Spiders infest the mind of a man haunted by his own infidelity in Denis Villeneuve's Enemy, a deliberate and unsettling psychological mystery that plays out like a David Lynch screenplay directed by David Cronenberg. Cerebral and uncompromising, it's the kind of film that offers cinephiles plenty to process and cynics even more to mock. While repeated viewings are likely to reward those who seek to unlock all of the story's mysteries, casual moviegoers will likely find the first watch a chore despite Enemy's unusually short running time.
Adam Bell (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a socially isolated history professor in Toronto who's more comfortable lecturing to his students than he is making love to his lustful girlfriend Mary (Mélanie Laurent). One day, on the advice of a colleague, Adam sits down to watch a romantic comedy, but what he sees on the screen leaves him deeply disturbed: A supporting player in the film, credited as Anthony Clair (Gyllenhaal again), is his spitting image. Compelled to track down his onscreen look-alike, Adam soon locates Anthony in Mississauga and convinces him that they should meet. When the two men finally come face-to-face, the similarities are uncanny -- right down to the distinctive scar on both of their chests. Later, as Anthony turns hostile, Adam's search for answers prompts him to pay a visit to his eccentric mother (Isabella Rossellini, reinforcing the Lynchian vibe), who dismisses his theories and insists that he's an only child. Meanwhile, Adam and Anthony's fates become increasingly intertwined.
If you're the kind of viewer who likes to "switch off your brain" when you head to the movies, a word of caution: Enemy will leave you livid. For those who don't mind having their organic CPU running when the lights dim, Villeneuve and screenwriter Javier Gullón drop us into the darkest recesses of a man's tortured conscience and trust that we possess the intelligence to feel our way out. From the provocative opening scene to the unnerving penultimate shot, Enemy offers no easy answers. What it does offer is a uniquely surreal take on familiar subject matter, and a pair of restrained yet telling performances by Gyllenhaal. If his two characters in Enemy never quite seem complete on their own, that's by design; if you watch closely and listen for clues, there's much more going on here than meets the eye.
Of course, to discuss those clues would be a grave disservice to the movie, as Villeneuve and Gullón work diligently to structure their story in a manner that disorients the viewer while simultaneously immersing us in its mystery. Enemy isn't attempting to entertain you in the traditional sense, which means you'll get as much out of it as you care to put in. If that intrigues you, get ready for a dark ride and a fascinating post-film discussion. If not, there's always the multiplex.