Enemy EXPLAINED - Movie Review (SPOILERS)

enemy is one of the most confusing films I have ever seen upon first viewing I had a definite grasp on the central story I was easily able to decipher its hidden messages it was the added elements of spiders keys and surreal imagery that had me boggled it's now been over two months since I initially viewed the film and I feel at this point I've come to an accurate knowledge of its meanings so as I've done in the past let's get nerdy about enemy and talk in depth about its deep-rooted symbolism and metaphors as a warning this review contains heavy spoilers so you haven't seen the film yet I'd suggest watching my spoiler free review beforehand when I analyze only God forgives I mentioned that certain elements of that film were open to interpretation I'd like to start this review out by stating effect there is without a doubt correct and incorrect interpretations of enemy I've read many attempts at analyzing this film and some have proved wildly inaccurate no spiders are not taking over the world as some have stated no Jake Gyllenhaal does not have an identical twin as some have believed they are in fact the same person I'll back up all of these comments with statements from the filmmakers as well as my own personal interpretation let's start with a quote from Denis the director himself basically I think that this movie is a documentary about my subconscious or at the commentary about Jake Gyllenhaal subconscious I think that the best way to describe it would be it's a danaka movie on acid or or a documentary about Jake Gyllenhaal subconscious it's a man we decide to to leave his leave his mistress to go back to his pregnant wife and we see the story from his subconscious point of view from the mouths of the man who made the film this is a battle that's raging inside Jake's mind but what could lead him to wage such a disturbing subconscious war with him self and what the hell are those spiders all about there are two versions of Jake in this film history teacher Jake and actor Jake to avoid confusion this is how I will refer to them it's easy to tell the difference between the two history teacher Jake is neurotic and messy his appearance always unkempt actor Jake wears expensive clothing his hair always looks good and he wears a wedding ring the film opens with a voiceover from Jake's mother she sounds concerned about the condition of his new apartment it's clear she sang this on a voicemail we then get an insert of Sara Gavin's character nude and pregnant then the words chaos is order yet undeciphered appear on screen a quote from the book which this film is based we immediately see actor Jake holding a key entering a seedy sex club of some sort as men stand in silence watching women masturbate and other such things actor Jake watches a woman present a large spider on a platter and she moves her high heel slowly above it about to squash it next we see history teacher Jake his first words in his lecture to his class are control it's all about control he then begins to discuss dictatorships and how they censor any means of individual expression and then he says and it's important to remember this that this is a pattern that repeats itself throughout history this repeating pattern is mentioned quite often in the movie later on history teacher Jake says it was Hegel and said that all the great greatest world events happened twice and then Karl Marx added the first time it was a tragedy the second time to farce continuing in the vein of spider imagery the wires above Toronto appear like a spiderweb he walks home and passes a mural of a man giving a Roman fascist symbol defiance against rule dictatorships and fear of commitment are all themes that enemy has a woven through it sometimes it's clear through dialogue other times imagery the next few scenes make it clear that his life is immensely repetitious he gives lectures that just come off as memorized he has sex with his girlfriend played by Melanie Laurent his apartment is literally empty all he seems to have is a bed and a computer soon a co-worker recommends a film to him seemingly out of the blue without any real build-up to this conversation history teacher Jake decides to write this film at a local video store take note of the song playing in the store it's called the cheater it's lyrics telling the story of a man who has no business being with women because he can't control his urges to sleep around after watching the film and then attempting to force himself on his unwilling girlfriend he dreams about the film he just saw in the recesses of his mind he sees someone who looks exactly like him in the film he wakes and skims through the movie finding the shot it's very clear that the actor portraying the bellboy looked just like him and he becomes obsessed with meeting this man he compares a noticeably torn photo of himself to the actor probably a post breakup photo with the woman he took the photo with torn out he begins doing research about the actor finding the other films he had a pardon when he goes to rent the other films take note of the poster attack of the 50-foot woman this leads him to the talent agency of actor Jake where he has a conversation with the security guard who recognizes him saying you haven't been around here for ages yeah I don't know how long it's been six months out sit six months or more he's given a package meant to go to actor Jake which allows him to find his address and phone number when he tries to call the woman on the other line recognizes his voice thinking that history teacher Jake is really actor Jake playing a joke after a series of awkward calls history teacher Jake finally reaches actor Jake and tries to convince him that they need to meet it's now that we meet actor Jake and we see what his life is like he's healthy he wears nice clothes he loves blueberries and his wife is unfairly suspicious of him questioning him about the phone call that he just had an accusing him of lying to her when she asks are you seeing her again he explodes at her saying it was a man it's clear that actor Jake although cleaner and more well-off is dealing with fear of commitment and also feels as if his freedom has been removed by his pregnant wife it's also clear that he has been unfaithful in the past since she used the word again as if it has happened before this would explain why in the opening scene he was visiting a sex club he is afraid of the responsibility of starting a family and being in a committed relationship this is extremely important to understanding the meaning of the film including the spiders next history teacher Jake and actor Jake agreed to meet at a hotel they both feel the need to see each other as if they have some uncommon connection after Jake's wife soon appears at history teacher Jake's school and her look upon seeing him as one of extreme sadness and pain then history teacher Jake asks her a question which reveals even more how many months are you six that's nice I find it very interesting that actor Jake hasn't been to his talent agency in six months and his