Richard Ayoade’s second film and
follow up to 2010’s critically acclaimed Submarine
is The Double, a dark comedy based on
Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s satirical novella of the same name. Set in a subterranean
hinterland of unknowable time and location, the film follows the life of
lonely, ignored and unseen data imputer Simon James (Jesse Eisenberg). Simon
floats through life unnoticed by those around him, stating that he feels as
though people could almost reach through him as though he wasn’t there. When a
new co-worker is introduced, Simon is shocked to discover that he looks and
sounds exactly like himself. His doppelgänger though is everything he is not;
cocky, outgoing and highly visible.
The Double could easily have been a film that was known for its
story. Based on the work of one of the literary greats of the nineteenth
century, the film has the narrative already safely mapped out and it indeed
delivers an interesting and complex story. In the hands of Ayoade though, this
film will be remembered for more; chiefly its design and sound. Richard Ayoade
has constructed a magnificent film that evokes so much but remains unique. It’s
beautiful and funny, grim and depressing all in equal measure.
