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Dead Ringers [1989]
![Dead Ringers [1989]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/416XV6DJG5L._SL160_.jpg)
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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review
Like many other films by Canadian director David Cronenberg (especially Crash), Dead Ringers presents the cinematic and psychological equivalent of an automobile accident--you dare not look, but you can't turn away. The film marked a directorial breakthrough for Cronenberg, who was able to continue some of the themes explored in his earlier horror films while graduating to a higher, more critically "respectable" level of artistic sophistication. The film is loosely based, amazingly enough, on a true story about twin gynaecologists who routinely traded each others' identities, lives and even lovers. Utilizing innovative split-screen technology (years before computer manipulation made such trickery much easier), the film stars Jeremy Irons in flawless dual roles as the identical brothers Beverly and Elliot Mantle. Their ability to instantly switch identities leads them to a shared relationship with a well-known actress (Genevieve Bujold) and, ultimately, a physical and psychological tailspin that sends them both to the brink of madness and death. The scenario suggests that both men are halves of a whole, and that one cannot exist without the other. But when Beverly pursues a kinky, drug-addicted affair with the actress, his more self-controlled brother is helpless to prevent their mutual decline. In this way Dead Ringers becomes a fascinating and stylistically clinical study of duality, and Cronenberg doesn't shy away from the dark and unpleasant aspects of the story. (One look at the movie's display of bizarre gynaecological instruments and you'll know why women find this film particularly--and unforgettably--disturbing.) The Criterion Collection DVD includes illuminating commentary by Cronenberg, Irons, production designer Carol Spier and others; extensive production information; interviews with the principal cast; and a detailed examination of the film's groundbreaking use of invisible special effects. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com --This text refers to the DVD edition of this video.
Editorial
Special Features
1.85 Wide Screen
DVD 5
English
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital Stereo English
Dolby Digital Stereo
Interactive Menus
Scene Access
None
Editorial
Synopsis
Cronenberg coaxes a phenomenal performance out of Irons in this disturbing tale of Beverly and Elliot Mantle-twin gynecologists who literally can't exist without each other, sharing everything from an apartment to women. When a glamorous, neurotic actress (Bujold) enters into their world, she upsets the delicate balance between the brothers, sending them into a world of confusion and destruction. This dark, eerie, multi-layered drama may stand as Cronenberg's masterpiece. Loosely based on the true case of the Marcus Twins and the resulting novel TWINS by Bari Wood.
good psychological drama, Jeremy Irons steals the show
Review date: 2008-08-23 Rating: 8 out of 10
Typical Cronenberg film giving trademark Cronenberg feeling: original, intellectual, weird and mind-blowing. But soo slow and monotonous most of the time, but that's O.K. The film tells the self-destruction story of brilliant twins who grow up to be successful gynecologists Elliot and Beverly; the former is dominant, extrovert, controlled and ladies man; and the latter, more sensitive, shy and less sociable. The twins share virtually everything, from medical practices to women. But, the real story begins when a famous actress enters into twins life. After her, the equilibrium between the twins starts deteriorating, until both retreating into private disintegration and finally heading to own self-destruction.
I must say that the real treat of the film is Jeremy Irons, who delivers a standout performance in a dual role, succeeding to impersonate twins as substantially different people.
With its strong psychological elements, "Dead Ringers" is a kind of film that you will either love or hate, there is very little middle ground. Ideally suited for mature, patient, intelligent and attentive viewers. Just most Cronenberg films, it deserves a second viewing. The story is not that complicated with full of mysteries need to be untangled but there are lots of subtle details scattered throughout the movie that must be put together to see the whole picture clearer.
Last word about the product: Contrary to the movie, the DVD is just a "bare to bones" disc. Audio options and DVD transfer is poor, pictures are grainy, and of course it lacks any special features. What a shame... (3.8/5.0)
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Reviews
Identical till death ensues
Review date: 2008-03-16 Rating: 10 out of 10
Cronenberg is the most surprising and shocking film director I know but he always deals with situations that are out of the ordinary and he pushes them to their extreme end or even beyond. In this film he explores the relation between two real twins who have perfectly identical routes in life to the point of becoming schizophrenic and wanting to get rid of the second half of their individual personality, which is the personality of the other. They become obsessed with separating the Siamese twins they are in a way and yet are not. This derangement develops all by itself and they discover that they cannot survive separately and as soon as one does something that the other does not do both of them are disturbed to the point of having to become morbid, death-obsessed, death-seeking, death-hungry and death-thirsty. Death becomes what they physiologically need, each one of them, and both of them, to survive by compensating the difference that has appeared in their relation. All that sounds crazy and is in fact just extremely natural, natural to the extreme. The death instinct, the other side of the libido, takes over when the slightest difference appears between them and is interpreted, unconsciously, subconsciously and even consciously, as a treason of their libido, or libidos, of their libidinous survival instinct. Their survival instinct calls their death instinct up to regulate the disruption and what has to happen happens: one kills the agreeing other and that one let himself die on the body of the one he has killed, the one who has died first. The supreme irony of that film is that these two identical twins are gynecologists by profession and they are giving birth to babies day after day, till they finally and mutually abort their own lives. Amazing. And what's worst in this picture is that it is realistically possible. Cronenberg here reveals the deep fear we feel in front of identical twins, a real vertigo, in Hitchcock's meaning of the word.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines
Cronenberg's best work
Review date: 2007-06-19 Rating: 10 out of 10
Identical twin brothers Beverly and Elly Mantle are successful gynaecologists in Toronto. Their relationship is intense and very close - perhaps too close. The Mantles experiment with sex, drugs and personal identity, to the detriment of their practice, and ultimately of their psychological health.
