Age-old story with a sloppy ending

I always liked this little movie, although it drags quite a lot at times, and the camerawork that goes with that crazy shrink character drives me nuts - not to mention he wears sunglasses inside, in a rainy weather, and looks in every direction except towards the individual he's talking to (very insulting).

This story has been told many times and in many ways - I suppose Roger Moore's version is one of the least female-centric.

There's also the Bruce Willis version that was shown in some 1980s Twilight Zone or Outer Limits episode (can't remember which), where the simp version of him won so the woman could be more satisfied or something - can't remember all that well.

Basically the idea of this staple story is that someone is 'not right', so there will be a schizo split personality double or dobbelganger that will then be everything the original couldn't be, then the original either dies, is locked up somewhere or disappears or melts into the original one.

Heck, this is basically even the story of 'Ghost in the Shell', if you think about it. They melt together to become something 'new' that's greater and better than either of the original parts, or something.

The ending of this movie, however, is sloppy - it's 'artistical' enough, but how do the laws of physics apply for these characters? Are they half-ghosts? How can one of them just disappear, and is it really necessary to have TWO car accidents to first create the dobbelganger and then destroy the original - or possibly melt the two, it's left a bit too ambiguous for my liking (as I said, sloppy).

It rushes a bit too quickly to the 'neat and convenient' conclusion instead of truly leaving things more open, which could have been more interesting, or more gradually driving the plot towards some kind of more twisty ending, which would've been more exciting, OR tying the whole package more clearly into a 'two personalities melt into one, and the whole is wiser and better for it', which would've been more satisfying.

As it is not, it's a bit of a mess.

Still, it's a pretty basic story that will probably be told again in the future - how could it not? People with split personalities (I refuse to use the 'modern' terminology) are always interesting, the phenomenon of someone fighting against themself is always fascinating, and it can be made as figurative or as literal as anyone wants, because in a way, we are all BOTH characters of this story.

The moral of the story probably is; we should not compartmentalize our feelings, our true desires and aims will eventually come out. It's like if you suppress your sexuality to succeed in business, you create a monster - I think even the werewolf trope refers to this kind of 'duality of man', where you have your animalistic side that wants to eat unhealthy crap and not care about the future, just entertain yourself, indulge in every hedonistic pleasure and roam free in drunken stupor as much as you can.

This is probably why the drug problem is so big - people give in to this animalistic side that only cares for the pleasure of the moment, the heck with the consequences and 'future'.

Then there's the rational, reasonable, even wisdom-seeking side, that wants to eat healthy, do yoga, meditate, exercize, take care of business, do all the chores perfectly, because they know the consequences of doing other things will be pain in the future.

You may love to drink a bottle or two, but you forget to think how the next day will feel like. As they say, drinking is stealing happiness from tomorrow.

You may like a smoke, because it feels good now, but when you are permanently connected to some machine that goes PINNGGG and all you do all day is stare at the ceiling in some boring hospital while the machine breathes for you, you may see that 'smoke decision' a bit differntly.

This movie reminds us that going to either directon too much is trouble.

Moore's original character was killing himself and others with boredom - he had become a robot, a mechanical man, he was no longer living, or among the living, so he had to die, so he could live.

He was basically a timid, routine-bound zombie in a suit.

Something inside, however, yearned to be free, and the more he imprisoned that something, the more powerful it grew, until it took over his boring zombie body when he was driving, and started being a bit reckless, just to see how it would feel - OR with the aim to permanently liberate himself!

This story is such staple, it can even be seen in Star Trek numerous times (I think even TNG dabbled in it). Kirk separated his more 'dominant' self, so the timid version suddenly couldn't make decisions, and the dominant one could not survive without the balancing, tempering rationality of his more rational self.

It became clear Kirk needed both to be able to make decisions and to be assertive, but also to be able to temper his animalistic side and treat people in a human, kind and gentle - not to mention logical way.