Enemy (2013)

Jake Gyllenhaal, a history professor, sees Jake Gyllenhaal, an B-tier actor, in the background of a movie. Jake thinks that's odd, and tries to track down Jake.

When Jake finds Jake's phone number, he calls Jake, but Jake's wife (Cronenberg regular Sarah Gadon) answers. Jake's wife recognizes Jake's voice on the phone and says, "Jake?", which upsets the Jake who is calling Jake.

When Jake finds out that Jake called, he sets up a Jake meeting. But Jake's wife goes to spy on Jake before Jake meets Jake, and she doesn't like it. Then the Jakes meet at a hotel illogically far out of town, and they don't like it.

It's a solid three-fourths of the way into the movie before the first person suggests they could be brothers, which is dismissed without further consideration. Jake's mom, Isabella Rossellini, takes a break from animating animal penises to assure him that he's the only Jake in her life. The fact that his mom is italian doesn't concern him.

Jake gets paranoid, accuses Jake of infidelity, demands reciprocal infidelity, and runs off with Jake's girlfriend, strangely unimpeded by Jake. While Jake is out with Jake's girlfriend, Jake sneaks into Jake's apartment and hangs out with his wife. Jakes wife is fully aware that Jake isn't her Jake, but seems to prefer it that way. Both girls prefer that Jake.

They see spiders and dream of spiders, and the wife becomes a spider in a Metamorphasis moment, and it doesn't explain itself at all, so it's up to you to take what you will from whatever these metaphors might mean. As a result, film reviewers really went wild with their interpretations; could it be a parable about man's subconscious desire to create totalitarian regimes? Well, yes, I suppose it could be. It's beige from start to finish. From the director of slow-but-good Blade Runner 2049, and the director of slow-but-bad Dune (2021).