tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7093895270912854670.post1162469651379048111..comments2024-03-05T02:57:43.309+01:00Comments on cinematic corner.: Enemy (review + analysis)s.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13987831438787776712noreply@blogger.comBlogger56125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7093895270912854670.post-56688949395960569922016-09-30T10:00:21.287+02:002016-09-30T10:00:21.287+02:00I think this movie can be seen as the same in many...I think this movie can be seen as the same in many different ways. We know that it's about cheating and fear and guilt, but how it all comes together, time wise and what the spiders mean, actually are different for everyone. I think the spider in the end was afraid, or maybe she was afraid for an instant, and seeing her husband's face, was ready to attack. So maybe she was both. Maybe she was neither. Maybe the spider is actually a symbol for Anthony seeing women as insects, and he is surprised to see his wife in such a form, huge, for the first time? Who the hell knows, and now I want to see it again, because I feel like I missed something. I know I missed something!Getterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07216666216639032348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7093895270912854670.post-59768935761065586222015-10-06T15:10:29.924+02:002015-10-06T15:10:29.924+02:00This is probably the best interpretation of the sp...This is probably the best interpretation of the spiders i have read. Do you have any thoughts about the metaphorical web sown centre screen after the car crash (cracked window)?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04945097338391485811noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7093895270912854670.post-56015448531157749962015-08-14T00:32:12.032+02:002015-08-14T00:32:12.032+02:00Just watched this move (twice) and here's my t...Just watched this move (twice) and here's my take on what is happening in the movie. We are presented with 2 realities (at different points in time) and 1 false reality. The 2 realities are 1) Anthony married to his wife (Helen) and 2) Anthony after his marriage has ended and he's living in an apartment with his belongings in moving boxes. The false reality is that of Adam (the teacher). Why do I think Adam is a false reality? Well basically because Adam has the torn picture of him and his wife and yet he does not recognize her when he sees her at the university. Who does Adam believe the picture was taken with? The character Adam, who is created by Anthony, is actually suppressing any memory of Helen. Also, Helen does not know who Adam is or what he does. She has to look him up online and go to the university. If Anthony was also a teacher then why wouldn't Helen know about his teaching career? The only one who knows about his teaching is his mother. Hence Adam is the false reality created by Anthony, who he only presents to his mother. When Helen sees Anthony acting as Adam at the university she begins to suspect that it is in fact her husband. She mentions this to him when she returns home. Anthony's initial reaction is of denial and then confusion. Anthony is acutely aware of the Adam persona but keeps suppressing it in light of his other desires or perhaps as a way to preserve what he considers his only escape from his actual reality. <br /><br />The Adam persona is not aware of Anthony because of the way Anthony has suppressed his memories. The colleague who recommends the movie to Adam is also a character created by Anthony's subconscious. This unconscious act of bringing up details from the past is what triggers Adam to begin a quest to find out who Anthony is. <br /><br />Also, I believe that the car crash happens at the beginning of the timeline but we only see it at the end because we're viewing the memory of what happened through Anthony's persona. I believe that he survives the car crash and that's why he has a scar and it's also why it's been 6 months since he was working at the agency. Helen is also 6 months pregnant and that's perhaps why they're still together after the affair. However it's the crash that has triggered the Adam persona to be created and it manifests itself over those 6 month as Anthony continues his sexual adventures in the club. <br /><br />Since Adam is the false reality we don't know whether the Mary we see with him in his apartment is real or not. I suspect she is and that she also survived the car crash (hence why Helen asks Anthony whether he's seeing "her" again). Ultimately it doesn't matter as she doesn't stay with Adam anyways. If you notice at the beginning of the film, although we're led to believe that she and Adam spend many nights together, Mary always leaves the apartment the same way (with Adam looking confused in bed). <br /><br />In the end it's Anthony who apologizes to Helen for what he has done. It's this Anthony who understands his actions, and who admits that the Adam persona exists, who Helen wants to "stay" with her. Of course he doesn't stay as the next morning he reverts back to his split personalities. This ultimately leads to the end of their marriage and Anthony moving out to a new apartment - the one he shows to his mother (recall the voice message at the beginning of the movie). At this point the Adam persona becomes dominant and it appears that the cycle of discovering who he his begins again (i.e. history repeating itself). Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7093895270912854670.post-57328475109357429732015-06-21T01:18:11.163+02:002015-06-21T01:18:11.163+02:00.... Spider Comment Continued:
And, since the mot....... Spider Comment Continued:<br /><br />And, since the motif of the movie is getting pregnant, in the sex club, in the bedroom, and having a pregnant wife, and being a double with one mother, the motif and the theme is the same: all creatures are born from the same seed and look alike and act alike, and slightly different. They have the same DNA. It seems that spider eggs have the same germ cell and there are copies of them when fertilized by the male sperm (need to confirm this further, but it's my quick glance at a spider book: <br />Spider Silk: Evolution and 400 Million Years of Spinning, Waiting, Snagging )<br /><br />Adam and Anthony are little spiders, and when the sex club is shown to us, men watching, there is one female, and lots of males. Sounds like a female spider and lots of male spiders around. And in the upside down female walking shot, guess what, spiders can walk upside down. <br /><br />From a websource hamtwoslices_net: Did you know that spiders are almost all homosexual? Their species evolved to be that way as a form of population control. That's why there are so many male spiders and so few female. And that's also why the queen kills the male after mating with it, because she views him as a genetic anomaly.<br /><br />This is why the elevator guard couldn't get back into the sex room, because the female spider doesn't allow it. He's been figuratively eaten. He's out of the sex and reproductive cycle.<br /><br />When Adam wears sunglasses, and Anthony wears his helmet, it's a bait and switch by the writer, but they are seeing things through a thick, wide dark glasses, just like spider eyes. <br /><br />In regards to reproduction of spiders, from Wiki: If courtship is successful, the male injects his sperm from the pedipalps into the female's genital opening, known as the epigyne, on the underside of her abdomen. Female's reproductive tracts vary from simple tubes to systems that include seminal receptacles in which females store sperm and release it when they are ready.[8]<br /><br />And in the end credits, all the shots of buildings, looking like little holes in the ground for lots and lots of spiders come to mind. Monroe Towers, the twisted buildings looked like something that a spider would weave like a cocoon. From Wiki: The Phonognatha graeffei or leaf-curling spider's web serves both as a trap and as a way of making its home in a leaf.<br /><br />The Monroe buildings look like a giant metalic spider trap.<br /><br />Adam and Anthony are the real "Spiderman", and Gyllenhaal would have made an excellent Spiderman, in fact. Loosing the job to Tobey is another long discussion. But he was up for Spiderman 15 years ago.<br /><br />But, having said this, this film has ample, ample threads of information that can make us interpret the story in different ways, and still be right. It can be a fascist film (twoslices source: in the classic fairy tale, the "spider who sat down beside her" does not represent an actual spider at all, but is rather an allegory for the Soviet stranglehold over western Europe. At the same time, the term "Iron Curtain" was coined by Churchill not as a reference to the political situation but instead as an imaginative (if bleak) description of a wave of North Sea Fancy Spider's washing up near his beachfront home.) <br /><br />Or a spider film or an alien film (DNA replication) or a split personality film, and alike. The information is there. So the data analysis can lead to different conclusions. The writers and director definitely thought that the more information, the better, and it gives a different take to each person. Just like a symphony, it has lots of movements and parts, and it evokes a different emotion in different people. Just like a painting, it has as many meanings at there are eyes. So it's a well crafted film.