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Jeremy Irons and Geneviève Bujold in Dead Ringers (1988)

Plot

Dead Ringers

Edit

Summaries

  • Twin gynecologists take full advantage of the fact that nobody can tell them apart, until their relationship begins to deteriorate over a woman.
  • The Mantle brothers are both doctors - both gynecologists - and identical twins. Mentally however, one of them is more confident than the other, and always manages to seduce the women he meets. When he's tired of his current partner, she is passed on to the other brother - without her knowing. Everything runs smoothly, until an actress visits their clinic, and the shy brother is the first to fall in love. Will they be able to 'share' her ?—Colin Tinto <cst@imdb.com>
  • Beverly and Elliot Mantle are identical twin brothers who work in a joint practice as award winning research and practicing gynecologists. They both have been fascinated with the female reproductive system since they were children. Despite being physically identical, they are extreme opposites in personality, Elliot being the extrovert, Beverly the introvert. As such, they live a symbiotic life, with one's strength being the other's weakness, both personally and professionally. The two brothers, under the guise of being Beverly alone, begin a sexual relationship with visiting actress Claire Niveau, who comes to see Beverly professionally about a physical abnormality which may prevent her from being able to conceive. Claire is unaware that Beverly has a twin brother let alone that she has had sex with him. When Claire finds out, she is initially disgusted but continues to have a relationship solely with Beverly. Beverly's growing obsession with Claire and her physical abnormality ultimately shows how symbiotic and intertwined the brothers' live are and the fact that one can't live without the other.—Huggo
  • Identical twin brothers Beverly and Elliot Mantle share a great many things in life. From a young age they've shared the same interests and now as adults, they're both gynecologists specializing in female infertility. They share an apartment as well but personality-wise, Elliot is far more confident than Beverly. Elliot is also quite the ladies man and usually passes his women on to Beverly. They're both seeing Claire Niveau who realizes the differences between the two - she knows only of Beverly - but can can't quite explain the differences in personality. When a friend tells her about them being twins, the pieces of the puzzle begin to fall into place. For Elliot, Claire is just another plaything but Beverly has developed genuine feelings for her and he begins a downward spiral leading to tragedy.—garykmcd
  • Elliot and Beverly, brilliant identical twin gynaecologists sharing an obsessive brotherly bond, live in the same apartment, share the same medical practice, and even have the same taste in women. But their personalities are like two sides of the same coin. And then, glamorous actress Claire Niveau enters the equation, challenging the siblings' eerie link. As the unusual patient's sudden arrival tests the limits of their connection, a destructive downward spiral into twisted fixations and psychotic behaviours threatens everything. After that, sexual confusion, drug abuse, and madness ensue. Until now, everyone knew that Elliot and Beverly were inseparable. However, with mental alienation leading to unbridgeable chasms, are the fraternal soulmates prepared to stick together to the bitter end?—Nick Riganas

Synopsis

  • The movie opens in Toronto, 1954 with Elliot and Beverly Mantle (Jonathan and Nicholas Haley) as young boys, discussing sex and trying to learn about the female form. Flash forward to the brothers (Jeremy Irons) at Cambridge, Massachusettes in 1967, working in a medical lab and receiving acclaim for inventing a retractor. We see that they seem to share each other's experiences.

    Flash forward another 21 years back to Toronto the present day, and Mantle is examining a movie-star patient, Claire (Genevieve Bujold). She has three openings in her uterus, and it facinates him. The brothers switch appointments regularly, and we see that Elliot is more aggressive and outgoing than Beverly. Elliot encourages Beverly to visit Claire, who obviously had a tryst with Elliot the previous night. Beverly is less willing to be wild, but Elliot reminds him that they always share women.

    Beverly falls in love with Claire, and refuses to share his experience with Elliot. Tension between the brothers begins to build. Beverly lets slip to Claire that he has a brother, and gets upset when she teases him. She tells him she thinks he's schizophrenic.

    Claire has lunch with Laura (Shirley Douglas), who tells her Beverly and Elliot are twins. Claire realizes she doesn't know who she's sleeping with. When she tells Elliot she knows, he gets agitated, but agrees to allow her to meet both of them. She tells them she knows what they are doing and storms off. Elliot is amused, but Beverly is saddened.

    At another awards ceremony, Beverly arrives, drunk, and starts ranting about Elliot taking credit for his work. They reconcile, but Elliot has been offered a job, and Beverly is now taking uppers. Beverly goes to see Claire and apologizes. After sex, he has nightmares about Claire trying to separate him from Elliot. Drug use continues.

    Elliot begins his new glamourous work, and has sex with identical twin protitutes, telling them to call him by both his name and his brother's. He shows up at Claire's movie set and tries to dissuade her from seeing Beverly. She tells him he's very different from Beverly, and refuses to sleep with him.

    Claire leaves town for contract negotiations, and Beverly continues to take drugs. He calls Claire's hotel and thinks the man (her secretary) who answers is her lover. He tells him of her "mutation". Beverly goes to see Elliot and tells him she's having an affair.

    Beverly's work begins to suffer, and he goes to a metalsmith (Stephen Lack) to redesign his medical tools to deal with the "mutations" he is trying to treat. Elliot is now taking more drugs, and the practice is suffering. His secretary quits. He freaks out during an operation while trying to use the new tools.

    Elliot tries to cover up. The board doesn't buy it, and the brothers are forced to close their practice.

    Elliot continues to date, and gets Beverly to dance with his girlfriend Cary (Heidi Von Palleske). He joins in, and the three of them dance intimately. When Beverly realizes they are trying to seduce him, he breaks away but collapses and is rushed to the hospital. Elliot promises to detox Beverly, so no one will know about the drugs. Beverly is locked in the clinic to dry out.

    Elliot's drug use is increasing. Cary tries to tell him he is becoming like Beverly, but Elliot explains that he wants to get "synchronized" with Beverly.

    Claire gets back and straightens out the mix-up with her secretary, then tells Beverly to come see her. He has trouble getting out of the locked clinic, but is desperate to see her. On the way, after stopping to be sick on the street, he notices an art exhibit showing the tools he had the metalsmith make. He finally arrives at Claire's and tries to get her to fill a prescription. She doesn't, and Beverly exhibits more confusion. When he returns to the clinic, he finds the office trashed, and Elliot in the shower, wasted.

    The brothers agree to try and kick the habit, and Elliot begins to sound like a child. In a drug-induced haze, Beverly operates on his brother, using the customized tools he designed, trying to separate them as siamese twins.

    When Beverly awakes, he sees his brother - disemboweled. He packs a bag, gets cleaned up, and leaves, making a phone call to Claire, but when she asks who is calling, he hangs up on her. In a daze, he wanders back upstairs, and collapses, intertwined with his brother.

    The end.

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