'Enemy' Spoiler Analysis

"Enemy" is directed by Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners, Sicario, Arrival) and stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a college history professor whose life gets turned upside down when he seemingly discovers a doppelgänger.

Now'a days, Denis Villeneuve is a household name, but when "Enemy" was released back in 2013, its mysterious plot and use of spiders had the film world dazzled by its ending.

The film begins with multiple men, including Gyllenhaal, gathered at what appears to be a erotic show where a woman is on stage performing sexual acts. However, things turn mysterious when the woman brings out a platter containing a spider. The woman raises her heel to smash the spider before the scene ends.

The audience is introduced to Professor Adam Bell, who lives a quiet, small life in an apartment with his girlfriend, played by Mélanie Laurent.

One day he attends a video store and rents a movie recommended to him by a colleague. After watching the movie and thinking nothing of it, he goes to sleep and has a dream. In the dream, he remembers a scene in the movie that causes him to wake up and go back to the film. In the film, he spots an actor who looks identical to him and becomes obsessed with tracking this man down.

Adam eventually tracks him down and identifies the actor as Anthony Claire, whose stage name is Daniel Saint Claire.

Afterwards, Adam searches through some old boxes in his house and finds a photo of himself with half of it torn off but there is enough left to recognize it as a blonde woman. It is important to note that Adam's girlfriend is blonde.

Adam eventually goes to Anthony's talent agency, pretending to be him and the security guard immediately recognizes him to be Anthony, proving that they are the same and possibly twins. He gives Adam a confidential letter intended for Anthony.

Now knowing Anthony's home address, Adam calls his house and Anthony's wife, Helen, played by Sarah Gadon, answers the phone and immediately believes it to be Anthony on the other end playing a practical joke. Adam is confused and tries to insist he is not Anthony. This frightens Helen and they hang up.

The audience is then introduced to Anthony, also played by Gyllenhaal. He lives in a nice penthouse and wears better clothes, has a wedding ring, has his hair looking nice and is more put together than Adam. Anthony calls Adam and tells him not to call their house again, not wanting to hear about them possibly being twins. When Helen confronts him about the call, not wanting her to worry, Anthony lies and says it was nothing. Helen immediately becomes suspicious, bringing up the past, hinting that he has had affairs with other women.

Helen is able to track Adam down to the university he teaches at and finds him. Adam acts like has no idea who she is but she is stunned because she believes she is seeing her husband. The twin factor is still in play until Villeneuve does something brilliant to confirm my theory.

He has Adam leave Helen and as he begins to walk away, Helen calls Anthony's cell phone and the moment Adam walks off screen, he answers. The viewer cannot see whether or not Adam was the one answering the call.

This is where my theory comes into play that Adam and Anthony are actually the same person and he seems to be having some sort of mental breakdown about committing to his marriage with his pregnant wife. The two men are a part of his subconscious. Adam who lives in a sleazy apartment, represents the cheating, not as successful guy he would be if he were unfaithful to his pregnant wife. Hence the "girlfriend," not wife, who he is seen having sex with, while Anthony is his real name. His wife is real. His penthouse is real, which would be affordable to a full time college professor who has gotten some acting gigs. Although, the current version of Anthony is not necessarily his "real self."

Anthony eventually calls Adam again and the two agree to meet alone in a hotel room. The fact that they are alone proves that no one can see the two of them at the same time. Once they meet, they both learn they have the same exact scar on their torso. Something that twins do not have.

Adam is scared by the well put together Anthony and says the meeting was a mistake. He leaves.

He later goes to see his mother who is concerned about his disheveled appearance. She offers him blueberries, which he declines, but if you will recall in Anthony's first scene, he is shown eating blueberries immediately after entering his home. This is why the mother responds with "why, of course you do."

The two continue conversing and his mother mentions how she wishes he would give up this "acting fantasy" and that he has a "respectable job" referring to his teaching position. "Adam" does not want to hear any of it, further indicating he is having a mental breakdown.

After his meeting with his mother, "Adam" has a dream in which he sees a large spider walking over the city. Overlooking and controlling everything. This spider possibly represents his mother. I will explain my interpretation of the spiders as the end.

The next day, Anthony begins stalking Adam's girlfriend and lusting after her. He devises a plan to manipulate Adam into letting him sleep with her as they "trade places."

Adam agrees and Anthony takes his keys, clothes and takes Mary to a hotel to have sex, while Adam goes home to Helen, who is seeing her real husband, not Anthony.

The former Anthony has now become the cheating, lesser version of himself. The one who the character of Adam was meant to represent. While Adam, is realizing his real self. He is Anthony, married to Helen with a baby on the way and is a history professor and part-time actor.

Adam, who I will now refer to as Anthony, looks around the penthouse and finds a framed photo of himself with Helen. The same photo that was shown earlier in the film with the woman torn off. This likely represents he was in denial and trying to forget that he is married while living in the sleazy apartment and sleeping with another woman.

Helen walks in and greets Anthony, who tries to act like former Anthony since he still believes they are two different people. However, Helen recognizes Anthony for being Anthony. Not the rude, arrogant former Anthony.

The two go to bed and Anthony wakes up crying and begins apologizing to Helen, likely for his guilt of not committing to their marriage and living this double life as another person in order to feel like he is single.

She tells him she wants him to stay with her and be her husband. The two reconcile and make love.

Meanwhile, former Anthony is caught in his act by the girlfriend who notices a tan line where his wedding ring normally is, claiming "he has always had it" which he has. She panics after realizing that he is married and demands former Anthony take her home.

The two get into a fight on the drive and get into a high-speed car crash, presumably killing them both.

This whole sequence is meant to foreshadow what would happen to Anthony had he kept up his behavior. The cheating, arrogant version of himself is killed off, out of his subconscious and he has now come back to his true self.

The following morning, Anthony gets ready for his day and finds the confidential letter from earlier in the film. Inside contains a key, presumably to the underground sex club. He makes the unfortunate decision to go and as he goes to tell Helen he is going out, she is replaced by a gigantic spider inside the bedroom. He looks at the spider and sighs. The film ends.

Many have been puzzled by this ending, particularly why a gigantic spider has replaced his wife. The spiders are meant to represent women. Spiders tend to catch their prey and keep them wrapped up in a web. Stuck. They represent an allegory of marriage and commitment. Also, since many find spiders scary, it is a fear in the eyes of men.

This is why in the beginning of the film, the men were watching a sexy woman fixing to squash a spider. Women are out there to kill that commitment and marriage for them. It is also why the wife turned into a spider. She is his wife and he has to commit to her.

As he looks at her, he sighs. Accepting his reality.

"Enemy" is available to stream on Showtime and buy or rent from anywhere.