Hi Joe
I absolutely loved Adaptation. And yes, I agree with you, i don't quite
know how to 'think' this film yet. Unlike some of my friends who have
seen the film, I didn't find the dedication at the end of the film which
reads something like "This film is dedicated to the memory of Donald
Kaufmann" (excuse spelling?) in any way funny at all. In fact, I had
this profound and growing sense of unease as the film progressed
especially in the last 40 minutes or so. It reminded me of the feeling I
had when watching Mulholland Drive. A sense of displacement, of being
out of sorts with Donald and Charlie. So I agree with you that the
'essence' of their relationship is kind of out of reach and to think
what it maybe like is an impossible task. But i also think that it's
because of how the film plays with reality/dream. And you may think this
in terms of Lacan/Freud -- we all have an 'identical twin' -- ie our
imago/image -- projected by our pysche, as the case may / may not be for
the Kaufmann twins. Adaptation, for me, crosses this boundary, we don't
really know for sure whether the Kaufmann twin exists in real life,
because the screenplay is credited to the both of them. But does this
matter? This existence of real life twins? I don't have any answers, but
it is a question that I found myself asking after seeing the film.
As to identical twins in films. There's an interesting film called "Twin
Falls Idaho", about a set of Siamese Twins, but played by real life
twins (not Siamese -- I found this out after the fact and you can't help
but wonder if they were really Siamese twins in the film -- and what
they would be like). I think this film may open up some other issues for
your paper... In any case, the film is shot and played beautifully, and
you may enjoy it. :-)
well, sorry for the rant on Adaptation. I'd be keen to know what you
think about it and of course, read your paper on Dead Ringers.
best
Janice
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