“I think we are already used to seeing violence and death on screen. But childbirth and women’s bodies – these things happen all the time, and we almost never see them on the screen.
Alice Burch
In 1988 David Cronenberg told the story of two brilliant gynecologist twins caught in a destructive spiral. It was inspired by the case of Stewart and Cyril Marcus, New York doctors who died of barbiturate withdrawal in 1975 after being isolated from the world. To the cinema, The Ringing Dead – Inseparablewere renamed Mantle: both were played Jeremy Irons, they like to switch places, tricking patients and lovers into a completely symbiotic relationship. Elliot is immoral and manipulative, Beverly is shy and focused on her work. When Beverly falls in love with actress Claire, their delicate balance is upset and they both isolate themselves in a bubble of drugs and self-deception until they destroy themselves.
Prime Video transforms Cronenberg thriller in a mini-series starring Rachel Weisz in the dual roles of Elliot and Beverly Mantle, twins who share everything. The basic scheme, including the names and the destabilizing arrival of the actress who changes everything, is the same as in the film. Both the feature film and the miniseries explore themes such as identity, jealousy, obsession and morality. But the translation of history to women is not accidental, because. dead ringers in the production version, it becomes an opportunity to tell – like no one has ever done before – the lust of motherhood and its consequences.
In the first series, a tight montage of 4 parts: a caesarean section is shown, a gloved hand pulling the head of a newborn out of the vagina, a skull clamped with forceps. The world of cinema and television taught us to see blood and torn flesh in quantity when it comes to displaying violence and murderBut he modestly (or complacently) distances himself from the same flesh and blood when it comes to demonstrating birthas pointed out by series creator Alice Burch. dead ringers no, there is something unsettling and powerful about this choice. Turn your eyes to childbirth, which is almost always male. He brings into the public space the secret of the birth of a new life, which for a long time remained private. The birth of a child is deeply material but transcendent action.
Series dead ringers remains psychological thriller, it is this aspect that brings episode after episode to the center of the story. But it is also a powerful condemnation of acts of abuse and even violence that women are subjected to during childbirth. Dodging and violence that can kill them. And it raises important questions about the limits of technology and the desire to have children that raise devastating and highly relevant issues.
The idea for the remake, which Bereza was commissioned to write, comes from its main character, an actress Rachel WeiszWhat took an active part in writing the script, along with the writers (as well as portraying two different people superbly believable). “She was not there as an actress. She was incredibly generous. And it was really incredible because when we wrote for her, she was part of a conversation that came out when we were on set,” Burch told the Observer. “Weiss was fascinated by both of Cronenberg’s “death bells”., which he saw in a movie in 1988, and from the true story of the Marcus brothers (renamed in the movie Mantle), twin gynecologists who, having retired from the public eye, are found dead in their New York City shared apartment. in 1975, when their apartments were cluttered with bottles of opioids and barbiturates. These “miracle workers” who specialize in helping infertile women conceive and give birth have come to an end that he questioned the infallible authority of doctors. Their story highlights one of the intractable contradictions of reproductive care: the fact that the person tasked with working so closely with your hopes, fears, and physiology essentially a complete stranger, perhaps even dangerous,” explains the New York Times.
dead ringers hence it is also the beginning of one necessary conversation about childbirth, their medicalization, the power of doctors, the rights of women in labor as well as the ethical limits of science. “Pregnancy is not a disease and pregnant women do not get sick. They don’t need to be treated. It’s just a natural part of life,” one of the Mantle sisters on the show obsessively repeats. This is a very simple truth, but it took childbirth to hear it from a woman’s point of view.
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