This is a David Cronenberg film, so we are in the familiar realm of horror, mind games and perverted science. The director/producer/writer appears in the credits above the title and even ahead of his stars, Irons and Bujold. Essentially, the 'dead ringers' of the title are the brothers, who regard their mental and emotional oneness as being something more. They see themselves as siamese twins, bound by their flesh, and fated to share every experience, even unto death.
Irons does wonders to play two complex characters in one movie. A new technique called 'motion control' allows the actor to appear as two people in the same frame, but there is also plenty of the old 'body double' method, filming over a shoulder, then reversing the angle.
As teenage boys, the Mantle twins are clearly very bright, and display a precocious interest in surgery and women's reproductive apparatus. They are also creepy geeks. By the late 1980's they are handsome forty-somethings, and hailed as brilliant gynaecologists by everyone in the medical profession.
The screen actress Claire Niveau becomes Elliot's patient, and the brothers are soon sharing her. They frequently swap places without her knowledge. She has a unique uterus, and as Beverly (or is it Elliot?) explores this feature with his fingers, it is difficult to tell whether he is examining her or masturbating her. Before long, both brothers are doing both to Claire.
Elliot is a few minutes older than Beverly, microscopically taller and a nuance darker in colouring, but by nature he and 'baby brother' are utterly different. While Beverly is shy and diffident, Elliot is a callous, manipulative smoothie. When Claire, still unaware that she is sleeping with two men, expresses an interest in mild masochism, Beverly recoils but Elly enthusiastically obliges. He uses surgical tubes and clamps to tie Claire down for sex, and as he releases her after orgasm, we sense that for him the experience has been 'surgical' - almost a dispassionate experiment.
If Beverly is Jeckyll and Elliot is Hyde, we are always conscious that both personalities inhabit one awareness. "You haven't had any experience until I've had it too," Elliot tells Beverly, and the twins certainly seem to share everything, treating each other's patients (without telling the patients, of course) and working in tandem on research papers. The twins have a twin obsession in common - work and sex. Beverly sums it up with, "We do women - that's our speciality."
Identity is at the core of this film, and the dualities and ambiguities of personality recur with brain-teasing frequency. The twins are interested in female genitalia, both professionally and recreationally. Claire attracts them because of her dualities - she is a big personality who adopts other personas for her work: a strong woman who is turned on by being submissive: a gynaecological 'star' who happens to be infertile: and the French Canadian 'twin' to the English Canadian brothers. Elliot sleeps with two call-girls who are twin sisters, and identifies them by getting each to call him either 'Bev' or 'Elly'. The film has layer upon layer of these dualities. Genevieve Bujold is a French Canadian actress playing a French Canadian actress. We see her being made up for a movie, but when we see her left side, the make-up is of cuts and bruises. The Mantles prescribe drugs to each other, and each to himself, criss-crossing the doctor/patient demarcation lines. They take pills to cure their addiction to pills. Cary is having a relationship with Elliot, but when she gets both brothers at once, she is deeply aroused. The film, like the brothers, oscillates between oneness and separation. "I want to see you two together," says Claire, confused by their duality. So do we.
Cronenberg, Irons tour-de-force
Review date: 2004-04-14 Rating: 10 out of 10
'Dead Ringers' may indeed be David Cronenberg's best film. Jeremy Irons performance is truly extraordinary. As for not being able to tell the difference between the two brothers, I could sense immediately which brother was which by simple body language and how each brother carried himself. Which is a testiment to the subtlties of Iron's acting, that he could make you believe he was two different people at the same time on screen. This belief was also helped by the amazing motion control camera sequences which allowed Irons to "act with himself" in the same frame. The clean perpendicular lines of the twins' appartment was especially chosen to make it easier to cut the film together.
Viewers should be warned beforehand that 'Dead Ringers' is not a horror movie, it's more of a psychological character study. The twin brothers have an unusual gendered relationship. Elliot as the suave unfeeling male who's "no good with the serious ones" and Beverly, with the girl's name, as the the sensitive, caring female. Soon they come to realize that they are one physical entity, forever separated as two physical beings.
In talking about the film Cronenberg has said that men have proven to be much more squeamish about this film than women as lying on the gynecological chair is an experience that many women have gone through. Yet many men have no idea what it's like. Cronenberg was fascinated by these doctors who knew more abaout their patients than their husbands did.
The only drawback about this whole project is that the marvellous soundtrack is not available anywhere!
Fascinating
Review date: 2003-07-12 Rating: 8 out of 10
Cronenberg enjoys exposing the kinds of fascination with freakishness to which most people would not admit and in this film he manages to take the story of twin brothers onto a particularly squeamish, engrossing level.
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Jeremy Irons
Heidi von Palleske
Geneviève Bujold
Shirley Douglas
Barbara Gordon (II)
Creators:
Jeremy Irons (Primary Contributor)
Geneviève Bujold (Primary Contributor)
Director(s):
Recording label: ITV DVD
Manufacturer: ITV DVD
EAN: 0932222500924
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL, Widescreen,
Release date: 2000-01-31
Universal product code (UPC): 932222500924
Number of discs: 1
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 111 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1988-09-23
Language: English (Unknown)
Language: English (Original Language)