Doubles

It's interesting how many like pairs are found in this movie. Not only do you have Neville's split personality, but you also have Laura and Neville, a romantic pair, but also a pair that sees the same things. Both Laura and Neville see the terrible immorality in the world. Unromantically, both create the same images in response (though Laura's images are photographic and Neville's are real-life murders. Both can be said to (re)produce violence. They also literally see the world the same way when Laura sees what Neville sees when his evil personality is killing people.

When Laura kills Neville, one must wonder if in killing the evil part of him, she is killing a part of herself--either the "bad" part that is perpetuating violence, or the artistic part. Or is she killing her entire self? Laura was very happy with Neville and she seemed very distraught when she called 911. In destroying him, has she shattered herself irrecoverably?
And what does it say about Laura that she was happy with such a man? Did she only love the sweet, tender personality, or was her love of a murderer an acknowledgement of dark things inside her?


A couple of notes:
--Anyone notice that Laura calls Neville "John" sometimes and "Neville" other times, even after they have begun their romance? How odd for a woman who is dating a man to call him by his last name. Is this a slip-up from the time that Laura only knew Neville in a professional capacity? Does something in her recognize that he is really two people?

--I love how Laura's outfits set her off so much from her friends/colleagues. When Laura describes herself as a "Grandma Moses" at the gallery opening, she's right. Throughout the movie, her outfits, baring one practical-for-work, slits-up-to-there skirt, show no skin whatsoever. She is very buttoned up and prim, especially when compared to her naked/scantily-clad friends. Even though she is just as fashionable as the models, she looks odd standing next to them and she is definitely a very different sort of person from them. It is obvious that Laura is trying her hardest to set herself/her image apart from her work, too.