Tenebrae (film)

====Duality and "dark doubles"====

====Duality and "dark doubles"====

[[File:Giermani to Neal.ogv|thumb|275px|alt=Head-on to the camera, Captain Germani stoops to pick up some evidence from the floor. Neal is revealed to be stood behind him, previously unseen with their silhouettes having perfectly matched in the shot|The reveal of Peter Neal standing behind Captain Germani emphasizes Argento's theme of "dark doubles", with the film constantly doubling or mirroring objects, locations, events and characters. This scene is one of many that sets up a character with his or her doppelgänger, on both a visual and narrative level. The moment is also one of ''Tenebrae''{{'}}s most stylistically influential; the reveal of a killer – previously silhouetted by another – has been copied and referenced in many subsequent thrillers, including [[Brian De Palma]]'s ''[[Raising Cain]]'' (1992).]]

[[File:Giermani to Neal.ogv|thumb|275px|alt=Head-on to the camera, Captain Germani stoops to pick up some evidence from the floor. Neal is revealed to be standing behind him, previously unseen, with their silhouettes having perfectly matched in the shot|The reveal of Peter Neal standing behind Captain Germani emphasizes Argento's theme of "dark doubles", with the film constantly doubling or mirroring objects, locations, events, and characters. This scene is one of many that sets up a character with his or her doppelgänger, on both a visual and narrative level. The moment is also one of ''Tenebrae''{{'}}s most stylistically influential; the reveal of a killer – previously silhouetted by another – has been copied and referenced in many subsequent thrillers, including [[Brian De Palma]]'s ''[[Raising Cain]]'' (1992).]]

According to Argento expert Thomas Rostock, ''Tenebrae'' is filled with rhyming imagery that relates to the film's exploration of "the dual nature of [the] two active murderers" using doubles, inversions, reflections and "re-reflections". Every major character has at least one double, and the theme extends to objects, locations, actions and events – major and minor. The doubling or mirroring of incidents and objects includes telephone booths, aircraft, homeless men, otherwise-meaningless public brawls in the background, car accidents, typewriters (literally side-by-side), keys, handkerchief, hands caught in doors and the characters themselves.{{harvnb|Rostock|2011|loc=chapter 10}} Rostock cites several scenes where characters are set up in the frame with their doppelgängers – one such is the first meeting of Peter Neal and Anne with Detectives Germani and Altieri. McDonagh notes that Argento emphasizes the doubling between Neal and Germani: "Germani ... is made to reflect Neal even as Neal appropriates his role as investigator ... the detective/writer and the writer/detective each belittles his other half, as though by being demeaned this inverted reflection could be made to go away." McDonagh also observes that, in what is arguably the film's most potent shock, Neal at one point really does make Germani "go away", virtually replacing him on screen "in a shot that is as schematically logical as it is logically outrageous."{{Sfn|McDonagh|1994|p=181}} Earlier, Neal killed a woman who – to his and the audience's surprise – was not Anne, but Altieri. ''Tenebrae'' itself is split almost exactly into two parts. The first half belongs to the murders of Berti; the second to those of Neal. The two are set up as mirrors of one another. Berti's killings with a razor are clinical, with "lingering sexualized aggressiveness", whereas Neal's (with an axe) are crimes of passion committed for personal reasons or out of necessity; they are swift and to the point.

According to Argento expert Thomas Rostock, ''Tenebrae'' is filled with rhyming imagery that relates to the film's exploration of "the dual nature of [the] two active murderers" using doubles, inversions, reflections, and "re-reflections". Every major character has at least one double, and the theme extends to objects, locations, actions, and events – major and minor. The doubling or mirroring of incidents and objects includes telephone booths, aircraft, homeless men, otherwise-meaningless public brawls in the background, car accidents, typewriters (literally side-by-side), keys, handkerchiefs, hands caught in doors, and the characters themselves.{{harvnb|Rostock|2011|loc=chapter 10}} Rostock cites several scenes where characters are set up in the frame with their doppelgängers – one such is the first meeting of Peter Neal and Anne with Detectives Germani and Altieri. McDonagh notes that Argento emphasizes the doubling between Neal and Germani: "Germani ... is made to reflect Neal even as Neal appropriates his role as investigator ... the detective/writer and the writer/detective each belittles his other half, as though by being demeaned this inverted reflection could be made to go away." McDonagh also observes that, in what is arguably the film's most potent shock, Neal at one point really does make Germani "go away", virtually replacing him on screen "in a shot that is as schematically logical as it is logically outrageous."{{Sfn|McDonagh|1994|p=181}} Earlier, Neal killed a woman who – to his and the audience's surprise – was not Anne, but Altieri. ''Tenebrae'' itself is split almost exactly into two parts. The first half belongs to the murders of Berti; the second to those of Neal. The two are set up as mirrors of one another. Berti's killings with a razor are clinical, with "lingering sexualized aggressiveness", whereas Neal's (with an axe) are crimes of passion committed for personal reasons or out of necessity; they are swift and to the point.

Kevin Lyons observes, "The plot revolves around the audacious and quite unexpected transference of guilt from the maniacal killer (about whom we learn very little, itself unusual for Argento) to the eminently likeable hero, surely the film's boldest stroke."{{cite web|url=http://www.eofftv.com/review/t/tenebre_review.htm |title=Tenebre Review |date=11 September 2003 |access-date=22 April 2006 |first=Kevin |last=Lyons |publisher=The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Film and Television |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061020060441/http://www.eofftv.com/review/t/tenebre_review.htm |archive-date=20 October 2006 }} While noting that the device is "striking", McDonagh comments that this transmission of guilt occurs between two dark doubles who are severely "warped" individuals. She suggests that "Neal and Berti ... act as mirrors to one another, each twisting the reflection into a warped parody of the other."{{Sfn|McDonagh|1994|p=180}} Berti's obsession with Neal's fiction compels him to commit murder in homage to the writer, while Neal seems to think that his own violent acts are simply part of some kind of "elaborate fiction". When the bloody Neal is confronted by Germani immediately after having killed numerous people, Neal screams at him, "It was like a book ... a book!"{{Sfn|Gracey|2010|p=81}}

Kevin Lyons observes, "The plot revolves around the audacious and quite unexpected transference of guilt from the maniacal killer (about whom we learn very little, itself unusual for Argento) to the eminently likeable hero, surely the film's boldest stroke."{{cite web|url=http://www.eofftv.com/review/t/tenebre_review.htm |title=Tenebre Review |date=11 September 2003 |access-date=22 April 2006 |first=Kevin |last=Lyons |publisher=The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Film and Television |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061020060441/http://www.eofftv.com/review/t/tenebre_review.htm |archive-date=20 October 2006 }} While noting that the device is "striking", McDonagh comments that this transmission of guilt occurs between two dark doubles who are severely "warped" individuals. She suggests that "Neal and Berti ... act as mirrors to one another, each twisting the reflection into a warped parody of the other."{{Sfn|McDonagh|1994|p=180}} Berti's obsession with Neal's fiction compels him to commit murder in homage to the writer, while Neal seems to think that his own violent acts are simply part of some kind of "elaborate fiction". When the bloody Neal is confronted by Germani immediately after having killed numerous people, Neal screams at him, "It was like a book ... a book!"{{Sfn|Gracey|2010|p=81}}