This year we’ve seen an unusual number of actors playing multiple roles in the same movie. Jesse Eisenberg in The Double and Jake Gyllenhaal in Enemy play guys who encounter their dopplegangers – and the fun is in the contrasting personalities of the lookalikes.
In The Face of Love, a grieving widow falls for the exact double of her late husband (but she doesn’t tell the new boyfriend about the resemblance). Ed Harris plays both roles.
In the The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby, Jessica Chastain and James McAvoy plays a couple who have experiences a tragedy. In a Rashomon-like manner, part of the movie is told from her perspective and part from his, so McAvoy and Chastain are playing the same character, but shaded by the differing viewpoints.
And here’s my favorite. In The One I Love, Elisabeth Moss and Mark Duplass each play two characters, but I’m not going to spoil,the movie by telling you who they are. It’s a superb Twilight Zone-like experience. Just watch the movie.