The Double

The Double is Richard Ayoade's latest film. It is based on the book by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. I won't pretend to know anything about Dostoyevsky, but you don't really need to going in.

The film stars Jesse Eisenberg as Simon James, he is quiet, struggles with his identity, and feels pretty much invisible. He is overlooked by everyone, including his elderly mother, and Hannah (Mia Wasikowska), his love interest (whom he watches from his apartment with a telescope, instead of talking to her, until the suicide of a man who was following Hannah causes them to have an actual conversation). The arrival of James Simon (also Jesse Eisenberg) at work causes Simon James much distress. James Simon is his exact double in looks, and his exact opposite in personality and demeanour. At first Simon and James are friends, James offers to help Simon with his crippling low self esteem issues, but soon James begins to take over Simon's life. Thus ensues Simon James' identity crisis, struggling to cope that this double was everything he wanted to be and everything he hated at the same time, yet he was powerless to stop his behaviour, stop him taking credit for his work and stop him pursuing Hannah. 

Visually the film is very interesting, a very dark colour scheme (lots of browns and blacks), everything is square, and the film has no sense of time. Sometimes it feels very old fashioned, and sometimes it feels like it is set in quite a dystopian future, which only adds to the overall sense of uncertainty that carries throughout the film for the viewer. Saying that, it isn't challenging to watch nor is too confusing. Fans of Ayoade's first film Submarine will notice the inclusion of pretty much all the main cast in some small way which I have to admit to it being a nice little touch, and just shows they must have all enjoyed working with Ayoade enough to come back even for a bit part.

While The Double is strange, it's enjoyable and quite humorous in places, so I would say if that's your sort of thing then don't miss it!