This film is directed by famed body horror auteur David Cronenberg. I had never seen it before but I had been looking forward to it as I have a relatively strong stomach for that kind of thing. If medical procedures or instruments freak you out, this is probably not the film for you. I found it pretty tame as far as gore, with the real horror being in the relationship between the Mantle twins.Elliot and Beverly Mantle (both played by Jeremy Irons) are well-respected doctors who jointly run a clinic in Toronto catering exclusively to curing women's infertility. Elliot, the more extroverted twin, also uses it as a dating scene. He scouts out a likely target, fucks her until he gets bored, then passes her off to his more diffident brother. Many times, the women won't even notice the change. Claire Niveau (Genevieve Bujold) is a successful actress and unwitting dupe of the Mantle twins. When she discovers the con, she rightfully calls them out on it and breaks ties. For Elliot, this is one of the hazards of the game and he dismisses it as such. Bev is not so sanguine. His choice to try and win Claire back on his own marks the first time the twins have not been of one mind. This and the ready supply of drugs available contribute to a systematic devolution as Bev becomes more and more deranged.
Jeremy Irons gives an amazing and I would imagine exhausting double performance. The camera tricks used to simulate him as a pair of twins are subtle and hold up extremely well by today's CGI-magic standards. The plot is a little melodramatic for my tastes and there's nobody to really root for as a survivor. The nicest thing you can say about Claire is that she's not actually evil but she is kind of a self-absorbed bitch. She's still miles better than either of the twins, though. Elliot is a sociopath and Bev is hot mess. The fact that Irons manages to make both of them sympathetic in the final act is a testament to how good an actor he is.
A lot of horror movies have deeper themes and this is no exception. Cronenberg ups the squirm factor on looking at unhealthy co-dependence with drugs and relationships both romantic and familial. Bev is meant to be the less dominant twin, but when he falls apart so does Elliot, the "strong" one. Claire is unhealthily fixated on having a child, despite the genetic deformity that brings her to the brothers in the first place. All three have a huge hole in their souls that they keep trying to fill with external things, which manifests in dangerous, reckless behavior. Honestly, it's a cautionary tale about seeking validation in others rather than building it from within wrapped in a quasi-incestuous package.
Pumpkin rating: 4/5
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