Dual Review: Karen Gillan Is A Double In Intriguing, Yet Flat Sci-Fi Drama [Sundance]

In writer-director Riley Stearns’ third feature, Dual, the future sees the cloning process as a regular part of society, where one can have a double and train them to act as they do. The film acknowledges the messiness such a concept could create and, while the dark comedy in Stearns’ bleak world can be rather great, Dual fails to fully explore its conceit.

Sarah (Karen Gillan) goes through her life like a zombie. She rarely leaves her couch, watches porn while drinking, takes calls from boyfriend Peter (Beulah Koale) half-heartedly, and avoids calling her mother (Maija Paunio) altogether. When Sarah is diagnosed with an incurable disease, she decides to go through a cloning procedure called “Replacement” to avoid her mother and Peter having to grieve her loss after she’s gone. However, a twist sees Sarah changing her mind about the clone, officially called Sarah’s Double (and also played by Gillan), who eventually files a motion to stay alive. This results in the pair being scheduled for a duel to the death that decides who gets to live as Sarah.

Dual occasionally has intriguing moments that suggest Sarah is only really interested in living when there’s a threat to her life, but there isn’t much of a spark to her actions beyond that. Sarah’s Double seems like a better version of her in every way — at least at first. She’s a great girlfriend, she calls Sarah’s mother every once in a while and texts her because she thinks it’s the right thing to do, and she’s even developed her own taste for food. What’s more, Sarah’s Double seems to enjoy life more immensely than Sarah ever did since she hasn’t been stuck in the monotony and sadness of a lived experience. However, Sarah’s Double begins to have the same complaints about Peter and Sarah’s mom after a while, no longer as satisfied with her life as she was before. Gillan plays the characters with slight differences, mostly present in her inflections and eyes, and does a lot with very little.

Dual posits that life isn’t really all that great, something which is conveyed in the clipped, cold way Sarah talks and interacts with everyone. The world’s population has been desensitized and Sarah is only inspired to fight for herself, rather than taking her death nonchalantly, because she already feels erased in a life she hasn’t yet left behind. There’s a deep sense of detachment that permeates the film and colors its darkest and most humorous moments. Even Sarah’s loved ones don’t seem to care whether she lives or dies. The existence of Sarah’s Double interestingly brings Sarah back to life in several ways, but Stearns doesn’t fully explore what that really means for her or her relationships moving forward.

To that end, there’s very little emotional substance in Dual. Sure, the film has a few surprises up its sleeve and subverts audience expectations regarding where the story will go, but Sarah’s mom and Peter are quick to take to Sarah’s Double and, even when the former realizes the daughter she’s been talking to is a replacement, the audience never sees her react to any of it. Sarah is angry about her circumstances, but the lack of investment in the characters’ dynamics and emotional journey, all of which feel rather hollow, result in a film that doesn’t have very much to say about its concepts. It doesn’t help that its pacing slows down enough for the interest to wane before picking back up again nearer to the end.

What does it mean that Sarah is willing to take combat lessons from Trent (Aaron Paul) to kill Sarah’s Double in cold blood if she didn’t care about her life before? Will getting rid of Sarah’s Double lead her to make more of an effort in her life? Is everything so hopeless and cold no matter the outcome? Sarah never contemplates any of these things, which makes for an empty film that seems more interested in producing awkward, and incredibly dark humor (that does admittedly elicit chuckles) than in delving deeper. There are inklings of something more interesting and rich beneath the surface, but Dual never brings the pieces together.

Dual premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. The film is 95 minutes long and is rated R for violent content, some sexual content, language and graphic nudity.