Confounding and twisty, “Enemy” makes for one of the most frightening films in years.
“Enemy,” an unnerving thriller about doppelgangers, by the director and star of “Prisoners,” entraps audience in a web of tension.
Denis Villeneuve shot this low-budget, mysterious and deeply discomforting thriller before his Oscar-nominated “Prisoners” with an all-star cast, and both films star Jake Gyllenhaal.
In “Enemy,” Gyllenhaal plays Adam Bell, a college history professor who always looks run-down and disheveled, drowning in his empty life. He has a girlfriend named Mary (Mélanie Laurent), but his life appears routine and meaningless.
When he comes into his classroom, his eyes look down at the floor and around the back of the room. He avoids connection with everyone in the world. In the faculty lounge one day, a fellow professor recommends a particular film without explanation other than saying it is uplifting. The vacant Adam barely musters a response.
However, the chronically unmotivated Adam has an itch to check out the film. He watches the DVD on his laptop late at night when Mary is asleep. He becomes transfixed by the film, with the light on his laptop shining into his eyes, making him appear possessed.
His demeanor changes when he sees an extra in the film that looks exactly like him. With a little research on his open computer he finds information about the man, who he learns is named Anthony St. Claire (also played by Gyllenhaal), an actor who has only done small parts and commercials. Fascinated by the discovery, Adam finds the agency Anthony works for.
After some snooping, he calls the actor’s home phone number, and his wife, Helen (Sarah Gadon), answers. She assumes it is her husband because they have the same exact voice. Adam gets to talk to Anthony and eventually convinces him to meet up.
“Enemy” is one of the most frightening films I have ever seen. It kept me in a knot, squirming in my seat for its entire 90-minute running time. This unease was not caused so much by specific scenes or moments, but the unnerving, oppressive dread drawn throughout from beginning to end. It plays with the viewers and lures them into a slow grip that only tightens.
Some will be unsatisfied by the ambiguous ending, which is open to interpretation, and when the end credits roll, do not be surprised to hear some rumbling in the theater.
It is a film that, if one goes along with the basic concept, is rather easy to follow besides its first and final five minutes. The film toys with the viewer so that it will probably take multiple viewings to get at its deeper meaning.
Gyllenhaal has rarely been more commanding on screen, and he has to be for the film to work. His two characters can always be told apart, even though they are mirror images. Adam is a normal nobody that the audience can follow, if not connect with emotionally, and this makes his unbelievable situation compelling. He becomes obsessive, but the steps he takes make sense — well, at least for a majority of the film. It gets pretty weird and menacing by the end.
There is a long history of twisty tales on screen that play with identity and doubles. Other doppelganger dramas include Roman Polanski’s “The Tenant” and David Lynch’s “Lost Highway” and “Mulholland Dr.”
All of these films make the viewer question if the main characters are actually the same person or fractured parts of one person’s psyche. The spider-and-web imagery in the film is freaky and confounding, but it is an apt metaphor, just one that takes some pondering.
“Enemy” is a sticky web that entrapped me from the beginning. Others will find it simply baffling and ludicrous.