My personal favorite Cronenberg. A semi-remake/homage of Greenaway’s A Zed and Two Noughts, which is my favorite Greenaway film.
I find codependency and the whole concept of people breaking down together extremely creepy, so Dead Ringers gave me goosebumps, especially the scene where the bodies are found.
if i had to pick a movie that sums up cronenbergs view of the world, i wouldn’t be able to decide between dead ringers and videodrome. both masterpieces.
A movie and a half. However, I’ve never met a girl who liked it.
Nice, but he should have used real twins.
My favorite Cronenberg; love the character names Bujold’s character: Claire NIVEAU (which in English means LEVEL)…as soon as she comes between the brothers, she in fact unbalances their whole relationship; brilliant stuff.
Joshua: You’ve never met a girl who liked it? I wonder why that is. It’s my favorite Cronenberg, and I would think that the relationship between the brothers would resonate with most woman, as we (and I’m making a HUGE generalization here) tend to have more of a codependent streak in our relationships (whether these are romantic relationships or friendships).
i’ve never met a girl who liked dr strangelove either
This is my favorite Cronenberg film – plotwise, style-wise, performance-wise and direction wise. As many of you may know, this film was, according to Chris Rodley’s essay in the Criterion release, inspired by the real-life story of identical twin gynecologists Stewart and Cyril Marcus, who were discovered together dead, partially decayed and almost naked in their New York apartment in 1975. Both had died from barbituate withdrawal. The film is a compelling exploration of the nature of the psychological interconnectivity and interdependency of identical twins. Jeremy Irons’ performance was remarkable, and Cronenberg’s groundbreaking use of film splicing to achieve the scenes when the two brothers are together was nothing short of genius. I don’t think anyone else had tried the technique at the time, but I could be wrong.
As far as Joshua’s statement about not knowing any women who like the film, I definitely see your point. I too have not met any women who liked the film (then again, I don’t get out much). I think it’s because the film can easily be pegged as misogynistic due to the way the female protagonist, as well as other women, are treated in the film. I can see it coming off as distasteful to some. The sex scenes can also easily be construed as pretty nasty.
And as for you Shelley, that’s a good point you make. Josh and I have now met the first female (at least that we know) who likes Dead Ringers. Greetings!
Don’t know where you all are meeting girls, but my wife likes both Dead Ringers and Dr. Strangelove.
SACREDCHAO – Try doing a “man on the street.” Try and find 10 females who saw the film and ask them what they thought of it. See what their responses are. It’s great that there are women out there, like your wife and Shelley, who like the film, I just haven’t met many who do. They all call it “gross.”
Yeah, this is by far my favorite Cronenberg film, the one with the least of the tiresome “new flesh” biological stuff that can get so silly in other films. Irons’ performances are his career best. A remarkable movie all around.
I just watched this film again today and absolutely loved it more than ever. The play on split personalities and codependency along with the technosexual elements are Classic Cronenberg.
CRITERION, PUT IT BACK IN PRINT!!!!
As others have said, this is one of Cronenberg’s best films. With Crash, I think you really can’t fault this one. Cronenberg’s signature creepiness is used effectively, and as Lester tells us, this was based on a real story. Jeremy Irons did a terrific job , as did Bujold, and I think Cronenberg gets at the heart of the drama effectively, without making it into any kind of melodrama – which could have happened in lesser hands. The film looks great, too. If this is out of print and circulation, it definitely needs to be put back. This film would make a good double bill with Greenaway’s Zed & Two Noughts for a surreal chill-out.
Criterion must do a Bluray of this, retain the rights to ‘Crimes of the Future’ from their laserdisc set, grab both the Cronenberg commentary from the previous Criterion release and the new commentary from the Warner Brothers release. Overall, as it is on home video it’s not as it should be.
On a different note, why is David Cronenberg veering away from surrealism and body horror to mainstream crime-drama? It’s not to say ‘A History of Violence’ wasn’t a great entry into his canon, but he followed it up with part-deux, ‘Eastern Promises’, and it’s said his new picture will have Denzel Washington and be even more mainstream. There’s no doubting Cronenberg’s brilliance and uncompromising approach to his content, but am I the only one who feels like he is…softening with age? The grotesquerie that was germane to his work seems to be eroding away as well. The intelligence is still there, but what people knew to be ‘Cronenbergian’ is being jettisoned either in favor of greater public consumption, or he simply doesn’t care to survey body horror any longer. So much for long-live the new flesh.
