Rating: 
Summary: Disturbing, but a great film!
Review: This is my favorite David Cronenberg film. It also features an amazing performance by Jeremy Irons (I instantly became a Jeremy Irons fan and have since seen all his movies). Jeremy Irons plays twin brothers who are physically separate but emotionally and mentally attached. Jeremy Irons performance(s) is(are) so flawless that the viewer forgets that one actor is portraying both characters. The film is based on a true story of twin gynecologists in Toronto (home to me!!), which makes it more interesting. The plot is twisted and Cronenberg is as usual unconventional (with the exception of "M Butterfly" which is a so so film). Watch out for the scene when both brothers are in bed with their love interest. The ending will stick with you for a long time. I saw the film 5 years ago, and I still remember the horrifying ending as if I'd just seen the movie.
Rating:
Summary: two of the best performances ever
Review: this movie is almost as great as crash. the performance ofjeremy irons as twin gynecologists is magnificent. the film was shotfull frame(1.33:) but was matted to an aspect ratio of 1.66:1 at cronenberg's request. this is one of the best looking dvds i own, criterion or otherwise.there is a commentary track that at times sounds like each person was recorded separately and other times sonds like they are responding to each other. the commentary was done by director cronenberg, star jeremy irons, cinematographer peter suschitzky, production designer carol spier, and editor ronald sanders. the supplement section is rather substantial on this disc. it features the original title designs, a gallery of stills featuring drawings and photographs of "mathematics in metal" and , a trailer, a behind-the-scenes featurette, and an incredibly extensive section on the twinning effects. the twinning effects section makes you appreciate just how difficult this movie was to make not only for irons, but for everyone involved in the shooting.
Rating: 
Summary: another good film with impressive special effects
Review: This review id for the Criterion Collection edition of the film. This film based on the book "Twins" by Bari Wood and Jack Geasland, which is based loosely on a true story. The plot is simple 2 identical twin brothers who are gynocologists and share the same office, home, and patients.
They have a new patient with a very unusual gynocological anomaly. They fall in love with her and later begin to develop a major problem. What is most impressive is the fact that Jeremy Irons played both brothers. The scenes where they are together was filmed with breathtaking split screen imagery and motion control cameras. The action is completly seamless very impressive for its time. The criterion DVD has special "making of" clips and show how difficult it was to film this action. While not mentioned in the features, I would assume that the continuity supervisor probably had a very important role on the set. The film also stars French-Canadian actress Geneviève Bujold who was originally slated to play Captain Janeway on Star Trek Voyager, but left after a day and a half of filming. The DVD has additional special features with excellent audio commentary by selected cast and crew. While some scenes in this film may be disturbing to some viewers, the "twinning" special effects are not to be missed!
Rating:
Summary: Cronenberg-Irons tour de force.
Review: 'Dead Ringers' may indeed be David Cronenberg's best film. Jeremy Irons performance is truly extraordinary. As for not being able to tell the difference between the two brothers, I could sense immediately which brother was which by simple body language and how each brother carried himself. Which is a testiment to the subtlties of Iron's acting, that he could make you believe he was two different people at the same time on screen. This belief was also helped by the amazing motion control camera sequences which allowed Irons to "act with himself" in the same frame. The clean perpendicular lines of the twins' appartment was especially chosen to make it easier to cut the film together. (...)Elliot as the suave unfeeling male who's "no good with the serious ones" and Beverly, with the girl's name, as the the sensitive, caring female. Soon they come to realize that they are one physical entity, forever separated as two physical beings. In talking about the film Cronenberg has said that men have proven to be much more squeamish about this film than women as lying on the gynecological chair is an experience that many women have gone through. Yet many men have no idea what it's like. (...). The only drawback about this whole project is that the marvellous soundtrack is not available anywhere!