wife is also six months pregnant this adds to the idea of actor Jake having extreme commitment issues most likely brought on by fear of being controlled or dictated by a woman and child when history teacher Jake gets up she attempts to call him and the filmmaker makes it very obvious that actor Jake answers after he disappears from frame leaving the possibility that they are the same person out there this is clearly not a fantasy or delusion going on inside the mind of his wife but it is a psychological disorder of sorts for the two Jakes later when she's home actor Jake returns supposedly from a run complaining that they are out of his favorite organic blueberries she lays on the couch sad and afraid saying how the man she saw at the school looked exactly like him what's happening she says and when he says he doesn't know what she's talking about she replies I think you know I feel that she is slowly discovering that her husband's mind has split she wants him to come to terms with it and accept this fact which is why she appears so emotionally bothered by it I mean logically if you found out that your spouse had someone out there who looked identical would you be so emotional about it crying and everything it would be weird for sure but it's clear to me what she's really concerned about is that they are literally the same person and she's hurt and scared by the fact that she's driven him to this state this is when we get our next spider vision a woman with a spider head passes by him as he walks he has this dream after his wife is questioning him about his real motives and tries to get him to explain everything to her history teacher Jake is now walking down the hall of the hotel he's agreed to meet actor Jake in we see two shots of a sexually dressed woman walking past him similar to how the woman with the spider had passed him in his dream next the two meet comparing themselves noticing they both have an identical scar history teacher Jake gets spooked and leaves but not before giving actor Jake the package the talent agency gave him the next two shots focus on the characters dealing with the stress of this situation and eventually after Jake begins to follow history teacher Jake noticing Melanie Lorant and following her as well how would actor Jake know exactly where to find history teacher Jake these questions are necessary since the large majority of this film takes place in the subconscious of the lead characters mind as he battles to accept his actual reality while on the train actor Jake has a moment in which he GOx that Melanie from head to toe but he quickly turns around trying to deal with the temptation as a man he has obvious issues with being faithful this scene ends with one shot of actor Jake relaxed in his chair appearing in deep thought his wife asleep next to him did this entire scene take place in his mind was he roaming the recesses of his mind trying to learn about this other version of himself next history teacher Jake visits his mother explaining the situation to her it's clear it's history teacher Jake since he's not wearing his wedding ring his mother says the last thing you need used to be meeting strange man in the tones you have enough trouble sticking with one woman don't you this adds to my earlier assumption that jake has been unfaithful in the past his mother offers him some blueberries but he says he doesn't like them of course you do she says it's clear that history teacher Jake is repressing memories of his actual self attempting to escape the person he is due to fear of commitment and the desire to be unfaithful she says he has a nice apartment a respectable job and that he should quit his fantasy of being an actor now there's a lot of interesting things there the movie opens with her saying in a voicemail that she doesn't like his apartment but now she's saying it's nice she's saying he has a respectable job since she says he has a respectable job but that he should quit his acting fantasy this leads me to believe his acting job has gone nowhere those three films he was in led to nothing so that would mean he's actually a history teacher right this would lead me to believe that earlier when his wife says she went to his work that she was in fact starting to realize the magnitude of her husband's psychosis and was desperately trying to connect with him to try and help by going along with his illness acting like she didn't know that he is a teacher in real life after this scene we see a giant spider roaming Toronto this has also left many perplexed what does this huge creature signify I will explain this at the end when I get in depth about the spiders soon actor Jake is practicing something he will say to history teacher Jake asking himself in the mirror over and over if he had sex with his wife he actually confronts history teacher Jake history teacher Jake can't even bring himself to say that he didn't sleep with actor Jake's wife an argument ensues and a deal is made actor Jake gets to take history teacher Jake's girlfriend out on a date and then he says he will disappear from his life forever then they will be even I believe he's intentionally starting a war with his subconscious in an attempt to eliminate the negative parts so he can be with his wife in reality and remain faithful and B even as one person again history teacher decides to go to actor Jake's wife now as this inward battle occurs in his mind I believe the real life Jake is the one who has now gone back home to his wife as the narcissistic unfaithful actor Jake is taking out the girlfriend in his mind he gets the doorman to let him into his apartment the doorman just so happens to be a man who was in the sex club in the opening scene he mentions to history teacher Jake that he wants to go back to the sex club again he mentions the lock to the sex club has changed and that new keys have been sent out history teacher Jake seems unsure of what he's referring to but goes along with the conversation anyway history teacher Jake even walks too far past his apartment door before the doorman lets him in he appears to be discovering things in his apartment for the first time as he attempts to resemble actor Jake waiting in his bedroom seeing the blueberries in the fridge this is when history teacher Jake notices the photograph it is identical to the torn one he had in his possession earlier except this one isn't torn and shows his wife next to him when she arrives home he nervously attempts to act like he belongs during this we see actor Jake attempting to get lucky with Melanie in some hotel somewhere history teacher Jake gets in bed with his wife nervous about taking his clothes off she looks at him longingly places his hand on her pregnant belly then embraces him asking if he had a good day at school this takes him off guard and she tells him to forget it going to sleep this also supports my earlier assumption that she knows he actually is a history teacher which would explain why his mother said he had a respectable job I just feel like she was trying to help him by going along with his psychosis