February 7, 2015 -- Back in November, I saw a movie based on a book called “The Double” in which a man struggles against his doppelgänger. I just saw another movie, also based on a book called “The Double” and it is also about a man struggling against his doppelgänger. What are the odds of this?

The movie I saw earlier, “The Double,” was based on a book of the same name by Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky. This latest movie, “Enemy” is based on “The Double” (original Portuguese title: O Homem Duplicado) by Nobel Prize-winning author José Saramago. As you might expect, these two films have some similarities, but I am not going to compare them here. Take this link to read the review of The Double.

In this film, a college teacher, Adam Bell (played by Jake Gyllenhaal of “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time”) watches a movie and in it, he sees an actor who looks just like himself. He feels compelled to track this actor down. Using the Internet and staking out the actor's management agency, he finds out the name and address of the actor, Anthony Claire (also played by Jake Gyllenhaal). The two men confront each other in a hotel room and discover they are physically identical. Anthony is far more aggressive, however and easily dominates Adam.

For a time, the two men circle each other warily, unable to understand how they could look so similar, but behave so differently. Anthony rides a motorcycle, while Adam drives a modest car. Adam has a girlfriend, Mary (Mélanie Laurent of “Now You See Me”) while Anthony has a pregnant wife, Helen (Sarah Gadon of “Dracula Untold”). Mary finds out about Adam and meets him at school. She is shocked to find out he looks and sounds exactly like her husband.

At one point Anthony insists on going on a date with Adam's girlfriend and Adam goes to Anthony's house, where he has sex with Anthony's wife. Adam's girlfriend, Mary, freaks out when she discovers Anthony is not Adam, but Helen seems at ease with Adam, and asks him to stay. That's not the only strange stuff going on in this film. There are also some giant spiders here and there.

So, what the heck is going on here? Well, I could explain all this stuff, but that is not the point of this review, except to say there is a plausible explanation for all this strange imagery and strange behavior. I took a look at Chris Stuckmann's (he does very good video reviews of films and games) explanation of this film on YouTube, and his elaborate explanation makes sense. For those who want it, the Stuckmann explanation of “Enemy” can easily be found on YouTube.

It's not a bad film. The acting is very good and the story is interesting enough, but I did feel the central characters themselves are weak. One is a wimp and the other is not quite as wimpy, but is a lot more sleazy. I did not really care what happened to them. In this kind of story I want at least one character to care about and this film doesn't provide one. Of these two similar films, I liked “The Double” more than this one. “Enemy” rates a C+.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in digital formats, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

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Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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