Rating:
Summary: Truly unique, disturbing, haunting and great
Review: When I first saw "Dead Ringers", I was about twelve years old. All I can say about that first viewing is that it really gave me shivers...years later (five days ago), I got the Criterion DVD by mail, which I ordered from Ebay. I watched it and was really disturbed. Then, I listened to the audio commentary by the director, David Cronenberg, which also directed pretty great films such as "Crash", "Naked Lunch", and "eXistenZ". The commentary itself is worth the DVD's price (even though it can be hard to find because it is out of print). It really helps understanding Cronenberg's vision of every scene, and believe me, he brings many nuances and psychological details, even though Jeremy Irons' acting is awesome and really eloquent and meaningful. The film is about two twins, Elliott and Beverly (both played by the fantastic Jeremy Irons) who are gynecologists and discover that some women suffer from mutations in their uterus. Besides their work, these two twins are pretty much the same person...at least, on the outside (they live in the same apartment, they have the same job, they even share the same women!)...on the inside, it's different, and that's what we discover when the disturbing mind of Beverly unfolds before our eyes and hearts. Cronenberg is ambitious. Like he said, most of the films that feature twins are comedies or thrillers in which one of the twins is good and fights his evil brother. He takes a very different approach and focuses on the complexes and psychological flaws that having a twin could create. Personally, if I had a twin and saw this film, it would completely change my life. This film goes deep. From the introduction where you see them when they're just young boys to the heartbreaking and disturbing ending, you see Elliott, the one that gets the honors, the one that had a lot of women in his life, the one that manipulates people, the one that is strong, briefly said. In the other hand, you've got Beverly, the drug addict, the one that gets his first real relationship, the one that somehow follows his brother, without ever being "number one". Cronenberg exploits this complex trouble and analyzes the competition that can occur between twins, the incredibly fundamental union between the two brothers. Also, Cronenberg shows us Beverly turning completely insane, and explores the very deep faces of his deranged mind. Cronenberg is a good director, saying the opposite would be a lie. This film probably isn't considered his best, but in my opinion, it is, or at least, it is equal to his best films. His directing is creepy and moody, while not very slow-paced. He really delivers a disturbing and terrifying film, with such a deep exploration of the mind. The acting is exceptional, especially from Jeremy Irons. I mean, these roles were not easy at all, and he plays two at the same time...in many scenes he has to talk to himself, and he uses completely different and appropriate facial expressions and tones for every line one of the twins says, without ever exaggerating. When I was twelve, I didn't know this actor, and I would have never been able to tell you there was only one actor playing these two. Genevieve Bujold is good, not perfect, but good enough. But Irons is really a great actor. Many sequences of this film are haunting, especially the dream sequence, which is obviously very symbolic, but also very intense. The whole scenes in which Beverly falls into insanity are handled with genius by Cronenberg and Irons. Also, the scene where Elliott dances with his girlfriend and invites his brother to dance with them. It shows how influential and "seductive" Elliott is to his twin. The music is haunting too. It is beautiful and scary and really fits with the atmosphere of the film. Overall, Cronenberg made a beautiful yet extremely disturbing study of the twins phenomenon and the psychological impact on them. Also, he put in images the idea he has about the link between them. With Irons as the twins, he made a very good film, that I would describe as touching, disturbing, haunting, beautiful, complex, deep, psychological, and finally, great. (Note: The last image of this film is the one that stunned me the most in my whole life, it really is POWERFUL!!!)
Rating:
Summary: Jeremy Irons' Best Work
Review: Maybe it's the combined effect of having two Jeremy Irons for the price of one, but I believe -and Irons has been quoted to the same effect- that this is the finest work this fine actor has commited to the screen. Much more deserving of the oscar than his recessive Claus Von Bulow in 'Reversal of Fortune.'
The way he plays the weak twin off the stronger one, whose influence fades when a woman comes between them, is extraordinary. If you don't mind the pervasive grimness of the story in general, than do yourself a favor (God, starting to sound like that pretentious guy from the Actors Studio on Bravo), and get 'Dead Ringers.'