actor Jake and Melanie are having sex and she gets extremely upset when she notices the suntanned mark of a removed wedding ring on his finger interestingly history teacher Jake wakes up in bed with his wife at this exact moment suddenly Melanie wants nothing to do with actor Jake and she storms away actor Jake begins driving her home this is an ER spliced with scenes of history teacher Jake pacing back and forth and eventually crying his wife comes to comfort him their hands interlocking he says through tears that he's sorry during this actor Jake and Melanie began arguing in the car his wife tells him she wants him to stay and they begin to make love as actor Jake and Melanie's argument gets worse with her insulting him by saying he's not a man this makes actor Jake snap leading to a terrible car crash we zoom in on the window of the car revealing the cracked glass resembling a spiderweb I feel that in this moment Jake has successfully used his subconscious war to eliminate the negative self from himself his wife wants him to stay which tells us that they've been having a lot of problems with their marriage and she wants him to finally stay there and not be unfaithful to her anymore the next morning we hear a radio broadcast about an accident but who I will now refer to simply as Jake turns it off before any details are mentioned his wife is in the shower and he's trying on a suit when he finds the package we've been shown this package constantly throughout this film he finally opens it finding a key he stares at it with a look of temptation his wife says his mother called he continues to stare at the key and asks his wife if she asks something to do tonight because he has to go out then would some have called the scariest ending to a film they've ever seen happens Helen Mellon now the majority of audiences after initially screaming said the same three words what the [ __ ] it took me quite some time before I finally felt like I had a grasp of the story but I can confidently say that I do so what does all this mean well let's start with the spiders spiders in the film represent women at least in the way that Jake views them he has a deep fear of commitment his wife is pregnant he's been unfaithful in the past as it was made clear when his wife asks if he's seeing her again and when his mother joked that he has had enough trouble staying with just one woman spiders in the real world catch prey in their webs they entangle what they are about to devour oftentimes when mating the female spider actually kills the male afterwards and sometimes even before they begin to mate the film is in a way saying that Jake's character feels he's lost his freedom he feels trapped within the web of his marriage and the weighty responsibility of having a child as well as remaining faithful the constant reference to dictatorship and being unwillingly ruled has to do with Jake feeling that way about his marriage and eventual family in the opening of the film the narcissistic unfaithful actor Jake gets into the private sex club with his key and watches a woman about to squash a spider through his unfaithfulness he longs to squash his wife so to speak or their love at least so he goes somewhere where that doesn't exist where him and other men can watch their sexual fantasies be acted out due to his fear of committing to his wife his dream of the nude woman with a spider head supports that women are the spiders as well and directly after that a woman who looked very sexy was dressed almost like a stripper past him and he felt the sudden urge to go and look at that woman and I feel like that also supports the fact that he's just very unfaithful and he wants to be with a lot of women so how about that giant spider roaming Toronto this scene took place directly after he met with his mother I believe this spider represents his mother here's something interesting this is a monument known as the mother spider guess where it's located Ontario Canada where the film takes place they look kind of similar dumping so how about that final spider why did his wife turn into a huge freaking spider why did the spider react in fear and why was his look one of almost exceptive disappointment as if he has just come to terms with what his life is like when Jake opened the package taking out the new key he realizes it's the key to the sex club he gets a look of temptation on his face and immediately decides he has to go there telling his wife he has to go out tonight suddenly his wife is no longer answering him as he calls to her and when she is revealed to be a spider she backs up in fear of getting squashed Jake was able to successfully eliminate the unfaithful narcissistic portion of himself but at the first sign of temptation he goes back to his adulterous ways this is why she reacts in fear Jake is a spider killer he can't control his urges and can't commit to a healthy relationship or to the eventual family he will have which he views has almost like a dictatorship which is something he is defiant to the attack of the 50-foot woman poster the song the cheater playing in the store his torn photo of him and his wife all support that version of himself was haunted by fear of women his unfaithfulness and his attempts to ruin his marriage so why the look of acceptive disappointment remember earlier in the film when history teacher Jake said this and it's important to remember this that this is a pattern that repeats itself throughout history I believe Jake has realized he's restarting the same pattern he's repeating his same mistakes almost instantly upon moving on from them at the first sign of temptation interestingly the film ends with him missing a call from his mother and begins with his receiving a voicemail from her also remember this it was Hegel who said that all the great greatest world events happened twice and then Karl Marx added the first time it was a tragedy the second time the farce I believe after having finally gotten over his adultery and moving on from that initial tragedy he now realizes this repeating process is just going to be a joke eventually a farce an unavoidable negative of his life he's just going to have to deal with think about it as humans when we constantly deal with a problem of some kind that doesn't go away eventually we begin to accept it and sometimes we even look for the humor in it so lastly what is the film's title mean who is the enemy he is the enemy is himself his desires his fears his inability to have a normal relationship and these things will eventually lead to the destruction of his sanity his marriage and possibly even his life I'm an optimist though so I like to think that he works things out often fictional movie world somewhere enemy in my opinion is a masterpiece of cinema a film that actually requires serious thought I love it and I am so glad to have finally come to what I feel is an accurate understanding of it thanks so much for watching guys and I hope this has helped you understand the film a little more as always if you liked this you can click right here and get stuck mine eyes

