Dead Ringers

DEAD RINGERS (1988)

TRAILER

Dead Ringers

Release date:

1988

Starring: 

Jeremy Irons, Geneviève Bujold

Directed by:

David Cronenberg

Written by:

David Cronenberg, Norman Snider

Running time:
1 hour and 58 minutes

REVIEW

Dead ringers begins with the introduction of two twins; beverly and Elliot Mantle. They are two gynecologists working in their own clinic. We soon learn that because of the fact that they are twins, women often don’t know whether they are consulting Elliott or Beverly. Director David Cronenberg takes this one step further by introducing Elliot as the dominant twin and it is very common that Elliott will seduce a woman only to turn her over to Beverly. The women do not notice this deception because of the fact that they are twins.This seems to have been going on for some time before one woman, claire, makes light of the deception and confronts Elliot. Claire had been involved with Elliot before he got bored of her and passed her on to Beverly. However, Beverly became romantically involved with her and vise versa. This lead to claire’s realisation that she had been tricked and therefore wanted to make things clear with Elliot that what he had done was awful and that she truly did want to be with Beverly and Beverly only. Beverly’s relationship with claire leads him to share her addiction to pills and even abed it through his licence to practise medicine. Claire leaves to go shoot a movie and it is at this point that Beverly believes she has been unfaithful and can no longer control his addiction. Elliot believes that in order to help his twin, they must reconnect through their shared bloodline and therefor Elliot must share Beverly’s addiction. This leads to Elliot needing Beverly’s help in order to break the addiction and in order to do so they believe that the siamese twins must be broken in order to save the other. It is at this point that Elliot volunteers to have Beverly kill him and this is what happens. After killing his brother, much like after one the original twins Chand and Eng dies, Beverly goes back to their place of practise and dies in his brother's arms.

Throughout the entire film the theme most explored is that of having a twin. For most of us having a twin seems to have the underlying assumption that there is some sort of telepathic or other sense of connection between twins. Twins do not seem to talk about their twinship much and this is definitely something demonstrated in this movie. While this film clearly stars two twins, there was only one actor to portray them. David Cronenberg  uses techniques such as “moving splits” in order to hide the fact that a single actor is playing both twins in one scene. This makes a big difference because with other techniques that were widely popular at the time such as using “split screen” can be spotted by viewers who know what to look for. This goes a long way in streamlining the viewer's experience of the film.

Filming techniques can only go so far in the production of a movie. A huge factor to the experience is the acting. Actor Jeremy Irons does a great job at setting apart which twin is which by re-enacting slightly yet still similar characters. This is extremely difficult in a movie where it is important to show how similar the twins are supposed to be,yet how they can be slightly different.

Another technique is that of foreshadowing. One surprisingly obvious example of this is Beverly’s dream of him, Claire and Elliot all sharing one bed and Beverly wanting to be separated from his twin in order to be alone with Claire. Claire then proceeds to bite the flesh attaching the two, separating them and waking Beverly up in a panic.

The whole theme of doctors is important in this film and is therefore specifically set apart from other scenes in the film. Lighting plays an important role in this as when patience are with the doctor everything is very well lit and seems to be very professional. However, when operation procedures begin, preparations seem to be more similar to those of a cult than to those of a medical practise. This is very clear in the scene where Beverly uses the instruments he had made for the first time. Beverly is dressed in red, with many layers of his dress-up to seem unnecessary and to shield his entire body allowing only his eyes to be seen. This is the same for his assistants who are also all dressed in red and their faces are not very visible.

WORD COUNT: 747 WORDS

CRITICAL OPINIONS

Production of this film seems to have been quite a success. While the medical terminology may seem a little scarce and therefore lead the viewer to question the seriousness of the doctors are supposed to have, the film really seems to hit the mark in terms of what they are trying to portray. The themes may seem to be dark for some, duly categorizing this film as a horror film. The relationship, and the character of Claire, could have benefited from some more depth. Both aspects of the film seem to rely on many assumptions from the viewers as to what Beverly and Claire’s relationship entails. The focus seems to be more on how their relationship is harmful to both twins and this is obviously what the film is supposed to focus on, but added depth would have been beneficial in order to add realism to the film. The almost single focus of the film on twins takes away from what a movie should be; the portrayal of a situation that viewers can relate to. While most of us can not relate to having a twin, most of us can relate in some way to a romantic relationship.

RATING

COURSE CONNECTIONS

        One of the first course connections to the film is the looking at the idea of Tulpas, from the article called “Meet the ‘Tulpamancers’: The Internet’s Newest Subculture Is Incredibly Weird.” When having a Tulpas, you are known to have two minds, one being the human and the other being the mind of the tulpa, that actively live in the human's body. In comparison to the film, the two  twins seem to possess two bodies but only one mind. This idea is due to the fact that the twins, Beverly and Elliot Mantle, have a thinking process that is almost identically alike during the beginning of the film. The twins were so close, that they would experience the same thing, only as two separate bodies. They knew and understood exactly how each of them were feeling, without even having to ask. 

