The Representation of Toronto
Some cities are known for “[being] transformed into global locations” (Baluja, 2015), or, in other words, never playing themselves. For instance, Vancouver “has molded itself into every imaginable place from Seattle and India in Mission Impossible 4 to North Korea in The Interview” (Baluja, 2015). Like Vancouver, Toronto is another Canadian city famous for not playing itself. “[M]any hidden Toronto landmarks can be spotted amongst the supposed streets of New York” (Dooley, 2019), which even led visual artists like Dave Kemp to create an exhibition entitled !Toronto (2020) and filmmakers like Alexandra Anderson to make a documentary entitled Toronto Hides Itself (2019) to discuss Toronto’s hidden role in movies.
However, instead of hiding the qualities identifying with Toronto, the filmmaker Denis Villeneuve and the production designer Patrice Vermette affirm Toronto’s urban identity at the beginning of Enemy with the establishing shot. Villeneuve and Vermette immediately show viewers where the film takes place by giving CN Tower, one of the most famous places in Toronto and one of the most well-known towers in
the world, a place. This way, they make “Toronto become a character in itself” (Ahi & Karaoghlanian, 2014) and force viewers to think about the city’s architecture. From beginning to end, Villeneuve and
Vermette focus on Toronto’s urban identity through the modernist “concrete and steel architecture” (Gomez-Moriana, 2014). They choose not to show “[Toronto’s] premodern architecture, such as the vernacular Victorian rowhouses that [were] slowly disappearing in the (…) construction boom” (Gomez-Moriana, 2014). Thus, as Villeneuve articulates in one of his interviews, they lead viewers to have “a claustrophobic feeling” (Jagernauth, 2014), which “compound[s] the danger and (…) intrigue that may be present at any given moment” (Kench, 2018).
The Use of Spiders and the Pale Tones of Yellow
Villeneuve, Vermette, and the cinematographer Nicolas Bolduc’s representation of spiders subverts viewers’ expectations and emphasizes “the film’s oppressive aura” (Wyatt, 2014). While “spiders and spider imagery repeat throughout the film” (Donohue, 2021, p. 12), viewers are directed to explore “the problematic connections Enemy draws between spiders [and] motherhood” (Donohue, 2021, p. 12) and spiders, women, and dictators and dictatorships, starting with the opening sequence, which begins with Adam attending an erotic show in an underground club and watching a naked woman squishing a live little spider under her platform high heel. Afterward, viewers see Adam beginning his lecture on dictatorships in a college-level history class by suggesting, “Control. It’s all about control.” Moreover, right after Adam ends his lecture, viewers see him walking and passing by a wall containing a duplicated man with the Hitler salute.
For these reasons, it can be deduced that women evoke spiders and dictators for Adam. Since viewers encounter spiders or traces symbolizing spiders and illustrating dictators and dictatorships throughout the movie, it can also be inferred that those spiders represent Adam’s fears and dictators symbolize women controlling Adam and his life. Hence, it is safe to suggest that “the squashing of the spider symbolizes the squashing of the commitment to his relationship with others” (Das, 2021, p. 5). Later in the film, after the scene in which Adam has a conversation with his mother, viewers see a “long-legged spider hovering over the Toronto cityscape” (Donohue, 2021, p. 12). It “[establishes] the look of a hazy dream world” (Ahi & Karaoghlanian, 2014) and gives viewers a clue about “the warped reality in which [Adam] is trapped” (“What Exactly is Happening,” 2018). Additionally, as Villeneuve articulates in one of his interviews, the “long-legged spider (…) is an allusion to (…) Louise Bourgeois’s iconic sculpture Maman (1999)” (Donohue, 2021, p. 12). Since the word maman means “mother” in French, it is safe to suggest that the spider figure symbolizes Adam’s mother. While describing her intention to create Maman, Bourgeois identifies spiders as “[being] helpful and protective” (“Tate,” 2008) and adds that these characteristics remind her of her mother. Therefore, it can be deduced that Adam’s mother likes to bundle Adam up like a spider because of her protective and controlling nature.
Although the allusion to Louise Bourgeois’s Maman leads viewers knowledgeable about the sculpture to think positively at first, Villeneuve, Vermette, and Bolduc’s decision to use the pale tones of yellow and combine them with the smog help viewers recognize afterward that Adam’s mother’s protective and controlling nature causes Adam to feel trapped. Besides, since the pale tones of yellow dominate the film, it can be claimed that yellow is a color motif signifying Adam’s depressive, melancholic, and anxious personality.
Afterward, Villeneuve and the screenwriter Javier Gullón highlight the darker sides of Adam’s personality in the movie’s last scene. When Adam goes to his bedroom to check what Helen (his wife) is doing, he sees her being transformed into a giant spider. Helen’s transformation resembles the transformation of Gregor Samsa – the main character of Franz Kafka’s novel, The Metamorphosis (1915) – into a “monstrous vermin.” Nonetheless, Helen’s transformation emphasizes how Adam became alienated from himself due to his fears and women controlling his life. Adam’s desperate look signifies his realization that no one besides him is his enemy. However, he also recognizes that he is unimportant, worthless, and helpless to the people around him.
