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Dead Ringers (1988)

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37 out of 41 people found the following comment useful :-
Typically Cronenberg but yet accessible as well; a great script and plot is made all the more compelling by the director and two fantastic performances from Jeremy Irons, 19 September 2004
Author: bob the moo from Birmingham, UK

Growing up together as social outcasts with only each other for company, twins Elliot and Beverly Mantle become very close. This closeness becomes more like them both sharing one self in two bodies as they study in the same area and eventually become experts in the field of gynaecology. They share everything and few can tell them apart; an arrangement that works well until Beverly falls for a patient (Claire Niveau) and finds that there are things he doesn't want to share with Elliot. As Bev confronts the idea of them being separate for the first time ever, he starts to fall apart mentally and, when Elliot tries to reach out and help him he too is drawn into confusion over identity and an inability to find where one of them stops and the other starts.

Being a Cronenberg film I knew to expect body horror and, shall I say, an 'unusual' theme and in many ways the film delivered in spades but in a much more cerebral fashion. The plot is not easy to explain but it is a totally convincing breakdown of both Elliot and Beverly as they lose contact with the lines between them (if the lines ever really existed). Of course it is rather extreme but it is relentlessly interesting in terms of the script and the characters. The gynaecological part of the film allows Cronenberg to explore his more usual body horror stuff but this all came second to the much more interesting material that exists in the script. Cronenberg appears to be as fascinated as me by the characters and he directs with a cold eye, letting the creepy atmosphere come from not only the story but every shot, every set and every performance; not only this but this is one of his more accessible films without losing much of what makes Cronenberg Cronenberg.

Of course a massive part of the film working is two perfect performances from Jeremy Irons, who I have not seen better in any other films. Using special effects as well as the old 'over the shoulder' technique, Irons is able to convincingly be on screen in two characters at the same time, but it is not the shot framing that makes it convincingly two characters, it is Irons' performance that does that. His Beverly is so feeble and has a convincing breakdown; while his Elliot appears much more together but suffers in a different way from the same struggle. Obviously being identical, it is due to Irons that the two characters come across so very different but yet seem just like the same person. In every little scene he manages to stay in character no matter what – it's hard for me to describe, you need to really see it for yourself. Bujold is good in support early on but, as the twins' story gets more complex, her characters feels a bit intrusive and uninteresting, but generally she is good. However, to talk about anyone beyond this is to suggest there is room for them in the film – there isn't. Instead the film is pretty much dominated by two people – and they are both Jeremy Irons, producing two great performances that were vital for the film to work.

Overall this may be a little too weird for some viewers but many more will find it to be one of their favourite Cronenberg films on the basis that it has the qualities that makes him him but is also a lot more accessible as well. The body horror is there in the background but it is the psychological scarring and confusion that is of much more interest; the script is great even if the plot goes to the usual Cronenberg excesses but it is two perfect performances by Irons that makes it all come together in a compelling and interesting film.

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28 out of 35 people found the following comment useful :-
Gold instrument intrudes your soul, 12 September 2004

Author: a---n---t from Northern England

To date, Cronenberg's deepest film.

Jeremy Irons summons a performance of profound complexity, to pull off a double-act so credible that your feelings are divided, twin egg-like, between two characters. The polar-opposite attraction/repulsion of each brother's personality shines through in his every scene - to flesh out two characters so distant yet so deeply intimate, and do it so convincingly, requires more than acting, and this is by far his finest moment.

I can't say any more about this film other than that seeing it is a life-enhancing experience. Anyone who has ever taken potent substances with a close friend, as a kind of emotional rite, will be moved beyond words by the twins' climactic scene.

Never mind the detractors who say it's cold and clinical and abusive - they just don't understand it. There is love, warmth and beauty in abundance in this film - a horror film? A psychological thriller? A love story? Don't try and give it a name and place, it's just an essential part of understanding us: as adults; as children; as weird, fathomless organisms.

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24 out of 28 people found the following comment useful :-
"No, you're right, he's not alone- but he's lonely. Even with me.", 4 March 2002

Author: latherzap from USA

While I like "The Brood" quite a bit, Dead Ringers gets my vote as Cronenberg's best work.