        For example, when Beverly became addicted to the prescription drugs, Elliot decided to take the drugs as well. He explained that, in order to help his brother, they had to “synchronize their body” so that way “his bloodstream is flowing in mine”. Another example is the scene where Elliot became angry and frustrated when Claire had expressed the fact that him and Beverly were very different. The frustration that came from Elliot, showed the audience that the twins feel as though they are one entity, just as the tuplas and their master do, but are still shown as two distinct people in the end. Lastly, another example is the fact that while the two were alternating to go visit Claire, they were acting as though they were only one person. As well as the time when Elliot had asked the twin sisters, if one could call him Ely and the other call him Bev.

        Another link that we can make, in regard to the class, is the idea of objectification. This notion can be roughly defined as "the seeing and/or treating a person, usually a woman, as an object", as stated in our class notes. As well as "how people, animals, and nature are objects to be known, used, measured, investigated and possibly technologically exploited." In this film, the idea of objectification is shown as the movie displays how detached the twins are from their patients. They do not look at them as human beings or even as women, but rather just bodies that need to be analyzed and used for research (reduction to body). 

        A perfect example to demonstrate this idea, is when Beverly had used the mantle retractor during an examination, instead of using the tool during the appropriate time: during surgery. When Elliot explained to him that the tool is not meant to be used for that purpose, Beverly expressed the belief that the instrument was not the problem, but rather the body of the women he examined. In this scene, there was also the evidence of the sub definition known as "the denial of subjectivity", which is stated as "the treatment of a person as something whose experiences and feelings need not be taken in account". This is shown as Beverly didn’t take into account the pain the women was experiencing while using the retractor. He expressed frustration while explaining to the women that she is not supposed to feel pain because he was using a gold Mantle retractor, which is the top of the technology of that time. 

       There was also the use of the term “silencing” in the same scene, as Beverly did not respond to the women while she was speaking, until he came to realization that she was able to speak and not just be silent or lacking the capacity to talk. Lastly, this idea of objectification relates a lot to the film, as the women are treated like nothing. This idea is shown as Elliot decides that, when he is bored of the women he is with at the time, Bev should get a chance with these women, so he ships them off for Bev to have sexual relations with, without these women knowing. This makes it seem like it doesn’t matter because the women are just “toys” to them. As if these women do not have feelings and are just for his pleasure until he is done with them.

        The last link with the class content in relation to this film, is the states of consciousness. This is a link as the twins do not always act the same throughout the film. During the beginning of the film, they appear to be fully conscious beings that are engaging in a somewhat normal life. “Somewhat normal” due to the fact that not all of us have twins that we switch roles with everyday. It then got to the point where Beverly started to have trouble sleeping, due to the uncontrollable nightmares he was having. The nightmares were about the idea that he and Elliot were joined by the stomach, like the siamese twins, and Claire was trying to separate them. This scene also showed a symbolic meaning and foreshadowing as she eventually did split the twins apart.

        
        Furthermore, Beverly started to have another state of consciousness while he was taking prescription drugs to allow him to sleep and not have nightmares. Due to the effects and the abuse of the prescription drugs, Beverly was not always consciously there. He was more frequently daydreaming and even began to possess an entirely different personality. Especially during the scene in the operating room after his detoxification, when he had jumped  on top of the patient on the operating room in order to get an analgesic. This scene showed him as an entirely different person. Lastly, another altered state of consciousness was when he woke up after the “separation of the Siamese procedure” and started to repeat Ely over and over again, as if he was completely lost and in a total different world. In this scene,he didn’t seem to be there at all anymore.

QUESTIONS

1) How does Claire affect the relationship between the Mantle twins?

2) By looking at the cover of the movie, what do you think the movie    will be about? What themes do you think will be in it?

3) How can you know who is Beverly and who is Elliot? What     characteristics differentiate one from the other?

                             
                   Themes 

1. Hopelessness: This site talks about the theme of hopelessness throughout the film, both Elliot and Beverly can’t do anything to change their lives and how they are. Its as if they were born with self destructive paths, and they can’t do anything about it, even Claire can’t do anything to help Beverly in his situation. This film shows how no matter how hard these brothers try to help each other and change who they are it doesn’t make a difference because in they end they destruct themselves. Link to the website.

2. Obsession : In this film obsession is seen as one of the themes, Beverly falls in love with Claire but very quickly becomes obsessed. While she is gone to film a movie Beverly cannot deal with the thought that she will cheat on him and when one of her male assistants answers the phone and throws Beverly off. He very quickly becomes obsessed with drugs, and due to this basically ruins his own life. The Mantle brothers from a very young age were also always obsessed with women’s bodies therefor the reason they became gynecologists. This theme is seen to be common in the director Cronenberg's other films such as The Fly. Link to the website.

WORKS CITED

By Placing aside Overt Horror, Cronenberg Forged a Human Drama of

Genuine Depth - a Film Painful to Watch, Yet Entirely Mesmerizing. It Is, as the Director Himself Once Put It,. "Looking Back at David Cronenberg's Dead Ringers." Den of Geek. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Nov. 2016.

"Dan Shaw: PSYCHOLOGICAL DETERMINISM IN DEAD RINGERS." Dan Shaw:   PSYCHOLOGICAL DETERMINISM IN DEAD RINGERS. N.p., n.d. Web. 06       Nov. 2016. 

Thompson, By Nathan. "Meet the 'Tulpamancers': The Internet's Newest Subculture Is Incredibly Weird | VICE | United Kingdom." VICE.       N.p., 03 Sept. 2014. Web. 13 Sept. 2016.