Denis Villeneuve’s “Enemy” emphasizes style over substance and manages to become an enigmatic thriller that employs influences from David Lynch (“Eraserhead”) to David Cronenberg (“A Dangerous Method”).
Based on the Jose Saramago novel “The Double,” the film follows Adam Bell (Jake Gyllenhaal, “Prisoners”), a mild mannered history professor who teaches to apathetic, but obliging students. His day is begrudgingly routine; work, sex, sleep. The film covers much of the unknown city where the story takes place in a green cloud of haze and chooses to focus on much of the antagonistic architecture.
One afternoon, one of his colleagues suggests Adam watch a film that turns out to be a fanciful and feckless affair. What Adam doesn’t expect is to find an actor that turns out to be his doppelganger going by the fluffy stage name of Daniel Saint Claire. Adam investigates further finding that Saint Claire’s real name is Anthony and that he lives with the mother of his child-to-be Helen (Sarah Gadon, “Cosmopolis”).
As Adam apprehensively goes further down the rabbit hole of investigating his double, he encounters Anthony (also played by Gyllenhaal) in a musty hotel. They find virtually no difference between each other, down to similar scars and birthmarks, and Anthony weaves his way into Adam’s life; romancing his girlfriend Mary (Melanie Laurent, “Beginners”) and threatening Adam’s way of life.
Javier Gullion’s idiosyncratic and complex script also weaves in threatening ways utilizing an influence that was largely absent in Saramago’s novel. Spiders. And lots of them. Eventually, this exerts a sort of totalitarian influence on the film. Adam’s lectures expound upon the constructions of dictatorships, what they use to placate the masses (either by mass entertainment or virulent violence) as well as flat circles and repeating history.
“Chaos is order yet undeciphered” announces an opening scene in “Enemy.” It’s an answer and a foil. A clue and a key. What “Enemy” succeeds at is inducing an upsetting level of dread and this is namely due to Villenueve’s choice to shoot scenes similarly to a horror film.
The ending of “Enemy” is daring, surprising and unexpected. It also implies a foray into the world of science fiction where the uncanny is reality.
“Enemy” can unravel very disconcerting notions on the nature of totalitarianism; in which a society is ruled by inducing strong levels of apathy. It’s also fairly confounding leaving many questions unanswered, but “Enemy” is a film that invites repeat viewings.
It’s ending is daring and maybe some might even find it repugnant, though Villeneuve’s strong cinematic sense for building suspense, at the risk of losing the audience in the midst of the strange, recessive story, remains far more compelling.
