L'Amant Double Review/List of 10 Crazy movies involving twins

 

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L’Amant Double (2017)

François Ozon

Cast: Marie Vacth, Jérémie Renier, Jacqueline Bisset

Length: 107 min
Country: France

Ozon’s Double Lover is as intriguing as a Hitchcock’s movie, disturbing as a Cronenberg’s, over-stylised like an Almodovar’s and as controversial as a Venhover’s. All these great ingredients don’t necessarily work together and the result is uniquely bizarre. It’s an unfiltered, unbelievable and unapologetic tale of symmetrically opposite images: Good and Evil, rational and irrational, submission and control.

From the opening scene, we already understand that is going to be an outrageous and uncomfortable screening. The viewer is staring at the inside of a vagina, which then fades into the shape of someone's eye. “Quite the ice-breaker, isn’t it?”
Such a preposterous way to introduce the main character Chloé (Ozon’s Jeune & Jolie muse Marine Vacth) who seeks to consult a gynaecologist due to her constant and inexplicable stomach aches. The doctor tells her that her symptoms seem to be psychosomatic and she encourages her to see a therapist.

As result, she undertakes therapy with psychologist Paul (Jérémie Renier). They soon fall in love, suspend their sessions and move in together .  Things start to unfold when Chloe finds out that Paul has a secret twin, also a therapist, called Louis. She secretly starts therapy with Louis, behind her partner’s back.
The idea of “opposite twins” intrigues Ozon both thematically and visually. The use of doubles is a constant throughout the movie. Two orchids, two cats, and an endless number of mirrors. The twins are in polar opposition: Paul is a kind, generous and sympathetic man, while Louis is rude, cruel and sadistic.

 

During the 40's and 50's, Freudian psychology reached the peak of its popularity. Directors used to rely on their own versions of psychoanalysis to provide easy answers for their characters' delusions. Just think for instance, films as Hitchcock's Spellbound (1945) and as Robert Siodmak's Dark Mirror(1946).
L’Amant Double seems to use the same old method (with more sex), more than half a decade later, thus prioritising style over coherence. Hey, nothing wrong with telling a totally unbelievable story. However, Ozon's latest work, notwithstanding his incredible sense of craft, is often utterly silly and too extravagant to take it seriously .

L’Amant Double is an insanely kinky piece; it showcases nudity, pegging, and oniric ménage-à-trois, among other things. It’s obvious that Ozon had loads of fun in making this movie. At times it looks like he is just mocking his disorientated audience, that probably wouldn’t have expected this turn from the director of the elegant black and white Frantz (2016), or the playful women-centred murder mystery 8 Femmes (2002). However, to those who are more familiar with Ozon's filmography (especially his early works), it might be a "deviant" delight. It reminded me of his splendidly odd debut Sitcom(1998), where a dysfunctional family adopts a laboratory rat with the power of unleashing the most private and dark parts of their sexualities. Both films wear their fetishes in such an unapologetic way that one cannot help to admire. Although, it will shock even the least prudish audience.

Movies you might like if you like L'Amant Double:

Body Double (1984) by Brian De Palma
Dead Ringers (1988) by David Cronenberg
La Piel Que Habito (2011) by Pedro Almodovar
Elle (2016) by Paul Verhoeven

Niche List of the week
10 Crazy movies involving twins

When I started this list, I decided that I wasn't only researching movies with twins. They had to be a bit weird and unconventional in some way.  Like Ozon, directors as Kubrick, Cronenberg, Greenway and De Palma were fascinated by the idea of doubles, doppelgangers and opposites. They use this natural rarity as a tool to explores their visions both thematically and visually; They went a bit mad with it.   From twin gynaecologists with problems of addiction to twin zoologists who become obsessed with decomposing animals. From scary little girls in the Shining to scary little kids in Goodnight Mommy. Identical twins, Siamese twins, vestigial twins...you name it. There is not a single movie here that it's the identical copy of something else, also because there is not such a thing as an identical copy.
 

• Dead Ringer (1964) by Paul Henries

Bette Davis delivers two great performances (Her second time playing twin sisters almost two decades apart from A Stolen Life (1946)).  
In Dead Ringer, Edith is the twin sister of a wealthy uncaring widow, Margaret. Edith owns a bar, a business which is drowning in debts. She'll kill Margaret, by faking her suicide and she'll take her identity, but things don't go the way she planned. An interesting movie for all "Davis"'s aficionados. 

