"To be bitter is to attribute intent and personality to the formless, infinite, unchanging and unchangeable void. We drift on a chartless, resistless sea. Let us sing when we can, and forget the rest." - H.P. Lovecraft
This is a review of "Coherence" and "The One I Love", two very similar films, both featuring doubles, doppelgangers and unnerving, quasi science-fiction plots.
Released in 2013, "Coherence" was written and directed by James Byrkit. It begins with a group of characters arriving at the home of Mike (Nicholas Brendon) and Lee (Lorene Scafaria), a married couple. Once at this home, strange occurrences begin to take place. Mobile phones begin to crack, electrical power is lost and a comet flies overhead. This comet, one guest with a keen interest in Quantum Physics suggests, is responsible for the aforementioned freak events.
Whilst waiting for the return of electrical power, Byrkit's characters talk. We learn that one is an actor, and so often "pretends to be someone else". Another is a dancer who "lost her chance to be famous" after being "replaced by another dancer". Gradually we learn that each character nurses regrets, and bemoans various missed chances and missed opportunities.
Slowly "Coherence" morphs into a horror story. With no electricity in their town, Byrkit's characters venture outside. They eventually stumble upon a home that resembles the one they just left. Even creepier, they begin to encounter replicas of themselves. Pretty soon Byrkit's entire film becomes awash with doubles and doppelgangers, these seemingly duplicated bodies shuffling about in the night like ghoulish apparitions.
"Coherence" offers a science-fictional explanation for these strange occurrences. The comet, we learn, caused a "decoherence" which "opened up doors" to different, parallel universes. Through these "doors", different versions of our original characters stepped out of their universes and into our own. When the comet disappears, realty will achieve "coherence" and "collapse" back into "one single reality". It is therefore important that all doppelgangers are returned to their own worlds.
Stories about parallel universes are common in science-fiction. What "Coherence" does differently is present characters who harbour an intense hatred for their duplicates, triplicates and quadruplicates. Almost every character in "Coherence" despises their world, despises their life, despises their friends and is intensely jealous of the greener pastures upon which they believe their "alternative versions" are living. "Coherence" thus climaxes with several characters plotting against their namesakes and scheming to escape to an alternative universe.
"Coherence" works best as a horror movie. Its middle sections are creepy, surreal, and make good use of low lighting, grainy film stock and naturalistic, improvised dialogue. During these portions, the film evokes Lovecraft, Lynch and Kafka, and conveys well the horror of a kind of quotidian breakdown. It offers what many deem the highest form of horror: the horror of reality itself being disrupted by something unimaginable, unnatural and inexplicable.
Except "Coherence" goes to great lengths to be explicable. To its detriment, the film's final portions hammer home its themes, symbols and metaphors. What was once creepy and disturbing, thus morphs into a very heavy-handed and ultimately trite melodrama about regret.
Directed by Charlie McDowell, "The One I love" (2014) approach's "Coherence's" story from a slightly different angle. Its opening scenes introduce us to Ethan (Mark Duplass) and Sophie (Elisabeth Moss), a husband and wife who spend several days holidaying at a secluded estate. At this estate the couple encounter duplicates of themselves. Like in "Coherence", these duplicates offer idealised versions of "reality". They're cooler, smarter, sexier and conform to various appealing masculine and feminine stereotypes.
As the film progresses, Sophie and Ethan begin to fall in love with the duplicates of their spouses. Like the heroes of "Coherence", they reject their old lives in favour for "new lives" with "better copies". These idealised versions are docile, responsive and willingly cater to every physical and emotional need. In a sense, they are one dimensional robots, completely without desires, flaws or foibles of their own. They're clean. Sanitized. Appealing.
Of course it takes a brave film to advocate trading your spouse for a slavish love-bot, and so Sophie and Ethan eventually reject the doppelgangers; the messy realities and irrationalities of animal relations are ultimately too appealing for our couple.
"The One I Love" isn't as creepy or as unnerving as "Coherence". Where "Coherence" is dark and claustrophobic, "Love" is bright, sleek and spacious. Where "Coherence" adopts horror movie codes, "Love" is primarily a comedy-drama with slight horror elements. Original and well-written, both use science-fiction conventions to delve into the nature of desire and regret, their characters all pining for pastures never met.
