Enemy (2013) Full Movie
A man seeks out his exact look-alike after spotting him in a movie.
Writers : José Saramago (novel), Javier Gullón
Stars : Jake Gyllenhaal, Mélanie Laurent, Sarah Gadon
Storyline
Adam Bell is a Toronto area History college professor. He is a rather somber man, largely because he is stuck in a routine, which includes a relationship with his live-in girlfriend, Mary. While watching a rental movie, he spots an actor in a bit part that looks like him. He becomes obsessed with finding out about this double of his. He learns that the actor's stage name is Daniel Saint Claire, whose legal name is Anthony Claire. Claire is a Toronto based actor with only a few on-screen credits, and is married to a woman named Helen who is currently several months pregnant. Adam then becomes obsessed with meeting Claire, who he learns upon first sighting that they look exactly the same, from the facial hair to a scar each has, but Claire who outwardly is more "put together" than Adam. Their lives become intertwined as Claire himself ends up becoming obsessed with Adam, but in a slightly different way.Reviews
Asking for your attention at all times, providing little clues in almost every sequence & still leaving you puzzled in the end, Enemy inclines more towards art house cinema than mainstream features and isn't going to please every viewer out there. It tells the story of a college professor living a mundane daily life who later seeks out his doppelgänger after spotting him in a movie thus setting in motion a chain of events which culminates with terrible consequences.
Directed by Denis Villeneuve (director of Incendies & Prisoners), Enemy is an ambitious work from the director who, of lately, has been steadily rising as one of the filmmakers to watch out for and is another fine feature in his bag. The writing makes a fine adaptation from the novel it's based on but also infuses more allegories & symbolism in the form of spiders into the script to keep the viewers guessing from start to finish.
Performances by the cast is very good with Jake Gyllenhaal playing the college professor & his lookalike movie actor with fine subtlety & the contribution by the supporting cast is strong as well. Cinematography captures the film with a very warm colour temperature blended with high contrasts along with excellent use of lighting. The background score has a pretty muted presence in here & editing has carefully structured the film with layers after layers of visual motifs.
One thing that'll bug its audience is if Jake Gyllenhaal characters are different persons or same. Other thing that'll leave them utterly confused is the ending if they still haven't figured out the meaning of spiders in the film. But hints are provided throughout its runtime & repeated viewings will only help in clearing those doubts. On an overall scale, Enemy is that brain-teasing cinematic ride which viewers would either risk to experience or reject it outright. Multiple viewings advised.
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