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7093895270912854670.post-46320825880093986832015-06-21T01:17:51.507+02:002015-06-21T01:17:51.507+02:00So my take is that Adam and Anthony are little spi...So my take is that Adam and Anthony are little spiders, personified as humans. They are born of the same mother spider, and she gives births to a lot of little spiders. POV movie about little spiders looking back on their lives as insignificant creatures. With a conscience. Like a movie extra compared himself to the star. He's insignificant, and Anthony played one too. <br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7093895270912854670.post-76498584425084683302015-03-12T23:21:43.947+01:002015-03-12T23:21:43.947+01:00This was a great read! You came up with a lot of g...This was a great read! You came up with a lot of great stuff. So did a lot of the readers who commented. The only thing I'm sure of is that they are the same person. The wedding ring thing is most perplexing. Really, I just have to watch the damn thing again. Might come back after I do. Dellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05634519605152190304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7093895270912854670.post-11531293563837251492015-01-31T18:31:07.415+01:002015-01-31T18:31:07.415+01:00Thank you for the review, it was the one that answ...Thank you for the review, it was the one that answered most of my questions. And sorry for late reply.<br /><br />I just wanted to share my theory about order of the scenes. As soon as i read about story being told non-chronologically this idea came up to my mind. The car crash really seemed much more natural in the beginning of the movie, but it is not just torn out scene and plot is not shown backwards(though I think "History in reverse" is not there by chance). I believe the story is cyclic. Just play it again after itself and many things seem to clear up.<br /><br />In the end Adam puts on Anthony's jacket and wants to go to the club. In the begging we see Anthony in the same suit actually coming to the club, and moreover we can't even tell if this visit takes place after the concierge's request or it is the night he was talking about in the elevator.<br /><br />Next, in the end we hear that mother called and Adam should call her back, then in the beginning there is a voice mail from her.<br /><br />Another fact that backs up my theory is a phrase from the lecture about history repeating itself(which was repeated for several times), as well as the phrase about world events happening twice.<br /><br />I guess this theory also holds answers for your questions about the picture. When the hero was with Helen the picture was intact, when he was with Mary it was torn. Since the story is a cylce it has neither beginning nor end, so when Adam sees the whole picture at Anthony's it's just another loop.<br /><br />Finally, having this theory in mind, the title of the moto magazine Adam is reading in Anthony's apartment seems totally not random. It's "Cycle!".<br /><br />I have read comments about plot being repetetive or about coming in the end to what we had in the beginning, but I believe there weren't any about literally cycling the story.<br /><br />Another thing that seems not to be mentioned anywhere is the spider-web tie that guy was wearing in "Where there's a will there's a way"(the movie in which Adam sees Anthony).<br /><br />What still bugs me is the ring mark. It just doesn't fit. But maybe it was added with the purpose that no theory would be 100% correct or it's just a mistake. Both versions seem not very plausible or satisfying so I'm still looking for better solution.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04256831924816347488noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7093895270912854670.post-33512594769758354732015-01-24T12:27:20.534+01:002015-01-24T12:27:20.534+01:00The spider can mean many things, I suppose. The fi...The spider can mean many things, I suppose. The film really did a great job at leaving some things open to multiple interpretationss.https://www.blogger.com/profile/13987831438787776712noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7093895270912854670.post-75626898236470802462015-01-24T12:25:36.562+01:002015-01-24T12:25:36.562+01:00What of those gatherings? They help to establish t...What of those gatherings? They help to establish that he is unfaithful/prone to being unfaithful.s.https://www.blogger.com/profile/13987831438787776712noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7093895270912854670.post-86489370195963890942015-01-24T02:46:56.868+01:002015-01-24T02:46:56.868+01:00While I appreciate your psychologically motivated ...While I appreciate your psychologically motivated analysis of this film, it seems to me as though you are ignoring some of the dead give-aways that something sinister actually is going on beneath the surface.For instance, you make no mention of the weird, Eyes Wide Shut style gatherings Clare seems to attend. If this wasn't such a big part of the film, the door man at Clare's building would not have made the comments he made. It seems like the guy was up to some pretty deviant stuff. When Adam tells Helen he's going out, it leaves us to infer that his curiosity has gotten the best of him yet again- he has to know. <br /><br />This film is a tough nut to crack, and open to much interpretation. I doubt anyone but the film makers know for sure just what's going on here. Maybe they don't even know, which would explain why things were left so vague.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7093895270912854670.post-52747363456872057792014-09-10T04:14:08.712+02:002014-09-10T04:14:08.712+02:00What's the precise moment of this scene, what ...What's the precise moment of this scene, what time? I just can't find out.<br />I've seen the film a lot but still no sunglasses on the table. More, just can't find this snapshot in the whole film.. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7093895270912854670.post-76789039399334938642014-09-04T14:28:54.701+02:002014-09-04T14:28:54.701+02:00I really like all that i read :)
