Enemy

Director: Denis Villeneuve
Year Released: 2013
Rating: 1.5

A history professor (Jake Gyllenhaal) watches a movie one night and notices an actor in it that looks exactly like him, so he makes it his mission to track this fellow down - it turns out it's an exact replica of him (his 'double') and they're physiologically identical but the Actor version is a bit more ... assertive (and sexually aggressive). Essentially vacuous though driven by a strong atmosphere of dread, Villeneuve - working off of José Saramago's novel - is trying to make some kind of point about identity but neither of the Gyllenhaals are fleshed out to the point of seeming remotely human and the two central female figures (Mélanie Laurent and Sarah Gadon) are also underdeveloped - they're merely placeholders as 'Weak Women.' The usage of Louise Bourgeois' Maman (a gigantic spider and 'mothering figure') is, in this context, a slapdash metaphor for the protection women need against the Malevolent, Manipulative Male.