Review: Sci-fi film ‘Dual’ uses dark humor and clones to look at the meaning of life

Set in a near future that looks a lot like the present, the science-fiction drama “Dual,” from writer-director Riley Stearns (“The Art of Self-Defense”), features misfortunes such as terminal illness, gruesome kitchen accidents and the murder of a dog. Did I mention it’s a comedy?

Karen Gillan (“Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Jumanji”) stars as Sarah, a young woman who contracts a rare, incurable disease that gives her only a 2% chance of survival. Even before this medical setback, her life wasn’t great: With her boyfriend Peter (Beulah Koale) away on a remote work assignment, she’s spent her alone time watching porn and drinking generic alcohol from bottles labeled “whisky” and “IPA.”

So when a doctor tells Sarah that she’s going to die in a matter of months, her answer isn’t that surprising: “Why aren’t I crying?” Sarah is given a chance to carry on – after a fashion – by means of a “replacement.” The procedure is expensive but easy: Spit into a test tube, and one hour later your clone appears, ready to be trained in the details of your life, “so your loved ones don’t have to suffer the loss of you.”

“Here’s a pamphlet,” Sarah’s doctor says. “Dual” is a horrific cautionary tale, but it plays out with dark humor. The macabre manner of storytelling (and the heavily accented English of much of the supporting cast, which is largely Finnish) echoes the stilted dialogue and storylines of Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos (“The Killing of a Sacred Deer”). But Sterns’s tone is drier, funnier – and, ultimately, warmer.

Sarah goes through with the procedure, but there’s a catch – or two. Her boyfriend and mother both like Sarah’s clone (also played by Gillan) more than they do Sarah. On top of that, Sarah goes into remission. In a case like that, when both the “original” and the cloned double want to stay alive, it’s mandated that they confront each other in a televised duel to the death.

Unprepared to fight for her life, Sarah hires combat trainer Trent (Aaron Paul) to help her train for the climactic battle. The premise suggests a hybrid of Todd Haynes’s 1995 psychological drama “Safe” – about a housewife (Julianne Moore) who suffers a mysterious illness – and “The Hunger Games” franchise.

What distinguishes “Dual” is its tone of droll gallows humor. This approach isn’t for everyone; it takes a certain sensibility to find amusement in a gory (and hilarious) training video titled “You Always Kill the Ones You Love.” But Sterns also has a playful side, enrolling Sarah in a goofy hip-hop dance class to pass the time before her fateful duel.

The supporting cast is all in tune with the film’s peculiar rhythms. But in her dual roles, Gillan makes the movie her own, playing a divided self with sly restraint. At first, Sarah’s double is slightly perkier than she is, but Sarah comes into her own as she learns how to defend herself, and in an especially complicated final act, it becomes more difficult to distinguish who is the original and who is the clone.

Like “Blade Runner,” a more ambitious science-fiction film that calls its humanoid creations “replicants,” “Dual” at its core asks what it is to be human. But Gillan’s chilling performance invites a more troubling question. When Sarah tells her double, “I like all kinds of music, particularly pop, rock and hip-hop,” she shows no emotion or enthusiasm, delivering merely a rote repetition of facts. Is she just as programmable as her clone?

Cinematographer Michael Ragen initially bathes much of “Dual” in a palette of cold, clinical light. But as Sarah gets deeper into training and gains confidence, her surroundings shift to warmer tones that indicate she’s becoming more alive.

The look of these scenes recalls director Bernardo Bertolucci’s insistence that the reds, oranges and flesh tones of “Last Tango in Paris” appear “uterine.” “Dual” takes a while to get into gear, ending on an unresolved note. But it’s a funny and provocative struggle over the meaning of life.