Dead Ringers, 1988.
Directed by David Cronenberg.
Starring Jeremy Irons, Genevieve Bujold, Heidi von Palleske, Barbara Gordon, and Shirley Douglas.
SYNOPSIS:
Beverly and Elliot Mantle are a pair of identical twin brothers and gynecologists who run a highly successful fertility clinic in Toronto. After treating Claire, a famous film star, for fertility problems, the brothers begin a sexual relationship with the woman, alternating between each other, with her unaware of their misleading behaviour. As the relationship with Claire turns sour, the brothers soon fall into a dangerous spiral of addiction and madness that threatens to destroy their careers and their lives.
After a few gory action-packed entries, I think it’s time we slow things a bit and take look at some horror that’s a bit less literal and bit more psychological in nature.
To do that we head to Canada to look at a film from the master of body horror David Cronenberg with his disturbing psychological horror masterpiece Dead Ringers, a film that tells the tale of brotherly love taken to its greatest and creepiest extreme.
This is a film that has something of a reputation to uphold, with it being ranked by the Toronto International Film Festival as among the Top 10 Canadian Films of All Time in its 2004 and 2015 polls.
I’m happy to report that, while I can’t comment as to whether it’s among the best films ever produced by a Canadian, Dead Ringers is a film that I can proudly recommend based on its own merit, with it being a haunting and beautiful film to behold.
What makes this film so brilliant you ask? The answer is simple: Jeremy Irons.
In the dual role of Beverly and Elliot Mantle, Irons gives what is easily one of his best performances (possibly better than his Oscar-winning turn in Reversal of Fortune) expertly managing to create two distinct characters that while looking identical, still manage to feel different from each other.
Elliot covers for Beverley, Beverly covers for Elliot, with the two able to confuse those around them with ease, although Irons still adds subtle and clever little touches so that, we the viewer, always know who’s really in front of us, with Elliot being more confident and outgoing while Beverly is much more reserved and reclusive.
Irons’ skill at differentiating the brothers despite their identical appearance is perhaps most cleverly executed when the brothers embark upon their frankly creepy “bait and switch” routine with the attractive Claire. Elliot is a rather charming sleazebag in his encounters, being a rather talkative and selfish lover, while Beverly is less talkative but more sensitive and more, shall we say, “creative” in the bedroom (he certainly finds a curious new use for surgical tubing).
I also really like the visual trickery that Cronenberg and his crew pull off to allow the dual Irons to share the screen, such as an awards ceremony in which the two give speeches while standing next to each other. It’s a simple trick that’s been done in a dozen other films, but I always get a kick of out seeing Jeremy Irons introduce himself to an audience.
Irons also has, in a very weird way, outstanding screen chemistry with himself, with the relationship between the Mantel brothers genuinely coming across one between two separate, albeit very close, people as opposed to a single actor performing a dual role, a skill not many actors can pull off effectively.
At the heart of this film is the relationship between Elliot and Beverly and that, in my view, is where most of the fear and horror in Dead Ringers comes from.
While it’s perfectly ordinary, and probably healthy, for siblings to develop a close relationship and generally get along well with each other, the co-dependent nature of the Mantel brothers is a kind of closeness that borders on incestuous with the two sharing absolutely everything, whether it be their home, their work and creepiest of all, their women.
A discussion about the original Siamese twins Eng and Chang in one scene is particularly illuminating, with this simple exchange revealing the tragic extent of the brother’s co-dependence on each other. Beverly and Elliot might not be physically joined but their mental bond is so strong that one would simply not survive without the other.
One really creepy scene (and I mean really creepy) that, in my view, signifies the extreme closeness between the two comes in a rather simple scene in which the two brothers dance with Elliot’s girlfriend and each other. The scene despite its aforementioned simplicity creates deeply an unpleasant feeling in the viewer, with the closeness of Beverly and Elliot and the way they touch each other, left me watching the scene through my fingers, terrified that the most truly disgusting threesome ever committed to film was about to kick off.
While not a traditional horror, Dead Ringers is not only a brilliant horror film but just a brilliant film in general.
Jeremy Irons gives one of, if not, his best ever performances in the dual role of twins who share a relationship that’s a tad too close for comfort, with the film’s themes of co-dependence and separation offering a deeply fascinating and disturbing story to contemplate while also giving it a distinctly uneasy atmosphere.
If you’re a fan of David Cronenberg then is one film that you really must check out, but even if you’re not, check it out to see a truly fantastic actor at his very best. Makes you think Irons should have got the Oscar for this film instead.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★/ Movie: ★ ★
Graeme Robertson
Originally published October 4, 2017. Updated April 18, 2018.
