The Double

2014 1h 33m EN

👍

6.5

SOLID

🍅

83%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

6.4

IMDB

★6.5TMDB · 1,129🍅83%Rotten Tomatoes●68Metacritic★6.4IMDB · 55,982

ThrillerDrama

Synopsis

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An awkward office drone becomes increasingly unhinged after a charismatic and confident look-alike takes a job at his workplace and seduces the woman he desires.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Cast

Jesse Eisenberg
Simon James / James Simon
Mia Wasikowska
Hannah
Wallace Shawn
Mr. Papadopoulos
Yasmin Paige
Melanie
Noah Taylor
Harris
James Fox
The Colonel
Cathy Moriarty
Kiki
Phyllis Somerville
Simon's Mother

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Richard Ayoade
Writers: Avi Korine, Richard Ayoade
Languages: English
Countries: United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 6

ERA

Did you know

Released 12 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 6

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Richard Ayoade, shot by Erik Wilson. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 6

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Andrew Hewitt. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 6

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Nick Fenton shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 6

CAST

Did you know

Jesse Eisenberg and Mia Wasikowska and Wallace Shawn carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 6

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt1825157 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Richard Ayoade directs. Erik Wilson behind the camera. Andrew Hewitt scores. Nick Fenton cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 12 years ago.
2Directed by Richard Ayoade, shot by Erik Wilson. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Andrew Hewitt. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Nick Fenton shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Jesse Eisenberg and Mia Wasikowska and Wallace Shawn carry the top of the cast.
6IMDB entry: tt1825157 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
7Classified under 17 themes, including "depression", "suicide", "based on novel or book", "cemetery".

The technical file

Cinematography: Erik Wilson
Original score: Andrew Hewitt
Editing: Nick Fenton
Production design: David Crank
Costume design: Jacqueline Durran
Sound: Adam Armitage
Runtime: 93 min · 1h 33m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Box office: $200,000
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: The Double (2014)
Rotten Tomatoes: 83% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 68/100
IMDB rating: 6.4/10 · 55,982 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

1 win & 11 nominations total

Also by

Richard Ayoade

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

badelf2026-06-10
★ 8/10
Richard Ayoade's The Double, based loosely on Dostoevsky's novel of the same name, unfolds in a world that feels equal parts Kafka and Orwell, a bureaucratic nightmare rendered in sickly yellow fluorescents and impossible architecture. The tone is oppressively dark, deliberately nonsensical; this is a universe where logic has left the building, where every interaction carries the threat of absurdist cruelty. The film takes Dostoevsky's central question and makes it visceral: we all maintain multiple identities, slipping between our work self, our social self, our private self with practiced ease. We juggle these versions without much trouble, or even thought, because they remain under our control, aspects of a coherent whole. But what happens when two of these identities come into direct conflict, when they can no longer coexist, when one threatens to consume the other entirely? Jesse Eisenberg delivers a phenomenal performance, creating two completely opposite identities that somehow inhabit the same physical form. His Simon is all nervous energy and apologetic existence, a man so diminished he barely registers in rooms he occupies. His James is confident, charismatic, effortlessly claiming the space and recognition that Simon cannot. Watching Eisenberg navigate between these polarities, you believe utterly in both; more disturbingly, you recognize the war between them, the way our bolder impulses can make our timid ones unbearable, the way our shadow selves can devour us from within. Ayoade traps us in Simon's psychological collapse with claustrophobic precision, offering no escape, no relief, no easy resolution. The film asks uncomfortable questions about identity, authenticity, and whether the self is something stable or merely a collection of competing performances, some more viable than others.

Production companies