Worth: $11.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Karen Gillan, Aaron Paul, Theo James, Beulah Koale, Maija Paunio
Intro:
… had the potential to explore the human condition through a clever concept but eventually lacks any punch.
Writer/director Riley Stearns, in his relatively short feature film career, has made a trademark out of creating high concept but low budget black comedies that feature a range of outsider characters pitting their wills against oddball antagonists.
In 2014’s Faults a cult deprogrammer and author (Leland Orser) who is on the skids becomes involved in what appears to be the abduction and rescue of a young woman (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) from a suicide cult. In Stearns’ best film to date, 2019’s The Art of Self-Defense a socially disenfranchised man (Jesse Eisenberg) is severely beaten during a mugging and ends up taking martial arts lessons from a mysterious and nefarious Sensei (Alessandro Nivola). In Dual Stearns once again takes a fascinating concept; what if we could clone ourselves so that when we die, our loved ones will not have to feel the loss, upending it into a battle of wills between two women fighting for a mundane existence.
Sarah (Karen Gillan) lives a quiet and quotidian life in an unidentified place in America (filmed in Finland, there are no markers for where the movie is set). Her boyfriend, Peter (New Zealand actor Beulah Koale) is often away due to his job. Her mother (Maija Paunio) is overbearing and judgemental and won’t leave Sarah alone with her constant calls and texts.
One day Sarah begins to vomit massive amounts of blood. A visit to a doctor confirms she has a fatal disease, although one that is unlikely to incapacitate her until close to her death. Sarah’s subdued reaction to the news of her impending death would be surprising in another narrative, but in Dual Sarah’s lack of affect and the impenetrability of her emotions are part of Stearns’ world building.
The film seems to be set in an alternate now, with the only significant difference being that genetic cloning exists.
Sarah decides on the option to have a clone made and with just a swab of DNA a new Sarah emerges. There is only one issue, clone Sarah has blue eyes whereas the original has brown.
The small detail of the clone being imperfect seems to go beyond just eye colour. According to the cloning agency, the clone must live with the original to learn their traits. Almost immediately, Sarah’s clone displays that she’s not particularly interested in learning how to be Sarah but instead is actively competing to be better than Sarah. Clone Sarah is more charming and outgoing than Sarah and soon makes Sarah redundant from her own life by becoming the preferred Sarah to both Peter and Sarah’s mother.
Original Sarah’s problems ironically get worse when she finds out that her mystery disease has gone into permanent remission. She will live, or rather, she might live as the laws surrounding clones means that she will have to fight the other Sarah in a duel to the death as there can be only one. The opening scene of the film demonstrates the duel, wherein two Robert Michaels (played by Theo James) battle it out in an arena using an array of weapons.
Original Sarah is somewhat invigorated by the upcoming duel and takes to training with survivalist Trent (Aaron Paul). Sarah is broke and paying for the upkeep of her clone and training is draining the last of her finances. After a sexual advance as another form of payment for her lessons is upended, the cost ends up being dance lessons. The small moments of absurdity displayed in the scenes between Sarah and Trent are the most comic moments in the film and could have been milked for its comedic potential more.
The main issue with Dual is that although the concept is rich, the execution is lacking. Doppelgängers are a rich subject. From Poe to Dostoyevsky, we’ve been taught that individual identity is crucial and when that is stripped, madness can result. Richard Aoyade’s film The Double (loosely based on Dostoyevsky) managed the theme better and Jesse Eisenberg conveyed how crushing it is to be replaced by a better version of his character with all the attendant complexity required to flesh out the conundrum.
Stearns leaves a lot of complexity off the table. Karen Gillan gives a respectable performance as the two Sarahs but is hamstrung by slight characterisation. Perhaps Stearns intended Sarah to be so ordinary that the notion that any one of us could be replaced and not missed is what he’s exploring. However, as the film comes to a close (with a great final scene) it appears that wasn’t really the intention and instead he’s commenting on the mundanity of life.
Dual had the potential to explore the human condition through a clever concept but eventually lacks any punch. Droll as Stearns is, ideas behind Dual never properly hit the mark. There should be some existential terror attached to the idea that one can be replaced and eliminated by a version of oneself, but Stearns holds off on going that dark. If he’d been willing to fully scrutinise his ideas, Dual could have been a subversive masterpiece about what it is to live; instead, it’s curiously inert and not well enough managed to reach its philosophical potential.
