Dead Ringers (film)
| Dead Ringers | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical poster for Dead Ringers | |
| Directed by | David Cronenberg |
| Written by | Novel: Bari Wood Jack Geasland Screenplay: David Cronenberg Norman Snider |
| Produced by | Marc Boyman David Cronenberg |
| Starring | Jeremy Irons Geneviève Bujold |
| Cinematography | Peter Suschitzky |
| Edited by | Ronald Sanders |
| Music by | Howard Shore |
| Distributed by | Twentieth Century Fox |
Release dates |  8 September, 1988 (premiere at TIFF) September 23, 1988 6 January, 1989 |
Running time | 115 min. |
| Country | Canada / USA |
| Language | English |
Dead Ringers is a 1988 psychological horror film starring Jeremy Irons in a dual role as identical twin gynecologists. The screenplay was written and directed by David Cronenberg. The film draws on elements from Peter Greenaway's A Zed and Two Noughts[1] and is very loosely based on the lives of Stewart and Cyril Marcus.[2]
Synopsis
Elliot and Beverly Mantle are identical twins and highly successful gynecologists. Elliot, the more aggressive and confident of the two, seduces women who come to the Mantle Clinic. When he tires of them, the women are passed on to the shy and passive Beverly, unaware of the substitution.
When Beverly becomes attached to the troubled actress Claire Niveau (Geneviève Bujold), it upsets the equilibrium between the twins. It turns out that Niveau is a trifurcate; she has an abnormal reproductive system. Beverly describes her internal arrangement as having "three doorways" and probably won't be able to have children. Beverly tells Niveau that her condition is "fabulously rare." The actress' rejection of Beverly sends him into clinical depression, prescription drug abuse and delusions about "mutant women" with abnormal genitalia. Beverly seeks out a metallurgist and he constructs a set of bizarre gynecological instruments for working on these mutant women, even using them once on a real patient. Beverly is then put on administrative leave by the hospital board. The board holds the surgical tools as evidence of a disturbed mind. Due to the twins' codependent relationship, Beverly's breakdown eventually causes Elliot to follow.
Cast
Jill and Jacqueline Hennessy, themselves identical twins, made their film debut in this movie.
Responses
Dead Ringers won the Genie Award for Best Canadian Film of 1988.
It is the favorite Cronenberg film of Korean director Chan-wook Park[3] and was voted for in the 2002 Sight and Sound Poll by Lalitha Gopalan, who ranked it 4th [4]. In 1999, Rolling Stone listed Dead Ringers as 95th on their list of 100 Maverick Movies.[5]
References
- ^ Greenaway, Peter. "Greenaway On A Zed and Two Noughts". BFI: The Early Works of Peter Greenaway.
- ^ Maslin, Janet (1988-10-02). ""Ringers": the Eerier, the Better". The New York Times.
- ^ Neil Young's Film Lounge (2004-08-22). "Park Life".
- ^ BFI | Sight & Sound | Top Ten Poll 2002 - How the directors and critics voted
- ^ http://www.filmsite.org/rstone2.html