Denis Villeneuve directed three intelligent films I enjoyed:
Incendies (2010),
Prisoners (2013) and
Arrival (2016), so I added
Enemy (2013) to my Netflix list. I watched it last night and came away baffled. It may be one of those films only the smartest folks get. It begins with a quote: “Chaos is order yet undeciphered,” which is from Nobel Prize winner José Saramago’s
The Double, upon which the film is based. The screenplay was adapted by Javier Gulon. The initial scenes are of some kind of kinky sex performance. Jake Gyllenhaal plays a history professor seen lecturing students on the workings of totalitarianism. His relationship with his girlfriend is strained. His world gets turned upside down when he spots his doppelganger in a DVD of a comedy. He tracks the actor down. Inexplicably, they are exact physically. The actor is a married womanizer who threatens the teacher and demands a tryst with the girlfriend. The teacher spends the night with the actor's pregnant wife. Throughout the narrative there are images of spiders and webs. One interpreter of the film suggests it's about living under a totalitarian state without actually knowing it. Another says it's about the subconscious and that the two characters are really one, a man struggling with his dark side. That makes sense. At one point the character says: “Control, it’s all about control,” as in self control. Villeneuve has been quoted as saying: “Sometimes you have compulsions that you can’t control coming from the subconscious … they are the dictator inside ourselves.” Interesting. Obviously, this is a film that should be watched more than once. It is one likely to be respected more than liked. 115,000+ users at IMDb have rated it, forging to a consensus of 6.9 on a scale of ten. How do I rate a movie I barely understood? I won't. Those who lack patience should stay away, as should those who want everything to make sense. The pace is often glacial and there is a lot of moping. Fortunately, it's only 90 minutes. Villeneuve is working on the long awaited sequel to
Blade Runner. It will be interesting to see what he does with it. I hope it's not as abstract as
Enemy. I gleaned ideas about its meaning from articles by Forrest Wickman at slate.com, and Amal Singh at thecinemaholic.com.
My thanks to local realtor Sue, who bought five CD's, Bocelli, Pavarotti, two compilations of music from mob movies, and another I've forgotten. That was the only sale of today's session. Not a single book sold, despite spectacular selection. My thanks to the super of the building next door to the Chase bank, who donated two useful works of non-fiction, and to the woman who dropped off a bag filled with best sellers and a couple of books by Kahlil Gibran.
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