Follow along as the twin brothers spiral out of control when they unsuccessfully try to break free from each other. Although it's not without some humor, Dead Ringers is very bleak. It has an emotional intensity that most movies can't touch. It is sad AND beautiful.

The movie itself *looks* great. Good script, and AWESOME performances from both Irons and Bujold. As another reviewer suggested, watch it twice if you don't like it the first time- it might grow on you.

This is my all-time favorite movie.

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23 out of 29 people found the following comment useful :-
Deep meaning and stylish art by Cronenberg., 10 June 2005

Author: lost-in-limbo from the Mad Hatter's tea party.

Elliot and Beverly Mantle (Jeremy Irons) are identical twins that are top-of-the-class and incredibly well known gynaecologists. They also treat themselves by swapping their identities around, so they can share each other's work commitments and pleasures, like woman. But all of this comes back to destroy them emotionally and physically.

An intriguing and rather inventive premise director / co-writer David Cronenberg has come up with here. The worlds Cronenberg creates in his film's are rather fascinating in looking at the human body and technology. This film is no exception. So you can't really call this mainstream, as it's not for everyone's tastes. That's why his films seem to have great impact in the realistic visuals and material context. It's flowing with originality, good psychological elements, erotica and it holds such an artistic feel with its stunning visuals and elegance to show.

This thought-provoking drama is rather stimulating and quite downbeat. Though, it's mostly a talkative film; the dialogue is dense on many levels that it's truly captivating. It's more the material context that tries to shock and explore in a subtle way rather than the horrific visuals and shocks that we come to expect from most of Cronenberg's films. It doesn't contain much graphic moments, only about one or two. The sub-plots are drawn up quite well with dabbling in sexual desires and pleasure, technology (instruments and tools of the trade), the twins physical bond, addiction and a rather modernistic world. It's filled with sharp and intense sequences that are entrenched with an effective music score, as it overwhelmingly draws you in. This unsettling aurora builds into paranoia in the last half of the film and it ends rather disturbingly. The stylish production valves are incredibly glossy and professional. With beautifully crafted and slick cinematography. The gloomy colours that fill the screen hold great contrast in the moody and detail backdrop. From their fashionable home to their cold work office.

Jeremy Iron gives a tremendously charismatic performance playing both Elliot and Beverly Mantle. Elliot is Beverly's backbone as he's confident and arrogant. Beverly is the opposite as he's more innocent and rather sweet. Beverly wants to break the bond that they share, but Elliot can't let that happen. At first they weren't that likable, but the further the film goes along we see their downfall and there spiral into madness. That's when you start to feel for them and it gets rather emotionally charged. They also live and depend on each other, feeling what the other one feels and that's mostly pain and gloom here. This happens when they start to depend on painkillers and Beverly believing his girlfriend is cheating on him. This portrait shows how fragile they really are and how we really depend and feel when love ones are in pain and sorrow. As we are effected in the same way too. Genevieve Bujold is splendid as Claire Niveau the movie star and Beverly's love interest.

Maybe the film was a bit overlong, but this is a shockingly grim and efficient film that plays on many levels of the mind.

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21 out of 26 people found the following comment useful :-
"Separation Can Be A Terrifying Thing", 24 January 1999
Author: Michael Coy (michael.coy@virgin.net) from London, England

Identical twin brothers Beverly and Elly Mantle are successful gynaecologists in Toronto. Their relationship is intense and very close - perhaps too close. The Mantles experiment with sex, drugs and personal identity, to the detriment of their practice, and ultimately of their psychological health.

This is a David Cronenberg film, so we are in the familiar realm of horror, mind games and perverted science. The director/producer/writer appears in the credits above the title and even ahead of his stars, Irons and Bujold. Essentially, the 'dead ringers' of the title are the brothers, who regard their mental and emotional oneness as being something more. They see themselves as siamese twins, bound by their flesh, and fated to share every experience, even unto death.

Irons does wonders to play two complex characters in one movie. A new technique called 'motion control' allows the actor to appear as two people in the same frame, but there is also plenty of the old 'body double' method, filming over a shoulder, then reversing the angle.

As teenage boys, the Mantle twins are clearly very bright, and display a precocious interest in surgery and women's reproductive apparatus. They are also creepy geeks. By the late 1980's they are handsome forty-somethings, and hailed as brilliant gynaecologists by everyone in the medical profession.

