DEAD RINGERS Movie Review
When you read the advance description of a forthcoming David Cronenberg movie—whether it's Crash, his remake of The Fly, or Dead Ringers—it's only natural to assume that either he's lost his mind or that he's simply trying to be outrageous for the hell of it. Then you see the film, and it's immediately apparent that Cronenberg is far more than a great showman—he's one of the boldest and most eloquent poets to work in the medium of cinematic fantasy since Jean Cocteau. The description that preceded Dead Ringers's release was that it was based on the true story of twin gynecologists who shared a lover. Well, sure, but... how interesting can that be? As star Jeremy Irons commented in another film: “You have no idea.” Dead Ringers (which was originally set to be released as Twins, but had to scuttle the name because of the then-forthcoming Danny De Vito—Arnold Schwarzenegger fiasco) is, as are all of Cronenberg's best films, an exploration of the twin mysteries of desire and revulsion that Cronenberg likes to explore by “externalizing internal states.” As Hitchcock did with Norman Bates and his mother, Cronenberg is able to use the love/hate relationship between twin doctors Beverly and Elliot Mantle to look at the thin borders separating love from manipulation, genius from paranoia, pride from megalomania. I don't know what it is to be a twin, but I do know what it is to look in the mirror and wonder just exactly who it is I'm looking at. The performance that Jeremy Irons gives in Dead Ringers is just as personal and embarrassingly private, and despite the movie's ostensibly outrageous (and gruesome) premise, it's equally unshakable.
NEXT STOP… The Fly (1986), Naked Lunch, Psycho
1988 (R) 117m/C CA Jeremy Irons, Genevieve Bujold, Heidi von Palleske, Barbara Gordon, Shirley Douglas, Stephen Lack, Nick Nichols; D: David Cronenberg; W: David Cronenberg, Norman Snider; C: Peter Suschitzsky; M: Howard Shore. Genie Awards '89: Best Actor (Irons), Best Director (Cronenberg), Best Film; Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards '88: Best Director (Cronenberg), Best Supporting Actress (Bujold); New York Film Critics Awards '88: Best Actor (Irons). VHS, LV VTR, CRC