Metascore

Universal acclaim - based on 15 Critics What's this?

User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 21 Ratings

  • Starring: Geneviève Bujold, Jeremy Irons
  • Summary: The chilling story of identical twin gynecologists--suave Elliot and sensitive Beverly, bipolar sides of one personality--who share the same practice, the same apartment, the same women. When a new patient, glamorous actress Claire Niveau, challenges their eerie bond, they descend into a whirlpool of sexual confusion, drugs, and madness. Jeremy Irons' tour-de-force performance--as both twins?raises disturbing questions about the nature of personal identity. (Criterion Collection) Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 15
  2. Negative: 0 out of 15
  1. Reviewed by: Mike Clark
    100
    An instant classic, an Oscar-worthy showcase for Jeremy Irons, and a tightrope ballet over dicey screen material… A subtle movie - and thus a disturbing one. Like “Vertigo,” “The Night of the Hunter,” “Repulsion” and a few others, it finds beauty in morbidity - then nags you to come back for a second dose. [23 Sept 1988]
  2. David Cronenberg's gelid masterpiece.
  3. Reviewed by: Richard Corliss
    80
    At times Dead Ringers also tilts out of coherence, with scenes that are dramatically stillborn. But Irons is splendid in both roles, and Cronenberg can create tour-de-force tableaux with his effortless black magic. [26 Sept 1988]
  4. Is this misogyny, as some insist, or a critique of misogyny, as others say? Many moviegoers, grossed out by the film's gothic approach to medical matters, won't watch long enough to find out which is the answer. [30 Sept 1988]

See all 15 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 11
  2. Negative: 1 out of 11
  1. AustinC.
    10
    Captiating from the opening score, the movie is a masterpiece.
  2. MrJ
    9
    Captivating and depressing in the best way. So sad, you can feel the heartbreak of the brothers, and the sadness is that the heartbreak is for each other, and not the girl. Astonishing, beautiful, sad, brilliant. Expand
  3. BillyO.
    6
    It was very strange and interesting but there wasn't much plot. Nothing happened. The brothers had sex with the same girl and they then both became drug addicts. That is about the entire movie. Expand
  4. 4
    I'm probably in the minority here, but I felt the bleak, intense, and all too gory "Dead Ringers" is too twisted for its own good. Cronenberg directs with style and it exemplifies his skill as a director, and Irons gives two, distinct and excellent characterizations, but all the gloominess makes it no fun. Expand

See all 11 User Reviews

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