A man is shot inside a parking garage. As he lies dying, he flashes back on his life, recalling all the events that led up to this moment. That’s a pretty good way to start a movie. Unfortunately, The Double does a whole lot of nothing with it. The flashbacks are disjointed, out of order, and unreliable. The actual reason he gets murdered is rather uninteresting.
Buy The DoubleThe man is Frank (Jean Sorel); he’s a rich trust fund kid who spouts nonsense political rhetoric like he’s some kind of genius and plays at being an architect. He marries the young and beautiful Lucia (Ewa Aulin) but is insanely jealous of her. So jealous that he winds up sleeping with her mother, Nora (Lucia BosĂ©), and then spends most of the film fantasizing about her. While on the beach, they meet an American hippie named Eddie (Sergio Doria). Frank becomes so jealous he fantasizes about killing Eddie. And then, maybe, he actually goes through with it.
It isn’t always easy to tell what is real and what is fantasy. One moment we will be in that garage with Frank lying on the floor, his killer standing over him, and then the next the film will flash back to that beach, or a party, or Frank and Lucia’s home. Director Romolo Guerrieri clearly sets the flashbacks up to represent the thoughts of a dying man. The flashbacks are all out of sync and out of order. They move in and out of each other like a dream. Sometimes they seem to be a dream, reflecting not what actually happened but maybe what he wished had happened. We cannot rely on anything being the truth.
The Double is sometimes called a giallo, and I can sort of see where that comes from with its fractured plot and interesting visuals, but this is more of an erotic drama than a true mystery. Who killed Frank and why isn’t something that is investigated. Frank isn’t really even trying to figure it out, as he can see the man who shot him and knows who he is. Why this man shot him is the bigger question, and the film does answer that, but it isn’t particularly compelling.
Guerrieri is a pretty good visual stylist. The beaches of Morocco look beautiful, and he creates some interesting compositions. There is one scene where Lucia covers Frank with her sheer dress while they kiss, and it is just gorgeous. But the story never connects. They try to add some other elements to make it a little more compelling – a dead body shows up, and Frank’s brother tries to enlist him into the family business as it is close to bankruptcy, but none of it takes. The film’s fractured structure simply doesn’t allow it to follow one narrative thread for long. In the end, it is a nice try, but one that ultimately fails.
The Double is presented with a nice-looking 1080p transfer from Radiance Films.
Extras include the following:
- Audio Commentary by Tim Lucas (better than the actual film, if I’m being honest).
- Interviews with Romolo Guerrieri and Ewa Aulin
- Analysis of the film by Stephen Thrower.
- Stills Gallery (HD)
