Enemy - Spiders for some reason

The second Jake Gyllenhaal film I had in my possession recently was Enemy, a film that's much more enigmatic and weird than the relative straightness of Nightcrawler's deconstruction of the American Dream.  Here Gyllenhaal plays two characters, Adam is a distant and disconnected teacher, Anthony is an aspiring actor who appears as an extra in a film that Adam watches.  The fact that these characters are each played by Gyllenhaal provides the driving force of the narrative, since when Adam see's his apparent doppelganger he immediately becomes obsessed by his existence, and resolves to seek Anthony out.

Rather than being a straight-up science fiction tale about a man who discovers his doppelganger, this is a film that is punctuated by weirdness that goes well beyond the realm of 'normal' science fiction.  Adam is a man constantly spaced out, lecturing about conformity, oppression of the state and appearing to barely enjoy his own life at all.  Anthony is shown to attend a sex show in which expressionless men in suits await the finale, a sparsely-clothed dancer appearing to stamp on a tarantula.  Spider webs seem to appear throughout the film, as does an image of a gargantuan spider towering over the city and a final shot that many on the internet have described as genuinely terrifying - even I was moderately rattled by it.  Adam finds himself slowly becoming more like Anthony as the film progresses, eventually the two appear indistinguishable to anyone not actively looking to tell them apart.  They appear capable of switching between each others' lives, conforming to the boundaries that each has set for themselves.

In a film as dense and oblique as this, there are many meanings and interpretations one can draw.  The film was shot with a yellow-tinged filter, giving it the feeling of a nightmare experienced on a long hot summer night.  There are hints at governmental oppression, of fear of commitment, fear of the self, and even that Adam / Anthony live under an oppressive regime - but are unaware of it.  What if the appearances of spiders in the film are to be taken literally, but that the characters in the film have been brainwashed to make them unaware of the terrifying truth around them?  Perhaps Adam / Anthony fears his own infidelity, and that one of them doesn't really exist outside of his own perception?

There's lots to see and think about from this film, plus as ever Jake Gyllenhaal being brilliant.  Perfect candidate for a weird film night - after watching Enemy you'll be eager to have a conversation with someone.