Cert 15
93 mins
BBFC advice: Contains strong language and suicide references
Did Dostoevsky really have this in mind when he wrote the novella, The Double?
For a good half an hour Richard Ayoade's film is a catalogue of surreal sequences with a very loose link.
The thin strand which holds them together comes in the shape of Simon (Jesse Eisenberg), an unremarkable and socially nervous worker in an office environment which reminded me of Orwell's 1984.
He is quietly introduced while the director's main attention drifts towards the shadows and, on-the-face of it, unrelated scenes.
However, the turning point comes when Simon witnesses a suicide while looking out of the window of his austere flat.
Thereafter, James (also Eisenberg) - a doppelganger for Simon - comes on to the scene.
In temperament, James is the opposite of Simon: confident, socially adept and a magnet for women.
After the first shock of seeing him, Simon tries to engage with James but soon finds out that his double is a man without any scruples.
I found The Double interesting on the eye but its plot did not engage me as much as I would have hoped until the final 30 minutes. To be honest I found it a case of style submerging substance.
However, it does include a performance which shows off Eisenberg's range and he is backed up by Mia Wasikowska, who is the love interest and the excellent Wallace Shawn as the works' manager.
There are also offbeat cameos from the likes of Sally Hawkins, Chris O'Dowd, Noah Taylor and (the weirdest of all) Paddy Considine.
Laughs: two
Jumps: none
Vomit: none
Nudity: none
Overall rating: 4.5/10