''Dead Ringers'' is a 1988
psychological thriller film
Psychological thriller is a genre combining the thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting.
In terms of context and ...
starring
Jeremy Irons
Jeremy John Irons (; born 19 September 1948) is an English actor and activist. After receiving classical training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Irons began his acting career on stage in 1969 and has appeared in many West End theatre ...
in a dual role as identical twin gynecologists.
David Cronenberg directed and co-wrote the screenplay with
Norman Snider. Their script was based on the lives of
Stewart and Cyril Marcus
Stewart and Cyril Marcus (June 2, 1930 – July 1975) were identical twin gynecologists who practiced together in New York City. They died together in July 1975 at the age of 45.
Biography
Stewart and Cyril Marcus were born on June 2, 1930. They ...
and on the novel ''Twins'' by
Bari Wood and Jack Geasland, a "highly fictionalized" version of the
Marcuses' story.
The film won numerous honors, including for Irons' performance, and 10
Genie Awards
The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978; also known as the "Etrog Awards," for scul ...
, notably
Best Motion Picture.
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...
critics have ranked it among the
Top 10 Canadian Films of All Time The Top 10 Canadian Films of All Time is a list compiled by the Toronto International Film Festival ranking what are the considered the best Canadian films. The list has been compiled once roughly every 10 years starting in 1984, typically assembl ...
.
Plot
Twin
Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two em ...
s Elliot and Beverly Mantle are
gynecologists
Gynaecology or gynecology (see spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, forming the combined are ...
who jointly operate a highly successful clinical practice in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
that specializes in treating fertility problems. Elliot, the more confident and cynical 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 while the women remain unaware of the substitution.
Actress Claire Niveau comes to the clinic for her infertility where it turns out that she has a "trifurcated
cervix", meaning she probably will be unable to have children. Elliot seduces Claire and then urges Beverly to sleep with her. Beverly becomes emotionally attached to Claire, and this upsets the equilibrium between the twins. Beverly also begins sharing Claire's
abuse of prescription drugs which he abets through his doctor's authority. When Claire learns that Elliot has been taking sexual advantage of her by impersonating Beverly, she is angry and confronts them both in a restaurant but later decides to continue a relationship with Beverly exclusively.
Eventually, Claire leaves town to work on another film, sending Beverly into
clinical depression
Major depressive disorder (MDD), also known as clinical depression, is a mental disorder characterized by at least two weeks of pervasive low mood, low self-esteem, and loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities. Intro ...
, more prescription drug abuse and paranoid
delusions about "mutant women" with abnormal genitalia. Beverly seeks out
metallurgical
Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys.
Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...
artist Anders Wolleck and commissions a set of bizarre "gynecological instruments" for operating on these mutant women. Beverly prepares to operate on a patient during surgery with one of Wolleck's tools, while his shocked surgical team exchanges horrified glances. Before he can proceed, the drug-addled doctor drops one of the tools on the ground and then collapses atop the patient, and begins to inhale from her gas mask. Both brothers are immediately suspended from practice and put on administrative leave by the hospital board.
With their medical careers now ruined, Elliot locks Beverly inside the clinic and tries to clean him up, taking pills himself in order to "synchronize" with Beverly. When Claire returns, Beverly leaves the clinic to be with her. After recovering his sobriety, he returns to the clinic which he finds it in shambles and Elliot despondent and intoxicated. Their positions have become reversed as Beverly cares for Elliot. Drugged and despairing, they celebrate their mock birthday and Elliot volunteers to be killed so as to “separate the
Siamese twins
Conjoined twins – sometimes popularly referred to as Siamese twins – are twins joined ''in utero''. A very rare phenomenon, the occurrence is estimated to range from 1 in 49,000 births to 1 in 189,000 births, with a somewhat higher incidence ...
" and allow Beverly to live his own life. Beverly disembowels Elliot on an examination table with the same claw-like instrument of Wolleck's that he planned to use on his patient in the operating room.
The next morning, Beverly awakens and sees that he killed Elliot during their drug-induced delirium. Devastated, he pulls himself together, leaves the clinic and calls Claire on a pay phone. When she asks "Who is this?" Beverly silently leaves the phone, walks back into the clinic and dies (implicitly from drug withdrawal) in Elliot's dead arms.
Cast
Production
![Jeremy Irons](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/Jeremy_Irons.jpg)
Although ''Dead Ringers'' closely follows the case of
Stewart and Cyril Marcus
Stewart and Cyril Marcus (June 2, 1930 – July 1975) were identical twin gynecologists who practiced together in New York City. They died together in July 1975 at the age of 45.
Biography
Stewart and Cyril Marcus were born on June 2, 1930. They ...
, director
Peter Greenaway
Peter Greenaway, (born 5 April 1942) is a Welsh film director, screenwriter and artist. His films are noted for the distinct influence of Renaissance and Baroque painting, and Flemish painting in particular. Common traits in his films are th ...
claims that Cronenberg queried him about his film ''
A Zed & Two Noughts
''A Zed & Two Noughts'' is a 1985 film written and directed by Peter Greenaway. This film was Greenaway's first collaboration with cinematographer Sacha Vierny, who went on to shoot virtually all of Greenaway's work in the 1980s and 1990s, until ...
'' for two hours before going on to make ''Dead Ringers'' eight months later.
In his
DVD commentary
An audio commentary is an additional audio track, usually digital, consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with a video. Commentaries can be serious or entertaining in nature, and can add informatio ...
, Irons claims that
Robert De Niro declined playing the Mantles due to his unease with the subject matter and portraying gynecologists, while
William Hurt
William McChord Hurt (March 20, 1950 – March 13, 2022) was an American actor. Known for his performances on stage and screen, he received various awards including an Academy Award, BAFTA Award and Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor.
H ...
decided to reject the parts because "it is hard enough to play one role".
This movie marked the screen debut of actress
Jill Hennessy
Jillian Noel Hennessy (born November 25, 1968) is a Canadian actress and singer. She is most known for her roles on the American television series '' Law & Order'', on which she played prosecutor Claire Kincaid for three seasons, and ''Crossin ...
and her twin sister
Jacqueline
Jacqueline may refer to:
People
* Jacqueline (given name), including a list of people with the name
* Jacqueline Moore (born 1964), ring name "Jacqueline", American professional wrestler
Arts and entertainment
* ''Jacqueline'' (1923 film), ...
, who play
call girl
A call girl or female escort is a sex worker who (unlike a street walker) does not display her profession to the general public, nor does she usually work in an institution like a brothel, although she may be employed by an escort agency.< ...
s in one scene of the film.
Irons was given two different dressing rooms with two sets of costumes for playing his two characters. However, given the fact that he said "the whole point of the story is you should sometimes be confused as to which is which", he chose to use only one of the rooms and combine different costume items intended for different characters. Irons also developed an "internal way" to portray each character, employing the
Alexander technique for "different energy points", giving each character his own appearance.
A second dream scene was also shot which featured a parasitic twin emerging from Beverly's stomach but this sequence was not used in the final cut.
Adaptation as television series
On August 18, 2020,
Amazon Prime Video gave a straight-to-series order with
Rachel Weisz
Rachel Hannah Weisz (; born 7 March 1970 ) is an English actress. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Laurence Olivier Award, and a BAFTA Award.
Weisz began acting in British stage and television in the ...
set to star. On July 22, 2021,
Michael Chernus
Michael Louis Chernus (born August 8, 1977) is an American actor. He has acted on film, television, and the stage. He is perhaps best known for his role as Cal Chapman on the Netflix original comedy-drama series ''Orange Is the New Black'' (2013 ...
joined the starring cast. On August 2, 2021,
Poppy Liu was cast in a main role.
Reception
On review aggregator
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has an approval rating of 84% based on 43 reviews, and an average rating of 7.70/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "''Dead Ringers'' serves up a double dose of Jeremy Irons in service of a devilishly unsettling concept and commandingly creepy work from director David Cronenberg." According to the review aggregator Metacritic, the film received a weighted score of 86 out of 100 indicating “universal acclaim.”
Roger Ebert gave the film two and a half stars, writing "it's like a collaboration between med school and a supermarket tabloid", and said it was challenging but interesting for his female friends to view. Ebert also credited Irons for making each twin unique. ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' said Irons portrayed his characters with skill. In ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'',
Desson Howe
Desson Patrick Thomson is a former speechwriter for the Obama administration and former film critic for ''The Washington Post''. He was known as Desson Howe until 2003 when he changed his name after reuniting with his birth father.
Biography
...
assessed it as "unnerving but also enthralling". For the same paper, Rita Kempley called it "every woman's nightmare turned into a creepy thriller", adding it was "like slowing down to look at a traffic accident, afraid you might see something. It's really sordid stuff that becomes ridiculous, painful, unbelievable and tedious".
It is the favorite Cronenberg film of Korean director
Chan-wook Park and was voted for in the 2002 ''
Sight & Sound
''Sight and Sound'' (also spelled ''Sight & Sound'') is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). It conducts the well-known, once-a-decade ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time, ongoing ...
'' poll by Lalitha Gopalan. In 1999, ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' listed ''Dead Ringers'' as 95th on their list of "100 Maverick Movies". ''
Total Film
''Total Film'' is a British film magazine published 13 times a year (published monthly and a summer issue is added every year since issue 91, 2004, which is published between July and August issue) by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched ...
'' placed ''Dead Ringers'' 35th on their list of the "50 Greatest Horror Movies of All Time" while ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...
'' placed it 20th on their list of "The 25 scariest movies of all time". It was named one of "The Top 10 'True-Story' Horror Movies of All-time!" by
Bloody Disgusting.
In 1993, the
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...
Group compiled a
Top 10 Canadian Films of All Time The Top 10 Canadian Films of All Time is a list compiled by the Toronto International Film Festival ranking what are the considered the best Canadian films. The list has been compiled once roughly every 10 years starting in 1984, typically assembl ...
list, with festival director Piers Handling writing a lack of Cronenberg films was significant, and that ''Dead Ringers'' and ''
Videodrome
''Videodrome'' is a 1983 Canadian science fiction body horror film written and directed by David Cronenberg and starring James Woods, Sonja Smits, and Debbie Harry. Set in Toronto during the early 1980s, it follows the CEO of a small UHF televis ...
'' divided voters, causing neither to win a place on the list. ''Dead Ringers'' afterwards ranked sixth in the 2004 update,
and seventh in 2015.
Box office
The film grossed $8 million in the United States and Canada. Internationally it grossed $6 million for a worldwide total of $14 million.
Accolades
Irons won critics groups' Best Actor awards for ''Dead Ringers'', and when he won the
Academy Award for Best Actor in 1991 for ''
Reversal of Fortune'', he thanked Cronenberg in his acceptance speech.
See also
*
Look-alike
References
External links
*
*
*
*
''Dead Ringers''an essay by Chris Rodley at the
Criterion Collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dead Ringers (Film)
1988 films
1988 thriller films
1980s psychological thriller films
1980s thriller drama films
20th Century Fox films
American thriller films
American psychological films
American psychological drama films
American psychological thriller films
American thriller drama films
Canadian body horror films
Canadian psychological drama films
Canadian thriller films
Canadian psychological thriller films
English-language Canadian films
1980s English-language films
Films about sexuality
Films about twin brothers
Films directed by David Cronenberg
Films scored by Howard Shore
Films set in Toronto
Films shot in Toronto
American drama films
Twins in fiction
Best Picture Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners
Medical-themed films
Morgan Creek Productions films
1988 drama films
1980s American films
1980s Canadian films