Review of Dead Ringers (1988) by Edith N — 10 Feb 2011

Like [i]The Parent Trap[/i], But Evil.

I always forget that Jill Hennessy is a twin. She and her sister, Jacqueline, are in the movie as what are clearly twin prostitutes. They're supposed to be a parallel to the main characters, but all I could think was, "Oh, yeah!" Also "That explains it--Claire Kincaid didn't fake her own death. She and Jordan Cavanaugh were separated at birth." This is because I think I'm funnier than I am, as everyone knows. But it is an example of how it's easier to film twins by using real twins. The lead character had to be played by a Name for anyone to care, though how much Jeremy Irons is a Name is probably up for debate. I don't think there are any Names who have twins. But the children and the hookers? Those, they used real twins for.

The twins in question are Beverly and Elliot Mantle, played as children by Jonathan and Nicolas Haley. It's quite clear from the age of nine that they are more interested in the technical aspects of sex than ordinary children. It is therefore no surprise that they grow up to be gynecologists. They are deeply entwined. Elliot, I think, is the leading twin, though I could be wrong; I didn't really pay enough attention to work out which was which for sure, since one of the things they do is fill in for one another. Anyway, we'll assume it's Elliot, who lets Beverly do all the real work and takes all the credit. Elliot sleeps with Claire Niveau (Geneviève Bujold), then passes her on to Beverly. This apparently starts the twins' downward spiral into madness.

Cronenberg seems to me obsessed with madness, but I don't think he has a very clear handle on it. The twins are pretty creepy, but I don't think they're actually any kind of real crazy. The special features refer to them as interdependent, but I think [i]co[/i]dependent is more likely. Elliot tells Beverly that he doesn't have any experiences unless he shares them with Elliot, which is pretty weird, but you have to wonder what their parenting had been like. They never discuss it. They might have been sprung together from sea foam for all the history they're really given. What's more, their world is crazy in ways which the real world generally is not. Logically, if one does all the work, it means they only take half the caseload of two men, but they're still considered glorious. They invented a valuable instrument, but they don't really seem to do much beyond that.

The problem with filming the same person as twins is, of course, the filming. Jeremy Irons is a talented enough actor that, although I could not generally remember the name of the twin we were seeing, I didn't have a difficult time figuring out which twin was in most scenes. However, there are shots with both twins, though not as many as there could be. Apparently, this used some kind of new filming technology, which is probably how both twins were able to dance with Geneviève Bujold, but most of the footage could have used the same techniques as [i]The Parent Trap[/i] or [i]The Patty Duke Show[/i]. When one is shot from the front, the other is generally shot from behind or not in the shot at all. When you can see both of their faces, look for the vertical line in the set between them. It's where the shot is divided.

I think Cronenberg wants us to think of him as weirder than he probably really is. I like about half his work; [i]Eastern Promises[/i] was quite good. However, anything where people talk about the surreal nature or whatever of the film, I think I should start avoiding them. I wasn't even able to finish [i]Crash[/i]. I got interrupted midway through and was delighted, because it meant I didn't feel obligated to finish it. I probably only finished [i]Videodrome[/i] because I watched it in company. Very specific company at that. Indeed, I've just gone back and read my review of it, and I have a lot of the same things to say here as I did there. Cronenberg has a good eye, but I think he's wasting it. Then again, I bet he thinks he wasted it on the films of his which I actually liked.