Enemy is ultimately about repetition: the question of how to live and learn without repeating the same mistakes.^[10]

Regarding the two physically identical characters: "You don't know if they are two in reality, or maybe from a subconscious point of view, there's just one," said Villeneuve. "It's maybe two sides of the same persona … or a fantastic event where you see another [self]."^[10] Gyllenhaal says that Enemy is "about a man who is married, his wife is pregnant, and he’s having an affair. He has to figure himself out before he can commit to life as an adult."^[11]

Forrest Wickman of Slate points out that the opening line of the film, "Chaos is order yet undeciphered" is from a line from José Saramago's The Double, the novel on which the film is based. Wickman suggests that Enemy is "a parable about what it's like to live under a totalitarian state without knowing it," and adds that the central irony is that even though the main character is an expert on the ways of totalitarian governments, he does not see the web that has overtaken the city until he is already stuck in it. To Wickman, Enemy suggests that this tendency to create totalitarian regimes is part of human nature, that it comes from within us;^[13] he cites Villeneuve's comment: "Sometimes you have compulsions that you can't control coming from the subconscious ... they are the dictator inside ourselves."^[13]

Reception

Enemy received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised Villeneuve's slick direction as well as its bleak atmosphere and mysterious nature of the story. It has a 75% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 86 reviews, and a rating average of 6.7 out of 10. The site's consensus states: "Thanks to a strong performance from Jake Gyllenhaal and smart direction from Denis Villeneuve, Enemy hits the mark as a tense, uncommonly adventurous thriller."^[14] The film also has a score of 61 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 26 reviews, indicating "generally favourable reviews".^[15] A.O. Scott, movie critic for the New York Times, wrote: "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... Its style is alluring and lurid, a study in hushed tones and yellowy hues, with jolts of anxiety provided by loud, scary music."^[16] Enemy was also praised by David Ehrlich of Film.com for having "the scariest ending of any film ever made."^[17]

Enemy opened in a single theater in North America and grossed $16,161, later expanding, with the widest release for the film being 120 theaters. It ended up earning $1,008,726 domestically and $2,388,721 internationally for a total of $3,397,447.^[2]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Enemy (film).

• Enemy at the Internet Movie Database
• Enemy at Rotten Tomatoes