Just to help a l...I really like all that i read :)<br /><br />Just to help a little bit, i found this:<br /><br />=> Next scene Helen is at the house confused and scared. Anthony/Adam walks in supposedly from a run and asks why she didn’t get the blueberries he liked so much and needs. Helen walks away. Later that evening she tells him what she did and says “what’s happening?” and when he says I don’t know what you’re talking about, she says “I think you know”. She is now slowly discovering that her husbands mind is split, he is gone insane.<br /><br />I also noticed this in the scene;<br />Notice the sunglasses at the table there. Mind-blowing right?"<br /><br /><br /><br />The sunglasses at the table. Brilliant! :)<br /><br />from: <br />http://shoton35.wordpress.com/tag/enemy-jake-gyllenhaal-movie-analysis-denis-villenueve-javier-guillon-screenplay-2014-sarah-gadon-isabella-rossellini/<br /><br />C.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7093895270912854670.post-18014483052108745722014-08-30T00:39:11.252+02:002014-08-30T00:39:11.252+02:00Great analysis! I've just come home after watc...Great analysis! I've just come home after watching the movie (I live in France, it's just arrived here) and I can't stop thinking about it.<br />So, than you for having shared those thoughts, they're helping me a lot in understanding.<br />My only comment is about the spider: especially in the scene of a giant one walking on the city, it reminds me of a sculpture I saw at Bilbao's Guggenheim, you can see it here: www.guggenheim-bilbao.es/en/works/maman/.<br />It is called "Maman", which is: mum, mother.<br />This, in my opinion, can explain why this animal is so present in the movie and why the wife turns into a spider in the end. It may represent the sense of guilt felt by Adam/Anthony, caused by his wife pregnancy, her controlling behaviour and his mother herself.<br />Maybe...<br />(I'm sorry for my language, I'm not a native English speaker)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7093895270912854670.post-2170033642107543802014-08-03T00:02:00.465+02:002014-08-03T00:02:00.465+02:00I don't know, but what I observe spider repres...I don't know, but what I observe spider represents lots of negative emotions, anger, lies, guilt, infidelity, and fear.<br /><br />Though It is hard to explain the movie in one streamline, but one thing is sure, that they are one single person..Hemuhttp://www.lifestalker.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7093895270912854670.post-84698982386316970512014-07-16T06:18:22.135+02:002014-07-16T06:18:22.135+02:00Fuck me, do I like your theory about this. A lot.
...Fuck me, do I like your theory about this. A lot.<br /><br />The wedding band tan-line still hurts my head though. If he cheated on his pregnant wife (wouldn't we assume it was <i>during</i> the pregnancy?), then how the Hell didn't she ever notice it. Was it simply because all they did was bang in his dingy apartment? <br /><br />Either way, thanks for the great read. I really, really liked it. But now...I'm going to go take a nap.m.brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14457418128925003938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7093895270912854670.post-81549045796719862092014-07-12T12:51:09.116+02:002014-07-12T12:51:09.116+02:00last scene: my take...he is an actor and was actin...last scene: my take...he is an actor and was acting to be the other guy who he probably created to trap his wife like a spider....the wife slept with him believing he was the teacher..this was the trap...when he said he will late again after gettin key for club she then realised he was her husband..that explains the spiders fear....he proved that all people are capable of cheating and justifies his immoral behaviour...the wife essentially cheated and his expression was a sigh of i am not surprised...he was the dictator the one in control ...the spider...as the poster has the spider in his head he is the spider and all this was his intricate web...but then again what do i know and i only watched the movie onceAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7093895270912854670.post-36074016177613613172014-06-29T18:31:36.439+02:002014-06-29T18:31:36.439+02:00That's a nice catch, it didn't occur to me...That's a nice catch, it didn't occur to me when I was watching the movies.https://www.blogger.com/profile/13987831438787776712noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7093895270912854670.post-81452406676448741652014-06-29T18:30:00.967+02:002014-06-29T18:30:00.967+02:00Thank