Cronenberg cant just keep making the same film over and over again. His ability to evolve and adapt to the times differentiates himself from other 60s/70s directors: John Carpenter’s post Halloween/The Thing films has been slowly fading away to obscurity; I don’t remember one Tobe Hopper film outside of Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the Poltergeist; George E. Romero’s zombie films have lost their charm after his 1978 masterpiece Dawn of the Dead; Wes Craven…well hes achieved a lot of success in the 80s and 90s, but his work doesn’t compare to the masterpieces which Cronenberg achieved). In the end, David Cronenberg’s films have always been link thematically and the films he produced this century (Spider, A History of Violence, and Eastern Promises) are all unforgettable films and hands down better than maybe 90% of what other big name directors are doing now.
But to get beck to the reason of this forum, I put Dead Ringers in my top 10 favorite films of all time and really hope Criterion re-releases this masterpiece so another generation can understand the beauty of Cronenberg’s greatness. It deserved to have a packaging similar to the outstanding criterion releases of his other two master works (Videodrome and Naked lunch). Wonderful film by one of our greatest directors.
Andrew Kotwicki, I read somewhere that Cronenberg and Viggo are game for an Eastern Promises sequel – as long as they like the script. I do agree, while I really liked A History of Violence and Eastern Promises, I would love to see him make something in the same vein as his older stuff. But who knows, maybe my wish would come true and we end up with Videodrome and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull… But I doubt that.
My favourite Cronenberg film, and actually, one of my top three favourites of all time. It gets better with each viewing, such an incredibly complex and heartbreaking film. The final scenes always hits me harder than almost anything else I’ve seen in cinema.
My favourite Cronenberg as well. I saw it on TV when I was 14 or 15 and I remember feeling drained when the film finished (the floodgates just opened). Like Marissa states above, it is absolutely heartbreaking. Cronenberg’s “Dead Zone” also has a very sad and poignant quality to it.
Excellent observation, Anubhav Bist.
Possibly only DePalma (whose films I don’t particularly like) from that same period, has moved on from horror and continued to explore a personal vision in other, arguably more mainstream, projects. Hooper, Romero, Carpenter, et al, keep mining the smae territory with decreasing results.
I just wish Cronenberg had been able to keep the original title, TWINS, which came from the book it was (loosely) based on by Bari Wood. Unfortunately the Arnold Doublecheeseburger/Danny DeVito vehicle came out the same year. In the book, which itself is very loosely based on the actual events, the dominant (evil) twin is gay. (I have no idea if that was the case in real life.) It’s interesting but not surprising, that this element was abandoned in the screenplay.
Thanks Harry Long, and DePalma could be considered as a director who made a successful transition from the horror genre to other genres, though I’m not really a fan of his work from either part of his film making career (I still don’t really see why films like Dressed to Kill and Femme Fatal have as strong of a cult following?). Other directors who’ve made successful transitions include Sam Raimi and Peter Jackson.
Second….I think Dead Ringers is a much more kick ass name than Twins.
>>the book it was (loosely) based on by Bari Wood<<
Thanks Oilgun. I wanted to post to that effect, but I couldn’t remember the name of the author & I’d totally forgotten the book had a different title…
>>Other directors who’ve made successful transitions include Sam Raimi and Peter Jackson.<<
Alas, Raimi – who I thought was so promising for a time – has decided to immerse himself in mega-budget junk.
Can somebody help me – Will I like Dead Ringers and Videodrome if I didn’t understand Naked Lunch? Everyone talks about these two films but I’ve been weirded out by Cronenberg so I’ve been hesitant to see his films. I like Dead Zone when I saw it as a kid and I saw History of Violence but didn’t think much of it. Is Dead Ringers and Videodrome worth checking out?
Fredo – Definitely. Any Cronenberg film is worth checking out – I have all his films. Crash is excellent. Videodrome will blow your mind. Dead Ringers is amazing.
Fredo, I have not seen The Naked Lunch, but I can highly recommend Dead Ringers.
Rumplesink, How’s the Videodrome Criterion? It has been something I have had my eye on for quite some time, since I have never seen the film.
Just like to say in response to the earlier posts that I’m a girl, and I’ve always loved this film. Jeremy Irons is brilliant, and it’s my favourite Cronenberg by far.
On a side note, I did LOVE Cronenberg in Nightbreed. Great movie, great casting, great Clive Barker.
Drew – The packaging on the Videodrome Criterion is awesome. It’s the only DVD packaging I’ve kept. I like Cronenberg commentaries – he’s a very intelligent guy. It’s a must buy imho.
Anthony N
Great Film!!
Any thoughts or Interpretations?