Channel: Chris Stuckmann

Views: 2,191,969

Rating: 4.9496431 out of 5

Keywords: Enemy, Jake Gyllenhaal, 2014, 2013, Denis Villeneuve, Spiders, Meaning, Explained, Explanatation, Analyzed, Sarah Gadon, Movie Review, Chris Stuckmann, Mother, Sculpture, Toronto, Ontario, The Double, Novel, Book, José Saramago, Women, Web, Sex, Club, Metaphor, Examined, Film, Scene, Clip, Full Movie, Ending, Spoilers

Id: v9AWkqRwd1I

Length: 24min 58sec (1498 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 14 2014

Reddit Comments

[u/Falc08]

I think the movie is about a fear of the settling down and falling into the predictable, routine mainstream lifestyle. It centres around women and commitment, but I think it's implications are further reaching.

Anthony has a job as an actor and a wife that he leaves. He left his wife when she got pregnant (6 months ago) and he's been gone from work for the same amount of time, as a reviewer pointed out. The job and the girl are the two main things trapping him and making him feel oppressed and restricted.

It's pretty clear that the spider webs represent oppression (which finds analogy in the lectures Teacher Jake gives) and that women are central in creating this, at least as far as Jake's mind is concerned. When the sex show girls squash the spider, I think this represents what strip clubs, the sex trade and promsicuity stand for (again as far as Jake is concerned)...it's a "fuck you" to you stable, constraining commitment.