The screen actress Claire Niveau becomes Elliot's patient, and the brothers are soon sharing her. They frequently swap places without her knowledge. She has a unique uterus, and as Beverly (or is it Elliot?) explores this feature with his fingers, it is difficult to tell whether he is examining her or masturbating her. Before long, both brothers are doing both to Claire.

Elliot is a few minutes older than Beverly, microscopically taller and a nuance darker in colouring, but by nature he and 'baby brother' are utterly different. While Beverly is shy and diffident, Elliot is a callous, manipulative smoothie. When Claire, still unaware that she is sleeping with two men, expresses an interest in mild masochism, Beverly recoils but Elly enthusiastically obliges. He uses surgical tubes and clamps to tie Claire down for sex, and as he releases her after orgasm, we sense that for him the experience has been 'surgical' - almost a dispassionate experiment.

If Beverly is Jeckyll and Elliot is Hyde, we are always conscious that both personalities inhabit one awareness. "You haven't had any experience until I've had it too," Elliot tells Beverly, and the twins certainly seem to share everything, treating each other's patients (without telling the patients, of course) and working in tandem on research papers. The twins have a twin obsession in common - work and sex. Beverly sums it up with, "We do women - that's our speciality."

Identity is at the core of this film, and the dualities and ambiguities of personality recur with brain-teasing frequency. The twins are interested in female genitalia, both professionally and recreationally. Claire attracts them because of her dualities - she is a big personality who adopts other personas for her work: a strong woman who is turned on by being submissive: a gynaecological 'star' who happens to be infertile: and the French Canadian 'twin' to the English Canadian brothers. Elliot sleeps with two call-girls who are twin sisters, and identifies them by getting each to call him either 'Bev' or 'Elly'. The film has layer upon layer of these dualities. Genevieve Bujold is a French Canadian actress playing a French Canadian actress. We see her being made up for a movie, but when we see her left side, the make-up is of cuts and bruises. The Mantles prescribe drugs to each other, and each to himself, criss-crossing the doctor/patient demarcation lines. They take pills to cure their addiction to pills. Cary is having a relationship with Elliot, but when she gets both brothers at once, she is deeply aroused. The film, like the brothers, oscillates between oneness and separation. "I want to see you two together," says Claire, confused by their duality. So do we.

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8 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
Irons in his two best screen performances!, 22 October 2005

Author: christopher-underwood from Greenwich - London

A very fine film that challenges and rewards just about equally and somehow has a downbeat ending that manages to be uplifting. I suppose we have been through a lot by the end and although there is an horrific sadness there is an awful inevitability and we like the twin brothers can finally see no other way out. Bujold plays a starlet who comes between two identical twins (Irons in his two best screen performances!) and whilst the tale begins playfully enough we are given enough signals to suggest all will not be well, although we like all three leads do hope so. We see ourselves in the three and if at first we are confounded to discover we are confused by who is who, just when we have got the two under some control, like Bujold indeed, it all goes wrong and the brothers switch personalities before our very eyes. This is all disturbing enough without the gynaecological instruments of torture and the playing with pain and pleasure leading us to some darkened room.

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12 out of 16 people found the following comment useful :-
"Dead Ringers" = Separation Anxiety?, 16 June 2005

Author: dee.reid from United States

I must admit that I have a bit of a fascination with identical twins, and I don't think I'm alone on this. We often wonder to ourselves about how life must be for those that are, being able to con others by one twin being able to pose as the other or one twin taking the blame for the other's misdeeds.

I first encountered a pair of identical twins when I was still in preschool and the concept has stuck with me ever since. So have the questions and the articulate pondering of how they can socialize in an environment as active as something, say, a public high school. How would they function? Normally, I would guess, but that's not enough for some, and director David Cronenberg also explores the concept of twins and has made a delicate and obsessive film that dives deep into its subject matter and doesn't relent in his hunt.

Cronenberg is a director with an impeccable track record of nasty, gore-laden and brilliant horror and sci-fi movies that many times serve a greater purpose other than grossing out the audience. To paraphrase his IMDb biography, his works are often metaphors for larger social questions that are left up to the viewer to answer. Hence, this in no way makes his work easy to grasp or understand; it may take repeated viewings, but the pieces will eventually fall into place.