Rating:
Summary: A landmark psychological drama / horror.
Review: David Cronenberg, for so long an auteur of films typified by schlocky, low-budget splatter effects and a profoundly disturbing intelligence, turned to drama with his 1988 masterpiece "Dead Ringers". It flirts with some of his usual themes - a fusion of the brain and body, mad doctors (with weird names), and decay - but there's a level of sophistication here that tops all of his previous work. Here, special effects are used in the background, as Jeremy Irons gives an utterly compelling (and damn convincing) performance as two twin gynaecologists, whose descent into drugs and madness will surely leave even the most ardent horror viewer deeply disturbed. On one level, it works almost as Shakespearean tragedy, as the two brothers imitate each other in an affair with Genevieve Bujold. When the less confident twin wants to "keep it for myself", it sparks instant dissonance between the disturbingly close kin. On another level, it's a crazed horror film involving bizarre medical instruments, and gynaecological mutations. The truly tragic conclusion leaves the viewer dazed, confused, but above all, deeply emotional, and for that alone it should deserve the term "masterpiece". Other factors that allow it such a term are the truly masterful performances (Cronenberg a master of getting Oscar-contending acting out of even the most mediocre performers), the genius use of special effects, the compellingly cold direction, and Howard Shore's extraordinary score. To say it's not for all tastes is an understatement, as it's probably the darkest film of the past decade, but for those with an interest in grippingly-executed, profoundly disturbing psychological horror/drama, "Dead Ringers" is one of the most marvellous films around.
Rating: 
Summary: Brother, Where Are You?
Review: This offbeat and risky movie tries to create some food for though about the construction of identity, siblings` connection, alter egos, duality, reality vs illusion and so on. David Cronenberg is a director that dares to take risks, but in this movie the interesting concept is wasted by the average and not too surprising or engaging execution. Jeremy Irons is indeed excellent as the two twins and manages to perform two very distinct individuals with similar looks, yet "Dead Ringers" is slow paced, somewhat predictable and runs out of steam by the middle, culminating in an unsatisfying ending. This just seems like underdeveloped material with a couple of good moments. It`s also a too dry and cold movie, which makes for a somewhat distant cinematic experience, despite the solid acting, directing and score. Still a mildly interesting effort nonetheless, but not a very compelling or memmorable one.
Worth a look yet far from a must-see.
Rating:
Summary: another good film with impressive special effects
Review: This review id for the Criterion Collection edition of the film. This film based on the book "Twins" by Bari Wood and Jack Geasland, which is based loosely on a true story. The plot is simple 2 identical twin brothers who are gynocologists and share the same office, home, and patients.
They have a new patient with a very unusual gynocological anomaly. They fall in love with her and later begin to develop a major problem. What is most impressive is the fact that Jeremy Irons played both brothers. The scenes where they are together was filmed with breathtaking split screen imagery and motion control cameras. The action is completly seamless very impressive for its time. The criterion DVD has special "making of" clips and show how difficult it was to film this action. While not mentioned in the features, I would assume that the continuity supervisor probably had a very important role on the set. The film also stars French-Canadian actress Geneviève Bujold who was originally slated to play Captain Janeway on Star Trek Voyager, but left after a day and a half of filming. The DVD has additional special features with excellent audio commentary by selected cast and crew. While some scenes in this film may be disturbing to some viewers, the "twinning" special effects are not to be missed!
Rating:
Summary: More depressing than seconal ...
Review: I've seen this movie twice, one at 12 years and another when I was 17 ...God, this movie is as depressive as the seconal. Depicts like a X-Ray the psycho-emotional decadence of both twins ... it meakes you feel as one or both twins through each one of the down steps of their downward spiral.
You can see the twins trapped finally on their little world of "the wonderful and medically revolutionary methods" and being pressed by their own fame and self convincing of their revolutionary ideas. Technically, acting ,scripting ...everything in this production is focused to make this movie is really the most effective psychological movie I've seen.
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