Beverly and Elliot Mantle are identical twins and have shared everything during their entire lives - their interest in the women reproductive system which leads them both to become famous gynecologists, their apartment (they both love Italian furniture), their successful practice in Toronto, and their patients. "We do women - this is our specialty" says Elliot, more confident and self-assured twin who seduces the women he meets and then passes them on to his shyer brother. Enters Claire, a new patient with an extremely rare condition and soon both brothers "are doing her" without her knowledge. But Claire feels that the person she is with is sometimes different even if he looks the same - she is an actress and to pretend to be someone else is her specialty. After she finds out that she sleeps with both brothers, the movie becomes a very interesting dissection of the most mysterious connection between two people possible and the intense look at playing with and losing identity. The movie is written and directed by the master of intelligent horror movies, David Cronenberg, and it is very clever, dark, unsettling, and uncomfortable (the main characters are gynecologists, remember?). As with many Cronenberg's films, "Dead Ringers" fits well into the "fatal error of a mad scientist" sub-genre: "Everybody's a mad scientist, and life is their lab. We're all trying to experiment to find a way to live, to solve problems, to fend off madness and chaos" (David Cronenberg).
Jeremy Irons in a dual role is mesmerizing, giving not just one but two his best performances, so powerful and convincing that I felt a lot of sympathy for the twins instead of disgust and loathing for what they were doing to their patients and to each other.
Jeremy Irons in a dual role is mesmerizing, giving not just one but two his best performances, so powerful and convincing that I felt a lot of sympathy for the twins instead of disgust and loathing for what they were doing to their patients and to each other.