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Jake Gyllenhaal has proven himself to be Hollywood’s most enigmatic young star, and in Enemy (inspired by José Saramago’s novel The Double), he plays not one but two characters; one deeply neurotic and tightly wound, the other menacing and aggressive. At its most basic level, the film follows Adam Bell, a disheveled history professor trapped in a pattern of repetition whose life is upended after encountering his double. During an awkward staff lounge conversation, a colleague recommends a “cheerful” film to him, the comically trite Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way. Watching the DVD later that evening in his dimly-lit apartment, Adam notices something unusual in the background: an extra who looks identical to himself. Desperate to escape the monotony of his daily routine, he hunts down the actor, who turns out to be Anthony Clair, a man living in the same city as Adam. They have a number of increasingly tense phone conversations before agreeing to meet in person at a rundown motel, where they discover they are physically indistinguishable, right down to identical scars on their chests. Soon, Adam finds himself in a dangerous relationship of sexual rivalry, as Anthony, convinced Adam has slept with his pregnant wife (Sarah Gadon), becomes determined to go away with Adam’s girlfriend (Mélanie Laurent) for a weekend. As the men assume each others’ identities, Gyllenhaal manages to keep each character distinct with a masterfully subtle, nuanced dual performance.

The story reveals itself slowly over time, as the viewer wonders: Are they long-lost twins? Is Anthony just a figment of Adam’s imagination? Are they really the same man, somehow leading a double life? Directed by Denis Villeneuve (with whom Gyllenhaal subsequently reteamed to make the fantastically absorbing mystery-thriller Prisoners), Enemy unfolds like a nightmare, winding through varying levels of consciousness, culminating in a mystifying final shot unlike any you’ve seen before. Villeneuve and cinematographer Nicolas Bolduc manipulate the urban setting to create a psychological landscape of quiet, inescapable fear. A profoundly unnerving spider motif and a muted colour palette of sickly cigarette-stain yellows also contribute to an atmosphere of encroaching paranoia and anxiety. Perhaps Enemy is an expression of the fear of being caught in a cycle of repetition, or maybe it has more to do with intimacy, power and relationships, but it is undoubtedly a challenging, haunting film that cements Villeneuve as one of the boldest and most exciting voices in independent cinema.