{"id":1439385,"date":"2017-04-17T04:15:58","date_gmt":"2017-04-17T11:15:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dostoevsky-bts.com\/blog\/?p=1439385"},"modified":"2017-04-17T04:15:58","modified_gmt":"2017-04-17T11:15:58","slug":"dostoyevsky-inspired-films-richard-ayoades-double","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dostoevsky-bts.com\/blog\/dostoyevsky-inspired-films-richard-ayoades-double\/","title":{"rendered":"Dostoyevsky Inspired Films: Richard Ayoade\u2019s The Double"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe door from the next room suddenly opened with a timid, quiet creak, as if thus announcing the entrance of a very insignificant person…\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1846 a 25-year old Dostoyevsky published his second novel. Titled The Double<\/a><\/em>, the novella follows a socially awkward government clerk named Yakov Petrovich Golyadkin \u2013 amusingly called \u201cour hero\u201d by the narrator \u2013 when a doppelganger enters his life. Unlike Golyadkin, his double is beaming with confidence and charm and is in every other way his exact opposite which eventually leads to trouble for Golyadkin when the doppelganger sets out to ruin him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"double_1866-original<\/a><\/td>\n\"The<\/a><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The Double has had a surprisingly diverse set of reactions since its creation. Upon its release, most critics set out to annihilate the story, a reactionary doppelganger effect in and of itself in the sense that it ruined the fame and positivity that came with Poor Folk<\/em>, Dostoyevsky\u2019s debut. In his Writer\u2019s Diary, Dostoyevsky wrote, \u201c”Most decidedly, I did not succeed with that novel; however, its idea was rather lucid, and I have never expressed in my writings anything more serious. Still, as far as form was concerned, I failed utterly.” An unexpected admiration for the novel came from Nabokov, however, who called The Double<\/em>, \u201cthe best thing he ever wrote\u2026it is a perfect work of art.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many Dostoyevsky’s fans may not share Nabokov\u2019s appraisal for what is largely considered a minor novel of little importance. But its merit does deserve some recognition. While Dostoyevsky was not yet at the peak of his powers, the reader can already recognize the psychological power brewing beneath Dostoyevsky\u2019s pen that was waiting to be amplified by his Siberian exile. As he would do later on with Crime and Punishment<\/em> and Notes From the Underground<\/em>, Dostoyevsky doesn\u2019t merely invite us into the story but forces us to connect our nervous system with those of his subjects. When Golyadkin feels awkward, we feel awkward with him. When Golyadkin thinks he\u2019s triumphed, the reader feels triumphant with him. The ultimate feeling one gets from reading The Double<\/em> is that they cannot tell whether Golyadkin \u2013 and by default, each one of us \u2013 belongs in the asylum or society itself. Are we insane, as society assumes? Or is it all in our heads and we\u2019re the ones who are in the right? It is a remarkable accomplishment for a writer with a fresh career, and despite the negative reviews that his contemporaries unleashed time has so far left this remarkable characteristic unchanged and un-weathered.<\/p>\n

The Double<\/em><\/a> is also the most Gogolesque of his novels, and it is a real treat for the Dostoyevsky fans to see the Master of Petersburg use his powers to take an influence from another legend and make it his own while ultimately crafting something original. This balance between the comical world of Gogol (a la The Overcoat,<\/em> in particular) and the psychological insanity of Dostoyevsky\u2019s world was recreated in a Dostoyevsky inspired film most splendidly by Richard Ayoade back in 2013, also titled The Double<\/a><\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Both a comedy and a tragedy of sorts, The Double<\/strong><\/em> \u2013 also, coincidentally, Richard Ayoade\u2019s second directed film after his debut coming-of-age film Submarine<\/strong><\/em> \u2013 removes the Petersburg Poem (the subtitle of The Double<\/em>) from 19th Century St Petersburg and places it in an unnamed retro-dystopia with cold weather, dark Bauhaus apartment blocks and Macintosh SE-looking computers. Jesse Eisenberg plays Mr. Golyadkin\u2019s equivalent, James Simon, and also stars as his double, Simon James. Mia Wasikowska of Alice and Wonderland fame plays Hannah, the adaptation of Dostoyevsky\u2019s Klara Olsufyevna who is the only one with any sympathy for Mr. Golyadkin (and tragically so, as readers of this novella will discover). And Golyadkin\u2019s boss, Andrei Fillipovich, is metamorphosed into the hilarious Mr. Papadopoulos, played by Wallace Shawn.<\/p>\n

The film adapts the original novella into motion picture format exceptionally well compared to other adaptations. Some movies make great but inaccurate loose adaptations from their original inspirations: others try to replicate the original source material with such literalness that the films become boring. But The Double<\/strong><\/em> accomplishes both: it is a natural and imaginative film with animated acting and fresh cinematography that stays true to the overall gist of Dostoyevsky\u2019s story, especially the tragedy that is Mr. Golyadkin.<\/p>\n