Let's reflect: "Videodrome" (1983) explored the notion of reality-morphing television and technology and its fusion with human flesh - as witnessed by a man whose obsession with a strange television signal warps his perceptions of reality and he literally becomes a media assassin, as well as a human VCR with a vagina-like slit in his stomach to which a video cassette could be inserted; "The Fly" (1986) displayed the agonizing process of slow death and the effect it has on those involved - showcased by a woman having to watch her lover, a brilliant scientist whose DNA is mixed with that of a common housefly, waste away into something more terrifying; Cronenberg's third work of genius at this time, 1988's "Dead Ringers," dissected duality, that two separate minds can possibly equal one whole body or personality. Cronenberg explored each of these with graphic special effects and detailed and imaginative storytelling, both of which earned him the love and following of many fans and essayists.

Here, in "Dead Ringers," Cronenberg explores this issue of duality, and the possibility that two individual personalities, twin gynecologists Elliot and Beverly Mantle (Jeremy Irons, in a hefty and confusing performance), are actually halves of a whole. Elliot is the smooth ladies man - confident, bright, highly sexual. Beverly is the more secretive one - confused, lonely, desperate.

Based on supposedly true events and a book called "Twins" by Bari Wood and Jack Geasland, both men share each other's secrets, lives, patients, and sexual conquests of women. Sex comes up a lot in Cronenberg's film, and he uses it as a joke between the two twins: "You'd still be a virgin if it weren't for me," quips the extrovert Elliot to the introvert Beverly. Elliot and Beverly live together, but live as each other and can't live without each other; they would rather die than be separate.

Things become complicated for them both when Beverly begins romancing a desperate actress named Claire Niveau (Genevieve Bujold), and for once he begins to come out of his shell when he finds that he's falling madly in love with her. She eventually discovers that Elliot and Beverly are twins. Beverly attempts to win her back when she calls it quits to their relationship and eventually does, but where does this leave Elliot, the smoother of the Mantle Brothers?

It's not enough that Beverly is also hounded by a rather ghastly dream and he eventually begins down a tragic spiral of drug addiction, as does Elliot, who says that they share the same body and mind. The two brothers then begin attempts to "separate," which will have tragic consequences for both of them.

Cronenberg has a knack for getting commanding performances from his players and "Dead Ringers" is no exception. Irons puts on a confusing and masterful performance as both Mantle twins, as the film really makes you believe you're watching two men (when it's actually one man interacting with himself). Cronenberg utilizes extraordinary split-screen technology, body doubles, and editing to make you think Irons has a twin that nobody's ever seen before. (P.S: One should also be on the lookout for a real-life pair of twins: a young, pre-"Law & Order" Jill Hennessy and her sister Jacqueline in brief cameo roles as two female escorts.)

Hardcore Cronenberg fans will definitely find "Dead Ringers" rewarding, if not lacking. You know what I'm talking about: gore, oh, delicious, explicit carnage and gore. Well, if one is a gorehound, you'll be disappointed but a more observant hound will find their desserts in the psychological gore that makes up for much of what's normally missing in this picture. The graphic gynecological surgical instruments, one particular dream sequence, and the ending "surgery" will definitely make those thirsty for blood + guts crave for more.

"Dead Ringers" shows David Cronenberg at his artistic best; I've waited a long time to see this movie and I myself was not disappointed in the slightest. If "The Fly" is considered his greatest film, then "Dead Ringers" shows him at his most mature as a director. This picture allowed Cronenberg to begin real work in mainstream cinema and also allowed for him to get the respect of other great directors (I've heard that Martin Scorsese has a lot of admiration for him).

David Cronenberg's theatrical masterpiece - "Dead Ringers."

