After last year’s critically acclaimed thriller Prisoners, director Denis Villeneuve once again finds himself working alongside Jame Gyllenhaal for Enemy (although to be fair, this film was actually filmed first). Gyllenhaal plays Adam, a bored history professor who resides in a trashy, dimly lit apartment and seems disenchanted with just about every aspect of his own existence, including his rapidly declining relationship with his girlfriend (Melanie Laurent).
Adam’s life received an unexpected jolt of excitement when he discovers that he has a doppelgänger, a local actor named Anthony Clair. Adam quickly becomes obsessed with learning everything about this stranger that shares his face and his voice, and eventually works up the courage to contact him and suggest a meeting. Anthony is understandably suspicious at first, but ultimately allows his curiosity to get the better of him and agrees to the rendezvous, with neither man suspecting how irrevocably their lives are about to be changed.
Inspired by José Saramago’s 2004 novel The Double, Enemy is less a literal retelling of the same events than a dreamlike, existential examination of similar themes. While the novel is a fairly straightforward affair, Villeneuve takes a much more ambiguous approach to Enemy‘s storytelling, leaving plenty of room for each viewer to formulate their own interpretation of the onscreen events.
Gyllenhaal is marvelous as Adam and Anthony, his performance differing distinctly so that the audience remains acutely aware of which character they’re observing, but the film is hampered by Villeneuve’s decision to craft a hypnotic, hyper-sexualized head trip rather than a clear, concise narrative. He’s trying his best to channel the likes of Lynch and Cronenberg – and for the most part, succeeding – but the film’s lack of clarity and baffling final shot leave the audience with more questions than answers.