Dead Ringers

Gynecological Instruments Above

Should the creepiness of a film like DEAD RINGERS deter anyone from seeing it? Does the fact that it is applicable to a small percentage of us in story no meaningless than the very point it tries to make? Like all of David Cronenberg's films, DEAD RINGERS is surely not for the faint of heart or the timid in spirit, but for those who can sit through it, the intelligence within the artistic delivery is clear.
Jeremy Irons, in 1988 special effects photography, plays twin gynecologists Beverly and Elliot. Both men are successful, and both men are very close to one another. In fact, Elliot, the dominant twin, has for years allowed the weaker Beverly to fulfill his sexual / physical desires by doubling himself to unbeknownst women. Also, it seems, the twins split certain responsibilities and tasks by flip of a coin logic. In the same fashion, the men are accoladed by the medical society. This is a balance that works for the twins, and their matter-of-fact approach to it adds to the enigmatic allure.
However, the arrival of an actress named Claire (Genevieve Bujold) shakes things up. Claire, who sought out the twins for their medical expertise, turns out to have three separate cervixes: which prevents her from having children. She begins an affair with Beverly, but it turns out to have been Elliot, and then it turns out to be Beverly (or Elliot?). Claire is horrified at her discovery that the men double each other for sexual purposes, but quickly comes back to the real Beverly who seems to actually be pining for the actress. However, this is a secondary desire: one that exists underneath the realization of an independent Beverly who isn't in need of his twin. This independence shoots Beverly into a drug craze, and this likewise shoots the previously dominant Elliot into a similar madness.
What is to admire here besides sheer filmmaking is Cronenberg's vision of similar selves. Beverly and Elliot, the twins, could just as well have been one conflicted person (consider the decision to make them be played by a singular actor). Furthermore, it is the fact that the film is based on the lives of real twin gynecologists Stewart and Cyril Marcus that make the film more intriguing. Cronenberg is obsessed with a fractured self. Here, with DEAD RINGERS, he has created an oblique vision of this idea. Although I admired the film a great deal, I still see A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, EASTERN PROMISES, and CRASH as better films. Still great.
Dead Ringers: ★★★1/2