8.5/10 – See "The Centre of the World" (2001).
This is a review of "Coherence" and "The One I Love", two very similar films, both featuring doubles, doppelgangers and unnerving, quasi science-fiction plots.
Released in 2013, "Coherence" was written and directed by James Byrkit. It begins with a group of characters arriving at the home of Mike (Nicholas Brendon) and Lee (Lorene Scafaria), a married couple. Once at this home, strange occurrences begin to take place. Mobile phones begin to crack, electrical power is lost and a comet flies overhead. This comet, one guest with a keen interest in Quantum Physics suggests, is responsible for the aforementioned freak events.
Whilst waiting for the return of electrical power, Byrkit's characters talk. We learn that one is an actor, and so often "pretends to be someone else". Another is a dancer who "lost her chance to be famous" after being "replaced by another dancer". Gradually we learn that each character nurses regrets, and bemoans various missed chances and missed opportunities.
Slowly "Coherence" morphs into a horror story. With no electricity in their town, Byrkit's characters venture outside. They eventually stumble upon a home that resembles the one they just left. Even creepier, they begin to encounter replicas of themselves. Pretty soon Byrkit's entire film becomes awash with doubles and doppelgangers, these seemingly duplicated bodies shuffling about in the night like ghoulish apparitions.
"Coherence" offers a science-fictional explanation for these strange occurrences. The comet, we learn, caused a "decoherence" which "opened up doors" to different, parallel universes. Through these "doors", different versions of our original characters stepped out of their universes and into our own. When the comet disappears, realty will achieve "coherence" and "collapse" back into "one single reality". It is therefore important that all doppelgangers are returned to their own worlds.
Stories about parallel universes are common in science-fiction. What "Coherence" does differently is present characters who harbour an intense hatred for their duplicates, triplicates and quadruplicates. Almost every character in "Coherence" despises their world, despises their life, despises their friends and is intensely jealous of the greener pastures upon which they believe their "alternative versions" are living. "Coherence" thus climaxes with several characters plotting against their namesakes and scheming to escape to an alternative universe.
"Coherence" works best as a horror movie. Its middle sections are creepy, surreal, and make good use of low lighting, grainy film stock and naturalistic, improvised dialogue. During these portions, the film evokes Lovecraft, Lynch and Kafka, and conveys well the horror of a kind of quotidian breakdown. It offers what many deem the highest form of horror: the horror of reality itself being disrupted by something unimaginable, unnatural and inexplicable.
Except "Coherence" goes to great lengths to be explicable. To its detriment, the film's final portions hammer home its themes, symbols and metaphors. What was once creepy and disturbing, thus morphs into a very heavy-handed and ultimately trite melodrama about regret.
Directed by Charlie McDowell, "The One I love" (2014) approach's "Coherence's" story from a slightly different angle. Its opening scenes introduce us to Ethan (Mark Duplass) and Sophie (Elisabeth Moss), a husband and wife who spend several days holidaying at a secluded estate. At this estate the couple encounter duplicates of themselves. Like in "Coherence", these duplicates offer idealised versions of "reality". They're cooler, smarter, sexier and conform to various appealing masculine and feminine stereotypes.
As the film progresses, Sophie and Ethan begin to fall in love with the duplicates of their spouses. Like the heroes of "Coherence", they reject their old lives in favour for "new lives" with "better copies". These idealised versions are docile, responsive and willingly cater to every physical and emotional need. In a sense, they are one dimensional robots, completely without desires, flaws or foibles of their own. They're clean. Sanitized. Appealing.
Of course it takes a brave film to advocate trading your spouse for a slavish love-bot, and so Sophie and Ethan eventually reject the doppelgangers; the messy realities and irrationalities of animal relations are ultimately too appealing for our couple.
"The One I Love" isn't as creepy or as unnerving as "Coherence". Where "Coherence" is dark and claustrophobic, "Love" is bright, sleek and spacious. Where "Coherence" adopts horror movie codes, "Love" is primarily a comedy-drama with slight horror elements. Original and well-written, both use science-fiction conventions to delve into the nature of desire and regret, their characters all pining for pastures never met.
8.5/10 – See "The Centre of the World" (2001).