Teacher Jake is the neurotic alter ego that represents the deeper, terrified recesses of the inclusive Jake's mind. This part of his mind is just scared about what getting a stable job, having a kid and settling down means. He lectures about repression because that's the sound track, and the ideology, running through his head. It's the fixation which that part of his mind is obsessed with. He identifies as a person that's being repressed.

He isn't a sleezy, smooth talking seducer. He's just a scared neurotic inside that's lost and confused. He doesn't know what he wants, and when he finally gets a glimpse of what his old life was like he desperately wants to get back to it.

The irony is that when he confronts the old him, the old him want's the flakey lifestyle. This represents an ONGOING turmoil, whereby aversion turns into desire and desire turns into aversion. His fear of settling down turns into a desire to feel fulfilled, and his frustration and inability to commit turns into the aversive neurotic. It's actually better to conceive of both characters as process of change in eitehr direction, instead of fixed points on either side of a continuum.

Finally reconciliation happens when Teacher Jake settles into the committed lifestyle, and the part of himself that is the turning into the indecisive flake dies. His wife accepts that he's returned and asks him to stay, and finally he is able to look the tarantula in the face for what it is (without having to deny it or avoid it) and sigh with full acceptance.

[u/Plisskenboon]

Adam Bell is a University lecturer. The evidence is there, that he attends University, and gives lectures, although increasingly befuddled lectures where he repeats himself, and students walk out of his lectures. Adam Bell is obviously “losing it”.

Adam Bell lives in an apartment, and has a sexy girlfriend called Melanie, with whom he has a detached, relatively unemotional, but heavily sexual relationship. It will later become apparent that this part of Adam’s life is pure fantasy, and it is unlikely that Mel exists, or if she does, Adam only stalks her, and their actual relationship is only fantasy.

Adam is actually married, and his wife, Helen is six months pregnant.

Adam is trapped in a life he is not happy with. He has attempted to branch out and achieve more in his life by becoming a part-time actor, hoping to go on to bigger and better things - his day job is as a history teacher - but he has only managed small parts, and when his wife becomes pregnant, he sees his life "trapping" him in a suffocating one-dimensional web.

He has developed some sort of post marriage, post-pregnancy, commitment trauma disorder, and has gone into denial about his life and marriage; hence he does not acknowledge his marriage or wedding ring when in persona as Adam. In fact, outside of University, Adam is now going by the name Anthony – and his wife is playing along with his psychosis, because she is vulnerable and scared of losing Adam. It is obvious that Adam and Anthony are the same person, and the scar verifies this.

His mother seems to have played a major role in his psychosis.

He rationalizes his situation by creating an "Enemy" - his sub-conscious alter ego - when he is Adam, he is in denial - he doesn't wear a wedding ring because he's not married, has a fantastic, sexy girlfriend, with whom he has great, non-emotional sex with, and it’s actually someone else, (a complete stranger when the rubber band is fully stretched), Anthony - who wears a wedding ring, is lumbered with a heavily pregnant wife, and only experiences great sex through fantasies, or infidelity.

Adam is only a boring school teacher, and because he is not succeeding as an actor, has disassociated himself from it: - the actor, Anthony, is failing, so Adam, with his single life and sexy girlfriend, is winning, and that creates an emotional cushion for him - because the Anthony alter ego he has created, can't get good sex, can't get much work as an actor, in fact hasn't worked for six months (since his wife got pregnant), and is forced to impotently, desperately, watch sex shows, where he watches tantalized, - but the sexy, powerful woman in high heels, never actually crushes the spider, just taunts him.

Adam’s spiders represent women – and are large and threatening, sometimes even taking the form of a woman.

Anthony’s spider is small, and I think it represents his sex life, or his “life’s” vulnerability.

(Adam is under threat from large spiders (women) - Anthony is under threat of being crushed, as he is the manifestation, - the sex show is actually Adam's fantasy, just experienced as Anthony)

Adam effectively controls Anthony, and it is actually Adam threatening to crush Anthony (using a woman, because Adam sees women as the danger, the predators), which is exactly what happens - Mel causes the car crash.

The alter egos are at opposite ends of the same rubber band - struggling to break free – Adam’s sex addiction is satisfied by Mel, he is escaping his marriage – Anthony is stretching the rubber band to satisfy his unsatiated sex addiction, but the more they separate, the tauter the rubber band, until at some point they must re-converge towards reality, and battle for supremacy.

