The Double

2014

93 mins

Directed by Richard Ayoade
83%
59%
Comedy
Drama
Thriller

Jesse Eisenberg and Mia Wasikowska star in this comedy and existential nightmare, based on the Dostoevsky novella, about a man... More

Jesse Eisenberg and Mia Wasikowska star in this comedy and existential nightmare, based on the Dostoevsky novella, about a man who finds his life being usurped by his doppelganger... From actor/writer/director Richard Ayoade, his second feature after 2010's Submarine. Chris O'Dowd, Ayoade's co-star from The IT Crowd, also features.

"'You're in my place'. So begins meek Simon's descent into a nightmare while on his way to work. Simon is referring to his usual seat on the subway, but it's a phrase with worrying echoes. Because the man occupying Simon's seat looks exactly like him: a double. Ayoade updates the nineteenth-century Russian story to explore timeless anxieties about who we really are. When Simon (Eisenberg) gets to work he finds that this double has usurped his tenuous position in the company. Routinely humiliated by his boss (Wallace Shawn), the neurotic Simon now has to deal with a doppelgänger that is everything he isn't: confident, charming, successful, superficial." (Toronto International Film Festival)

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Where to watch The Double

The Double is available to stream in New Zealand now... More on YouTube and Google TV and Apple TV Store and Academy On Demand and AroVision.

There is no screening information for this title.

The Double | Ratings & Reviews

83_%131 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes® rating
59_%18,496 reviews
Audience score rating

"A rigid, one-joke movie that feels hard pressed to sustain any sort of momentum."

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Variety

"Shows the directorial skill – and daring – of a major player, even if it can’t quite escape being swallowed by its influences."

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Total Film

"An effective Pinterest board of paranoia and alienation."

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Time Out

"Mirrors aspects of Gilliam, Gondry and the Coen brothers' Hudsucker Proxy... Ayoade uses sound rhythmically, builds farce and tragedy out of the simplest devices."

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The Guardian

"Finds a man so unable to live his life that a twin-like stranger has to show up to do it for him... the heavily stylized film further demonstrates the actor's ability to create self-contained worlds behind the camera."

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