Dead Ringers (film)

From Open Encyclopedia

{{Infobox_Film |name = Dead Ringers |image = Dead Ringers DVD.jpg |caption = DVD Cover for Dead Ringers |director = David Cronenberg |producer = Marc Boyman
David Cronenberg |writer = David Cronenberg
Jack Geasland
Norman Snider
Bari Wood |starring = Jeremy Irons
Geneviève Bujold |movie_music= Howard Shore |distributor= Twentieth Century Fox |released= September 23, 1988 |runtime = 115 min. |language = English |imdb_id = 0094964 |music = Howard Shore |awards = |budget = |}} Dead Ringers is a 1988 psychological horror film directed by David Cronenberg.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Inspired by true events, the film stars Jeremy Irons in a dual role as Elliot and Beverly Mantle, identical twin gynecologists. Elliot, the more aggressive of the two, seduces women who come to the Mantle Clinic. When he tires of them, he passes them on to the shy and passive Beverly, without informing them.

When Beverly becomes attached to a troubled actress (played by Geneviève Bujold), it upsets the equilibrium between the twins. The actress' rejection of Beverly sends him into clinical depression, prescription drug abuse and delusions about "mutant women" with abnormal genitalia. Their codependent relationship pulls Elliot down as well.

The movie ends tragically, with the mutual murder/suicide of the twin brothers.

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Trivia

Jill Hennessy and her identical twin sister Jacqueline Hennessy make their film debut in this movie. Jill would go on to co-star in Law & Order and Crossing Jordan while Jacqueline would become an award-winning journalist and TV host.

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