8/10

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12 out of 16 people found the following comment useful :-
difficult to get into, but once it takes hold..., 13 August 2003

Author: Jonny_Numb from Hellfudge, Pennsylvania

David Cronenberg is a director of great unique vision, and he ranks highly on my list of favorites, not because every film he does is great per se, but because there is a certain level of consistency and quality that infects each bizarre celluloid mutation he comes up with. David Lynch and Stanley Kubrick have done a few good films, but their track records are generally inconsistent--Cronenberg, while grossly underrated, outshines them all. And "Dead Ringers"--probably his most widely-praised film in the mainstream, next to "The Fly"--is no exception. The film is quite puzzling on first inspection, and I did have a hard time settling into the mentality that would let me enjoy it, but once I did, I was thoroughly impressed--whether playing the smarmy Elliott or the sensitive Beverly Mantle, Jeremy Irons gives a wonderfully nuanced performance as identical twin gynecologists (the subtleties of difference in personality command multiple viewings to register). Not only is the film's central theme both compelling and disturbing (one personality split between two people), but the descent into (prescription) drug addiction and botched gynecological procedures (with Cronenberg's trademark insect-like surgical instruments) will make your skin crawl. It's a bleak, depressing, and tragic tale, but it shows brotherly relations with an intimacy few films ever approach. Anchored by Irons' spectacular dual performance, "Dead Ringers" is a film that shows a lot of maturity on Cronenberg's part, and though it might be hard to call it 'entertaining,' it does contain harsh imagery with an emotional pulse that will not be easily forgotten.

7/10

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13 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
My favorite Cronenberg movie!, 24 January 2006

Author: Pete Tha GEEK! from Copenhagen, Denmark

Even though there is much less blood and deformities in this than in Cronenberg's earlier movies it is still one of his creepiest. No one can ignore the fact, that two twins who work as gynecologists and have a weird almost incestuous relationship, are both unpleasant and fascinating to watch. Jeremy Irons have his two best performances as both of the brothers with each different personalities. Elliot is charismatic and open while Beverly are closed up and misanthropic. Two sides of one personality. Even though Beverly could get along with the girls by himself (for an example do one of Elliots many mistresses want him) he always take over the costumers who Elliot seduce. A Hollywood actress come in between the two brothers. Beverly is desperately in love. He become addicted to drugs and become more and more insane. He start inventing special gynecologists tools for "mutant women". But what are happening with Elliot now? DEAD RINGERS are heavy on nasty moments. And it is the real deal! The birthday party is a stand out that you have to see to believe. I love anything in DEAD RINGERS. No one can make movies like Cronenberg!

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9 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
Twin-terror, 21 September 2004

Author: Coventry from the Draconian Swamp of Unholy Souls

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

(Small spoilers throughout the entire review)

David Cronenberg's Dead Ringers is a thriller that makes the blood chill, but in a completely different way than his previous 'The Fly'. Dead Ringers is an emotionally and psychologically devastating film focusing on the exclusiveness of twins and their (supposable) telepathic interaction skills. Master actor Jeremy Irons stars in a double-role as Beverley and Elliot Mantle. At age nine, they're intelligent kids (the part where they ask the bitchy neighbor girl to have experimental sex with the both of them is great) and they grow to be brilliant med school students. In a further life-stadium, they're brilliant gynecologists with an own clinic. Even though nobody can tell the difference between them physically, the two brothers have a very different personality. Elliot is the dominant, self-confident one while Beverley is the shy one who wouldn't even meet girls if it weren't for Elliot passing his ex-girlfriends to him. But then Beverley falls deeply in love with an actress who came to the clinic with gynecologic problems. After the painful mix-ups between the two brothers (Dead Ringers makes no problem out of exploiting the 'twin-brothers-share-the-same-girlfriends' topic) they form a steady couple, but when the actress hands over some of her showbiz's habits like drugs and kinky sex to Beverley, this seems to unleash mental madness that eventually has its impact on both brothers.

Dead Ringers is slow, stone cold and driven by depression and despair. In his typical and brilliant style, David Cronenberg tells the story without any form of emotion or sympathy for the brothers. His directorial approach is detached and it sometimes feels like he's shooting an ordinary scientific documentary. That certainly isn't a bad comment, though. In an unexplainable way, the cold and objective viewpoint is what makes this film so terrifying. Along with the outstanding performance by Irons, that is. He really succeeds in making both of his characters go through a lethal downward spiral of insanity. Dead Ringers is one of those films almost impossible to judge. Half of the time what you see are brilliant and half of the time you're too confused by it, but, in general, it's far too compelling and you refuse to give up understanding what the characters go through. This is psychological terror in its purest form!

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