The Double film tie-in
An official tie-in edition to accompany Richard Ayoade's brilliant new film based on Dostoyevsky's deliciously dark and slyly funny novel. The Double stars Oscar nominee Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network) and Mia Wasikowska (Jane Eyre) with support from Chris O'Dowd, Sally Hawkins, Paddy Considine, Tim Key and Chris Morris.
***
'All that he had dreaded and guessed at had now taken place in reality. He gasped for breath, his head went round. There was the stranger, sitting before him on his own bed, also wearing a hat and coat, faintly smiling'
A lonely government clerk - shy, awkward, blundering - finds himself pursued by a mysterious stranger. Somehow he looks familiar. In fact, he realizes, he looks exactly like him. He even has the same name. But, unlike him, he is charming and confident.
Soon the stranger starts insinuating himself into his life. He works at his office, stays at his apartment, ingratiates himself with his colleagues. No one seems surprised.
Who is he? What does he want? Is he a double, or something darker altogether?
***
Moscow-born Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) served time in a convict prison in Siberia for his political alliances, and in his later years his passion for gambling led him deeply into debt. His many brilliant novels include Crime and Punishment, The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov.