Sorry for the delay - took a week off to go to Ireland, and life, bills, etc -
so I know OF Cronenberg's work - but I haven't been conscious of having seen stuff that's he's directed till now - I went back to IMDB and I have seen some of his films, but I think this one is more representative of the kind of stuff I think of him for.
IMDB calls him the king of venereal horror or the Baron of Blood although this was much more of a suspense film than a gruesome fest. I guess his earlier work was famous for having some pretty grotesque scenes of bodily horror. But as the Criterion Essay puts it, David eschews his usual work portraying the disintegration of the body for a different take on the disintegration of the mind.
The biggest thing that stands out about this right away, obviously, is the incredible Jeremy Irons. One can imagine playing a complex character, but playing two different characters, trying to leave a mark and technique for each one, while allowing for the occasional muddying of who is Elliot and who is Beverly is a difficult challenge that Irons rises to. It's a fascinating film about a man's descent into obsession and drugs and what it does to his twin brother, who up till now has been the sophisticated one of the pair. To rewatch it again, and watch how the brothers start out and end up is to watch a roller coaster go off the rails
I was a bit surprised at the turn of the third act, but there was a lot of this film that kept me on the edge of my seat - I enjoyed it quite a bit even though I tend to not like these 80's US films that dominated the early years of the collection
I was unable to find a Criterion DVD for this one - (out of print) - SO...you're outta luck - there's a list of some features on the website and there are always essays about the films at criterion.com - so go check it out - there's also some interesting trivia there about how Jeremy WAS using two dressing rooms, one for each character, until he realized part of the suspense was wondering which brother was which and brought them together. It also discusses the method he used to get a different energy out of each brother as in all other respects they were completely identical
RB
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