• Twins of Evil (1971) by John Hough

Probably one of the best horror-flicks produced by great British "Hammer Studios".  You have everything you would possibly need from a cult classic: Witch hunting, devil worship, vampirism and of course the gorgeous twins sisters (models for Playboy magazine) Mary and Madeleine Collinson. Twins of Evil is camp, dark, twisted and sexually charged. To not be missed. 

• The Other (1972) by Robert Mulligan

Robert Mulligan (Director of To Kill a Mockingbird) proves to be one of the finest directors of the time, with this underrated and unsettling gem of southern gothic horror. The film is deeply psychological, disturbing, and genuinely creepy without never relying on jump scares. It tells the story of two twins, one good and the other evil, set on a farming community during the Depression era in Connecticut. It's a must-see for fans of subtle horror classics like The Omen and The Exorcist. Uta Hagen performance is fantastic. 

• The Shining (1980) by Stanley Kubrick

The elevator opens, blood comes out. The Shining that doesn't need any introduction. Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece is perhaps the greatest horror of all time. He took Stephen King's novel and completely transformed it into a crafted machine of dread. It's a triumph of masterful precision and crippling terror with unparalleled performances (Jack Nicholson at his best) and the terrific soundtrack from Wendy Carlos. The movie wouldn't be the same without the most memorable and iconic twins in the history of cinema. 

• Basket Case (1982) by Frank Henenlotter

Perhaps the ugliest movie in this list (which doesn't mean I didn't love it), Basket Case is odd, entreating and genuinely funny Grindhouse B movie. Trashy, low budget and ridiculously camp to the point of being charming. It tells the story of a guy which vestigial evil twin (which is a mass of limbs and teeth) was surgically removed against their will. He will seek revenge, by carrying his vestigial cannibal twin inside a wicker basket. 

• A Zed and Two Noughts (1985) by Peter Greenaway 

“The film contains three absurd propositions that aren’t impossible but are highly improbable: 1) Siamese twins who don’t want to be reunited; 2) a woman fascinated by zebras who dreams of being raped by them; and 3) a crippled woman who gives birth to twins whose fathers are also twins. These are deliberately bizarre notions that we’ll be trying to render believable using all the artifices of cinema.”–Peter Greenaway on A Zed and Two Noughts. What else do you need to know? What might be the finest Greenaway is a wondrous "tableau vivant" reminiscent of Vermeer paintings. The movie is beautifully ridiculous, visually stunning, weird as hell. One of a kind. Marvellous scored by Michael Nyman.

• Dead Ringers (1988) by David Cronenberg

Jeremy Irons plays two gynaecologist twin (probably his best performance) who secretly share the same woman. You can't go wrong with a premise like that. One of the most mesmerizing Cronenberg's films, Dead Ringers is filled with bright red outfits and some bizarre surgical tools for mutants. It explores themes of brotherhood, addiction, love, ethics and more with style, originality and horror. 

• Adaptation (2002) by Spike Jonze

Adaptation is a brilliant film, which benefits from having one of the craziest, most intelligent and original screenwriter of all time, Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Synecdoche, New York and Animalisa) and Nicolas Cage best performance. It's a multilayered script on screen-writing. Nicolas Cage is going through a creative block when he is asked to turn a book on Orchids into a screenplay. He will ask his successful twin brother for help, which will lead to an unusual investigation on the author of the book.  The only movie where you will see Meryl Streep (fantastic as always) snorting cocaine. 

• Goodnight Mommy (2014) by Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala 

Set in an isolated house in the countryside, Goodnight Mommy is an extremely slow-paced German horror movie, beautifully shot with gorgeous cinematography rich in subtext and atmosphere.  The first half is notably dry like a Haneke's film, whereas the second half is gutwrenching, disturbing and violent (like a Haneke's film).

Two young twins welcome their mother back home after she had reconstructive surgery. She has her face wrapped with bandages, and she acts in a cold and detached way. The twins start to grow suspicion on her identity. 

• A Branch of a Pine is Tied Up (2017) by Tomayasu Murata 

This almost 20 minutes Japanese stop-motion short is a strange animation which will need multiple viewings before coming up with a plausible (and personal) interpretation. Reminiscent of the work of the Quay Brothers, it tells the story of two twins sisters who were separated by a tsunami. There is a snow globe wich connects past and present (I think) and a Rabbit which connects present with reality (I think). This little gem (In competition at Oberhausen Film Festival) is a wonderfully crafted and dreamlike experience. 

These lists are open to recommendations. If you have a film in mind that should be on the list please leave a comment and tell us what you think.