Director Riley Stearns brings both the sci-fi and strange to this year’s Sundance with his latest project, Dual. Starring Karen Gillan and Aaron Paul, the story is more than a little peculiar and will perplex and entrance in equal measure. Set in world in which human cloning is not only possible, but encouraged, Dual centres on Sarah (Gillan) as she receives news that she has a terminal illness. Not wanting those around her to suffer after her passing, she purchases herself a double. Made from her DNA, the job of this double is to help her friends and family recover from Sarah’s death by seamlessly slotting into her life and replacing her. However, after recovering from the life-threatening condition, Sarah seeks to reclaim her life. In order to do this however, both versions of Sarah must take part in a ceremonial duel to the death.
Dual not only has an excellently weird story hook, writer and director Stearns tells it in a wonderfully fantastic way. His method of storytelling will be a tad too jarring for some, not in terms of structure, but with the delivery of lines. Everyone within the world of Dual communicates almost exclusively in emotionless, almost robotic, tones and it takes a little getting used to. The technique exemplifies how monotonous life can be whilst simultaneously demonstrating how distant Sarah, and those around her, have become from one another. By keeping everything and everyone operating at this same sterile frequency it allows the brief emotional outbursts to land with a greater ferocity and impact. Stearns decision has the added bonus of keeping the viewer relatively neutral (at least in some places), which helps sell the ambiguity and murkiness of the themes and ideas examined.
Through Dual, Stearn explores the idea of the individual, what makes us us, and how easy would we be to replace. Dual further highlights the importance of engaging with life and not simply being passive. The Sarah first introduced is simply coasting through life with no drive or real interest in anything. She merely exists to get through the day and onto the next, and the result has left her devoid of personality. Sarah could be viewed as taking her life for granted, something called out upon the arrival of her new-to-the-world double. This double is interested in the world around her and wants to interact with it as much as possible. For original Sarah, it is only when faced with death that she decides to live a more full existence, and this is something that much of society can relate too. So many of us are just drifting through life, living the same monotonous routine of eat, sleep, work, but we must remember to make the most of what limited time we have.
Although set within the realm of science-fiction, Stearns doesn’t get too caught up in explaining anything. Rather than spending time thinking and building up organisations like Cyberdyne or Weyland-Yutani, Stearns simply refers to the place creating the doubles as “the facility”. Similarly, the terminal disease that Sarah is afflicted with isn’t given a name. This vagueness contributes to the mysterious nature of the film, enticing the viewer to engage and unravel Dual’s secrets by themselves.
Although different in subject matter and type, Dual shares a kinship with both Black Bear and The Lobster as it channels that same hypnotic and peculiar brand of intrigue and excitement. Distinctively unique, Dual is set to get people talking with both its curious method of storytelling, and philosophical musings.
Dual
Summary
Just the brand of quirky science-fiction that excels on the festival circuit, Dual will excite and tantalise audiences with an appetite for smaller and stranger films.
Dual was reviewed at Sundance 2022.
