by Rob Martin
In episode 5 of Dead Ringers, two questions are asked of the twin characters at the centre of this story.
The first is, “Are you God?” and the second is, “What Frankenstein shit are you up to?”
These pretty much summarise the themes at the heart of this extraordinary six-part Amazon series in a nutshell.
Dead Ringers is produced by and stars Rachel Weisz and is written by Alice Birch, who adapted the novel Normal People into one of the best TV shows in recent memory. As a variation on one of David Cronenberg’s absolute masterpieces, which featured a career-best performance as twin gynaecologists from Jeremy Irons, this has much to live up to.
And yet, somehow, Weisz and Birch have crafted something that, whilst retaining just enough of the original to provide a connection, is utterly new, just as fascinating, more overtly operatic, and hugely fucked-up in the best possible way.
Weisz plays identical twins, Beverly and Elliot Mantle, high-fliers in the field of gynaecology, keen to take their science to new levels whilst negotiating a completely co-dependent relationship. Simply put, the twins are a unit; they don’t need anyone else. The stall is set early on – the Mantles have the drive and skill to change the way that women give birth. We then follow their rise to power and fall from grace as success and its pressures start to emphasise where and how the twins differ. Beverley falls in love and won’t share her new girlfriend. Elliot runs to excess in every conceivable way. What starts as cracks become open fissures that could drive the twins apart but, and to quote a line used on the poster of Cronenberg’s film and spoken by Beverly to Elliot here, separation can be a terrifying thing.
For fans of the film, there’s just enough to provide knowing nods – the red medical costumes, Beverly’s actor girlfriend, Genevieve (of course) stars in a TV show called Rabid and so on. But over its six hours, this Dead Ringers defines itself as a different beast, a complement to the original as well as an expansion – and what a beast it is with some genuinely shocking moments and surprisingly audacious writing. Also, crucially, it’s very much a female take on the subject. All of the major characters are women, appropriately so, given the field of work the twins operate within, and it’s refreshing also to see themes from sex and motherhood through to power and corporate commercial greed from this perspective. The show also doesn’t shy away from extremely graphic, refreshingly realistic depictions of birth.
Some of the episodes feel almost standalone – a visit from the parents provides background, a weekend with the twins selling a soul for financial backing in the company of the worst people you could possibly imagine, with Jennifer Ehle turning in a fantastic performance as one of the most loathsome characters on TV. But these, including the head-scratching behaviour of the housekeeper, all come together in a moving finale that more than justifies any previous sense of disjointedness and honours the original film’s central theme.
Ultimately though, this hangs on a combination of VFX and performance, and in these as well, Dead Ringers triumphs superbly. The effects are faultless, with both performances from Weisz blending seamlessly. She is astonishing as both women, turning her performance on a hair, whether she’s playing maniacal, vulnerable, drugged-up, sexual or lost. It’s a magnificent achievement that goes way beyond the different hairstyles or choice of red and green apples the sisters make to help us to tell them apart.
That it all ends in tragedy is inevitable. That Dead Ringers has managed to take such a classic film and give us something new, thrilling and fully worthwhile was far from inevitable. In fact, Dead Ringers feels somewhat like a miraculous rebirth all of its own.
Dead Ringers is available to stream on Prime Video from April 21st.
