That Obscure Object of Desire was derived from the frequently adapted 1898 novel by Pierre Louÿs, The Woman and the Puppet, perhaps most famously made into Josef von Sternberg’s The Devil is a Woman with Marlene Dietrich, but the idea of having Conchita be a simulacrum prorated between two very different looking leads is purely Buñuel’s invention. This was the lion of the Surreal movement, Luis Buñuel’s final film, and, true to the tenor of Surrealism, he eschewed any outright rationalization as to why he cast two impressive actresses in the role of Conchita.īoth French ingenue Carole Bouquet and Spanish starlet Angela Molina take turns, seemingly at random, as the temptress Conchita, without rhyme or reason, in a film flush with intentional inconsistencies, usually of a macabre nature, as when an earthshaking car bomb detonates in the background of a scene, and is matter-of-factly ignored in the face of unfolding minor melodrama. The Parent Trap was based off of Erich Kästner’s novel Lottie and Lisa, and the film works primarily because of Mills doting, droll, and palpable performance as well as the demonstrable nostalgia factor, which makes The Parent Trap a rather ravishing throwback. After some initial rivalry they soon learn the truth and also uncover that their parents separated when they were born, and they concoct a scheme to reunite them, in an attempt to rectify their family, Disney-style. When the two girls meet at a summer camp, neither one knowing they are actually sisters. This esteemed Disney film, somewhat of a classic for the generation that grew up watching it in theaters and later on television in the 1960s (it spawned no less than three made-for-TV sequels and a 1998 remake), stars Hayley Mills in her most recognizable role(s) as identical twins Susan Evers and Sharon McKendrick. Partner’s fragmented and declarative leanings, combined with political commentary of a post-nouvelle vague ilk speak to Jean-Luc Godard’s influential style - Bertolucci was always an admirer - and make for a lyrical and Brechtian approach that arthouse audiences will adore. Clémenti’s struggles with bourgeois society seem filtered through a prism of student radicalism, no doubt a reflection of the May 1968 riots in Paris that were going on during shooting. Though not explicitly stated, Partner owes much of its narrative to Dostoevsky’s The Double, and tells the story of a young idealist, Giacobbe (Pierre Clémenti), who has a psychotic look-a-like that just so happens to be a political revolutionary. Sure, it wouldn’t be the film to bump Bertolucci out from the shadow of the generation of Italian directors that came before him Fellini and Antonioni, but it would set him on that course (and be soon followed by The Conformist in 1970 and Last Tango in Paris in 1972, amongst other significant works unleashed at a lightning pace). While not considered one of Bernardo Bertolucci’s major works, Partner is still a confrontational and unexpectedly resonant picture. Proceed with caution and your wits gathered around you, for it’s easy to be deceived by a duplicate. The following list is by no means definitive but it certainly contains the finest examples of cinematic doppelgängers you’re likely to find. These more disquieting accounts often involved the paranormal, such as the fetch, a duplicate that boded bad omens and often death. In mythology it was often believed that doppelgängers were trickster archetypes, always up for a little mayhem, whereas some folktales viewed supernatural attributes to the idea of doubles. There’s something intrinsically fascinating with twin tales, often they involve morality narratives, or rivals in an ego-versus-id dynamic, or, in a more sinister vein, evil twins working to replace one another. Shakespeare explored it in “The Comedy of Errors”, as did Alexandre Dumas in “The Man in the Iron Mask”, and both Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities” and Poe’s “William Wilson” exploited the idea just ahead of Dostoevsky’s famed and oft-adapted novel, “The Double”. Such notions have been a feint of storytelling for centuries.
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