you! :)Thank you! :)s.https://www.blogger.com/profile/13987831438787776712noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7093895270912854670.post-81920364515286581452014-06-29T05:18:01.254+02:002014-06-29T05:18:01.254+02:00How about the pregnant wife's belly giving her...How about the pregnant wife's belly giving her a "spider" look...? I could not stop thinking about that after watching the movie.Thinkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12543961508873363096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7093895270912854670.post-44388496023575907322014-06-27T16:20:07.092+02:002014-06-27T16:20:07.092+02:00I constantly find your arguments well structured a...I constantly find your arguments well structured and sensible. I always prefer to read the class and glad I found this thing in you post.<br />Clipping Pathhttp://www.clippingpathbusiness.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7093895270912854670.post-28100545426874232182014-06-19T22:50:53.205+02:002014-06-19T22:50:53.205+02:00That's a very good interpretation, especially ...That's a very good interpretation, especially about the mother and her lines, I suppose that's a sign of a great movie when there are several different theories explaining different scenes, I'm still a bit confused about the whole film, though and I should probably rewatch it :)s.https://www.blogger.com/profile/13987831438787776712noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7093895270912854670.post-64124340119989884912014-06-19T22:27:00.062+02:002014-06-19T22:27:00.062+02:00Nice catch!Nice catch!s.https://www.blogger.com/profile/13987831438787776712noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7093895270912854670.post-76011110765210297822014-06-18T20:21:28.664+02:002014-06-18T20:21:28.664+02:00I finally read that review Sati. Sorry for being s...I finally read that review Sati. Sorry for being so late, I had to watch the movie first and it is the end of the school year so I hardly have any time.<br />I completely agree with you, except for one thing. I do think that spiders symbolize women. Why? Well, after Anthony speaks to his wife who questions him about his real motives, we see a woman with a spider head. He didn't cheat her, but she already attacks him with questions and suspicion. Then, after he's spoken to his mother, he has a dream again, this time the spider is HUGE. His mother IS this huge spider. When Anthony's wife asks him if he had gone to his mother, he says he had to call if off. Only that Adam went to see Anthony's mother. When he comes to her place we see her apartment, and by the look of it I can say that she is a successful artist, who has reached all her dreams and is very respected and knows how things works. But she doesn't even recognize her own son. She speaks straight-forward and even says 'Did you take your clothes off?' and 'The last thing you need is to meet strange men in hotels. You have trouble keeping one woman into your life.', very inappropriate words I'd say. This controlling diva has had a devastating effect on her son's psyche. This is why we see the biggest spider right after we see his mother - her non stop criticism and intrusive advice has a far reach and has always had a lot of control on him - just like the huge spider can have a lot of control with its giant web. Especially since she brought him up. <br />The last spider we see, after he has had some sort of new start, the key he looks is the key for that club - the first temptation and he says immediately that he has some work tonight, because he can't resist. His wife sensed it and when he looked at the spider in the room it was his wife who went back, scared, ready to attack because she knows that if he leaves her she will be alone with a child. So he sighs because he knows there is no way back. He just accepts it. He'll probably have another mental brake down and he knows it. Due to his mother's destructive influence he views being with a woman like a dictatorship. He won't get our of her web, and he knows that. In the beginning we hear a cite by Karl Marx 'The first time it is a tragedy, the second time is a farce.' So he knows he'll make the same mistakes again, and it is going to be a farce. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7093895270912854670.post-55860502678663935682014-05-28T06:19:16.874+02:002014-05-28T06:19:16.874+02:00Re: Scenes being chronologically out of order (or ...Re: Scenes being chronologically out of order (or the ending scene being the beginning of the movie). I noticed that when Adam is looking at Anthony's (untorn) photo of him & Helen, there is a book entitled 'History in Reverse' next to the photo. :)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16159503619015542113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7093895270912854670.post-6884074653006018272014-05-10T20:44:09.014+02:002014-05-10T20:44:09.014+02:00Thank you! :)Thank you! :)s.https://www.blogger.com/profile/13987831438787776712noreply@blogger.com