Enemy (2013 Film)

Source: IMDb

What is it?

The 2013 psychological thriller film Enemy that was directed by the director Denis Villeneuve, was distributed by the company A24, was based on the 2002 novel The Double by the author José Saramago, and stars the actor Jake Gyllenhaal and the actress Mélanie Laurent and the actress Sarah Gadon.

What is it about?

This is how the Rotten Tomatoes describes this film:

Academy Award Nominee Jake Gyllenhaal reteams with his PRISONERS director, Academy Award Nominee Denis Villeneuve, in this sexy and hypnotically surreal psychological thriller that breathes new life into the doppleganger tradition.

Adam Bell (Gyllenhaal) is a glum, disheveled history professor, who seems disinterested even in his beautiful girlfriend, Mary (Laurent).

Watching a movie on the recommendation of a colleague, Adam spots his double, a bit-part actor named Anthony Clair, and decides to track him down.

The identical men meet and their lives become bizarrely and irrevocably intertwined.

Gyllenhaal is transfixing as both Adam and Anthony, provoking empathy as well as disapproval while embodying two distinct personas.

With masterfully controlled attention to detail, Villeneuve takes us on an enigmatic and gripping journey through a world that is both familiar and strange – and hard to shake off long after its final, unnerving image.

ENEMY, adapted from Nobel Prize-winning author José Saramago’s 2004 novel The Double, is about the power of the subconscious.

In the end, only one man can survive.

(c) A24 Films

What do you like about it?

I like the mystery and confusion and how this film makes you think, I like the cinematography, I like the somewhat dream-like (surreal-like) feeling and somewhat strange atmosphere that this movie has, I like Jake Gyllenhaal’s performance, I liked the more subtle music and sounds that compliment the scenes well, and I like how this film ends in a way that allows the viewer to come up with their own interpretation for this film.

What would someone else like about it?

I think that other people will like this film because it is different and it will get them to think and to try to come up with their own interpretation for this film.

My Thoughts

Several years ago I saw a trailer for a film on YouTube that looked interesting and like something that I would want to see but eventually I forgot about the trailer and the film and I never heard or thought about it again until last year when Double Toasted mentioned it because Korey Coleman liked this film and Martin Thomas hated this film.

Double Toasted mentioned the name of this film so I looked it up, and then I realized that it was the film that I saw a trailer for several years ago that looked interesting and like something that I would want to see and that film was Enemy.

So I decided to watch the movie, the first minute or so of this movie started in an uncomfortable and strange way that bothered me (a few other parts in this movie bothered me as well) but it helped set the tone, and after that this film surprised me and I liked this film even more than I thought that I would.

The yellow tone / tint / shade (color) that this film has and various other elements combine to make you feel a bit off, and it sets an interesting atmosphere and feeling to this film.

This film made me think and it confused me, but in a good way mostly.

I like the tagline for this movie which is: “You can’t escape yourself“, which is something that I understand and relate to.

This is not a film for everyone and some parts of it bothered me, but I recommend watching it.

Here is Chris Stuckmann’s review of this film:

The end,

-John Jr