As the rubber band re-converges to reality, Adam must kill off his sexy girlfriend as well, because she too, is a creation of his imagination. (She may actually exist, and he stalks her, but their interaction is just fantasy)

A)Anthony takes Mel to a hotel and has sex with her – this is fantasy on Adam’s part, as afterwards both Mel and Anthony are injured or die in a car crash, and as both Adam and Anthony are the same person, and Adam is not dead or injured, this whole scenario must be fantasy.

B)Mel spots that Anthony, who she believes is Adam, has a mark of a wedding ring on his finger – again, as Adam and Anthony are the same person, and she has not noticed this mark at any time in the past, and also is injured or dies in the car crash, it suggests that not only is this scenario fantasy, but her whole relationship with Adam is pure fantasy, because she walks out once she realizes he is married – and Helen only accuses “Anthony” of reinstating his “affair” on the basis of a single phone call – how would “Adam” have got away with complete nights away leading a “real” double life? – Unless his “affair” is complete fantasy? I believe Helen only suspects an affair because of his strange behaviour, or perhaps he had an affair once in the past – possibly with Mel, but she is now completely out of his life.

C)Mel is part of Adam’s life, and knows Adam as a lecturer – it would be difficult to “kill her off” in fantasy if she actually existed. We know Adam Bell actually exists, because he is listed in the University staff directory – and Helen visits him at the University - and it’s unlikely he is impersonating an “Adam Bell” and his lectures are just fantasy,or he just takes over a lecture theater and gives "guerrilla hit and run" lectures (that wouldn't last long, or attract many students), and we see students walking out of his lectures – unlikely in a fantasy.

Adam is married, but avoids wearing a wedding ring; - he “imposes” a wedding ring on his alter ego as part of his “escape” and Anthony’s entrapment. He lives in “Anthony’s” apartment with his wife – and his “going out”, and failure to reinstate his wedding ring at times, has obviously convinced his wife that he has been having an affair, but she is now realizing that she actually lives with “Anthony”, and “Anthony” actually “goes out” to become Adam.

Adam completely disassociates himself from his wife.

In his mind, Adam gets plenty of sex with Mel, so it’s only “failure” “Anthony” that goes to sex shows. The sex shows are fantasy, because the spiders are fantasy.

Adam wins the battle in his head - he destroys the "evil" alter ego - but that means he has become the husband again, and must face up to his responsibilities - but no – his regression to reality is brief - just like the alcoholic, drug addict, or sex addict, he has another stash, - he creates another key to unlock a door to another life, another "Enemy" - another way to stretch his way out of the spider web - his wife is once again his life threatening spider, but she cowers in fear for what she realises has just been unleashed with the words "I have to go out" - she thought he was “back”, but he's just about to start stretching the rubber band once again, and she dreads the threat to their life and the new "Enemy" she will soon be confronted with.

He is calm, because he sees her fear, and realizes his power - he has just created a new "Enemy" - the cycle of stretching the rubber band is about to be repeated, and he is looking forward to escaping once again.

Updates:

Some people are worried about the radio - Adam is confirming to himself, that Anthony (and effectively Mel) is "dead" - he immediately changes the channel because he doesn't want to hear the details (which will be different to his fantasy "accident") - he then goes into the bedroom and "re-assumes" his "husband" persona, by putting on "Anthony's" clothes - but he can't handle it - so reaches for his "life preserver" - his "get out of jail card" - the "key" - which unlocks another door - to another "Enemy" - and another "escape".

The rubber band has now completely "retracted", back from its fully stretched position, and Adam and Anthony have effectively become "one" again - but the psychosis is too strong - and the "rubber band" is immediately going to start stretching apart again.

[u/neocore]

This movie ruled, you are all crazy.

EDIT: also it's obviously about arachnid aliens creating clones to take over the world.

[u/thiswillstick]

I watched the film and read some of the explanations and none of them did it for me, so im going to post my own view of the film. Major SPOILERS obviously:

Adam (teacher Jake) and Anthony (actor Jake) are one person with a split personality. The movie has nonlinear narrative; Anthony was there before Adam. This explains why the mother tells Adam to stop his dreams being an actor now that he has a good job as a teacher. Anthony got in to a car crash with his girlfriend with whom he was cheating his wife - but he does not die in this crash. This is where Adam got his scar.

