Movie No. 47 (2014): ENEMY

Enemy (2013)
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Sarah Gadon, Melanie Laurent, Isabella Rossellini

What attracted me to see the movie was the director who also made the unforgettable Incendies, an Academy Award nominated film (Best Foreign Language Film). Watching the film at the point when I noticed the two characters played by the same actor (Jake Gyllenhaal) made me suspect something which, at first, I kept in my head. Later, I could even guess what would happen next. I was right: the movie was based on Jose Saramago's novel, The Double, which I read some years ago. I remember liking the novel. Then the disturbing ending of the novel resurfaced in my memory. 

The movie gets only the basic plot of the novel. The director takes the liberty of interpreting the novel as a thriller about the bizarre intertwining of the lives of doppelgangers. The director injects elements of surrealism in the narrative which, sometimes, makes it murky, but not in a negative way. What do you do when you meet someone who looks exactly the same as you, even mannerisms and the speaking voice? Sounds creepy. Yes, that's exactly how I felt when I read the novel and saw the film.

By the way, I'm not going to compare the book and the film. They are different media. I review Enemy as if I I haven't read the novel from which it was adapted, or loosely based. That way, I can only praise the way Denis Villeneuve presented the story in the medium called cinema. I have to mention also that the ending is something I didn't see coming.

Rating: 3.5/4.0

Date seen: July 24, 2014