Thursday, June 14, 2018

Amant Double: Twins vs. Alien

Seeing a movie in a different language is always a very different experience than seeing one in English. First, the audience has to become comfortable with reading the subtitles while also paying attention to the details of the movie. This could take time for some, or be easy for others who are used to it. Another reason why it is a different experience is because cultures all have their own preference of movie structures. A french film is usually not commonly scene by people from America.

This movie was a cinematography masterpiece. The director used camera angles and lighting to make the audience feel a certain way during a scene. One specific scene that stuck out was when the main character, Chloe, was going to see if her boyfriend was pretending to be another therapist. She was walking up a spiral staircase when the camera pans out and shows an upward angle of a massive and long staircase that she would have to finish climbing. It was a beautiful shot and showed that she was willing to go through a lot to find out whether or not her boyfriend is who he says he is.

There were a lot of moments between characters that seemed so culturally different than what is scene in American movies and in real-life moments. They did not speak to each other that much or show a great loving emotion. It was a little difficult to figure out how they felt based on words, so the focus had to be on the shot.

What made this movie stand out was not being told a clear ending. Chloe has had stomach problems all her life and was told nothing is wrong. She was instructed to go to a therapist-- her soon to be boyfriend. They end up moving together and her stomach settles for a little bit. She is on a bus back from work and drives by someone that looks like her boyfriend who is talking outside to a women. He denies it was him, so the next day she stops where she saw him and discovers a plaque of a therapist with the same last name as her boyfriend's former last name. She makes an appointment with him and ends up meeting his very aggressive twin whom ends up having an intense sexual relationship with her. This relationship is full of fear and passion. Chloe never tells her boyfriend and ends up pregnant, not knowing whose kid it is. When her boyfriend leaves town, she notices that she is being followed and threatened by the evil twin. She ends up in his office with both the twin and her boyfriend. She stabs the evil twin and kills him when all of a sudden her baby starts to breakthrough her skin on her stomach and crawl out of her. This horrifying moment ends up actually being a massive cyst that was breaking out of her body. The audience find out this cyst is actually her unborn twin sister when she makes a gruesome joke about killing her twin sister. She ends up being driven home by her boyfriend. This makes it unclear if her boyfriend ever had a twin or if it was all in her head. The cyst could have been messing with her neurologically and now that it was out, she could go back to her normal self.

At this point, the audience can assume these events were a figment of her imagination that was being sprung upon her due to the cyst. At the very end, Chloe and her boyfriend are having sex in the bed in their apartment when all of a sudden, Chloe looks out the window and sees her twin. This could very well be in her head, until the twin slams her hand against the window and cracks it. The movie end and everyone is left with their mouth open in shock.

What was amazing was hearing from the very young, French director at the end. Even he refuses to give a clear answer to the ending because that was the point of the movie. The audience is forced to figure out how the interpret this movie on their own, much different than movies scene in America.

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