Adam sees dreams of spiders and women - stuff that Anthony saw in the weird sex club he went to. It's kicking in his subconscious through the dreams, but he doesn't realize that till the end in which he sees his wife as a big spider. This is where Adam connects the dots - look at his reaction to this scary spider, he nods in understanding. The spider is scared - this is because the whole shot is subjective from Adam's perspective - spider is scared because he got caught; Adam found out where the dreams came from and that he had been both Adam and Anthony all along.

Adam says when he is teaching: "this is a pattern that repeats itself". This pattern is shown to us in a nonlinear way, so that it's hard to detect the fact that it is repeating itself.

[u/shaneo632]

Would love a TLDR for this.

[u/bearoth]

I'm very late to the party, but something supporting the split personality is his sunglasses. The glasses teacher-Jake is wearing is in actor-Jake's apartment. Why would they be there? Why would he wear women's glasses? They have to be Helen's glasses, that's why they're the ones teacher-Jake wears. He's imagining himself with glasses on, and the glasses of his wife is the first one's to pop up in his subconcious.

Or what do you say?

Edit: At 59:15 just above actor-Jakes foot on the table.

[u/my_name_reemo]

Ok, I just watched this film last night and I have to say I was pretty annoyed by the ending. However, after reading some of the analysis online I can't stop thinking about it. So, here's my interpretation... Any feedback or criticism is welcome, I just wanna figure it out!

Would like to start off by noting that the director has stated this movie is about the main character's sub-conscious. So the main premise of my theory is that much of the film takes place is Jake's mind.

At the start we see actor Jake at the sex show wearing his wedding ring. Clearly he is married and at least somewhat unfaithful. The scene ends with a large spider being released onto the stage and one of the women moves her high heel slowly towards it. The viewer assumes the spider is crushed although we don't actually see this happen.

For actor Jake this event makes him think about his own situation - Married to his wife who is 6 month's pregnant while also in a relationship with another woman - his mistress. Jake is torn between two sets of desires. On the one hand he has a beautiful wife who's about to give birth to his child. On the other his mistress who represents the freedom he'll be giving up once his child arrives. The spider being crushed represents his own feeling of impending doom. He feels as though the walls are closing in and there's no way out.

What happens from this point forward is essentially Jake day dreaming about the decision he has to make - to choose his wife & family, or his mistress and freedom. His thought process is presented in the film as two different people - The actor, who wants freedom over commitment, and the history teacher who longs for true companionship over meaningless sex.

Ultimately, he realises that he needs to stay with his wife because that's where he'll find true happiness. Leaving his wife for his mistress only leads to tragedy & sadness, not necessarily a car crash but that's how it plays out in his head. In his day dream he realises his wife and child are too important, which is why he's so caring towards her at the end and tells her how sorry he is, because he had treated her badly.

Finally, the spider scenes (aside from being a motif, and the physical representation of Jake's fear of commitment) are the director's way of connecting the day dream back to the real life situation taking place in front of him i.e. the spider being crushed by the woman's high heel. The end scene with the huge spider is him confronting his fear and making his final decision.

I'm sure this doesn't answer all the questions raised by this film... like what's the significance of the scar, or the whole 6 month hiatus from work. I also like some of the non-linear theories which put each situation one after the other, which seems to line up with his lectures at the start of the film.

I do not think this is a film about a totalitarian regime run by spiders. If for no other reason that he wouldn't be allowed to teach his class about totalitarian regimes if he was being governed by one, which he actually points out in the film.

[u/LucyStar]

I enjoyed all the interpretations of the film. I have one question, though. Why is his cheating persona as the teacher? Shouldn't that be the actor? Every time he is with the mistress he is the teacher, not the actor. When he is home with the wife, he is the actor. Seems flip-flopped!

[u/A_Privateer]

None of the theories I've read about this movie are all that satisfying, and so far all of them are contradicted by scenes in this movie. A lot of the theories and explanations even contradict themselves, like this one. If this is a split personality story and actor Jake's wife knew he was a teacher, then why would she be so distressed by simply seeing teacher Jake? After they talked and he didn't recognize her, then she would have cause for concern, but just seeing him isn't enough.

Them being the same person takes away so much of the impact of teacher Jake going to actor Jake's apartment, specifically actor Jake's wife's decision. The split personality theory is just so unsatisfying to me.