Since Timothee Chalamet starred in Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name, it has become a rite of passage for actors to play a queer role to earn the status of “serious” character actor. In 2024, Drew Starkey, of Outer Banks fame, starred opposite Daniel Craig in Luca Guadagnino’s Queer. Following suit, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist played bi-curious tennis rivals in 2024’s Challengers.
Twinless, written and directed by James Sweeney, is a new entry into the millennial queer film canon. Eschewing Guadagnino’s mystique for satire, Twinless argues that the loneliness of contemporary, late-stage capitalism life is perpetuated by the very things that attempt to remedy it. Social media, a dream job, and the search for love can become a toxic cocktail when mixed incorrectly.
After 15 minutes, Twinless unveils its central plot twist. (Spoilers ahead.) Sweeney stars as Dennis, a 30-something graphic designer who meets Roman (Dylan O’Brien) at a support group for people who have suffered the loss of a twin.
However, all is not as it seems. Dennis did not actually have a twin. After a brief romantic fling with Roman’s twin, Rocky, Dennis inadvertently set in motion the events that led to Rocky’s death. Overcome with guilt, he seeks out a friendship with Rocky’s twin.
Criminals often return to the scene of a crime, and this compulsion is a common driver of plots in psychological dramas. Liz Feldman’s Dead to Me series, another darkly comic satire, operates on a similar premise. In both cases, a perpetrator and an unsuspecting victim strike up an authentic friendship. Dennis and Roman are kindred spirits, lost in a world that lets them down in different ways.
Roman’s ill-fated twin Rocky (also played by O’Brien) embodies the archetype of a successful millennial gay male, learning to view himself as a complicated, morally ambiguous character in the safe space provided by marriage equality. During their brief affair, Rocky tells Dennis he felt Roman was the “better twin”.
Twinless attempts to parse what could set two identical people apart. Rocky was superficial and inconsiderate, but had legitimate reasons for leaving his family behind. Roman is impulsive and short-sighted, but has a deep need for belonging.
Roman uncovers Dennis’ lie when he starts dating Dennis’ co-worker, Marcie (Aisling Franciosi). She becomes the voice of reason, confronting both men and mediating their dispute. The trio resembles the cast of Anthony Minghella’s The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), another film where a queer man and a woman vie for the attention of a straight man. As an object of affection, Roman is more benign than Jude Law’s character in The Talented Mr. Ripley. However, a heated rivalry exists in both groups.
When Roman and Dennis reconcile, their most essential quality surfaces: co-dependency. However, their friendship is no less real for it. Twinless investigates the benefits and drawbacks of a life partner.
However, the question at the heart of Twinless is not about interpersonal dynamics. It is about the self and the other, which can coexist within one person. The differences between Roman and Rocky become a platform for Roman to acknowledge the conflicts within himself. He is overcome by grief, but felt neglected by his brother while he was alive. Ultimately, uncovering Dennis’ deception forces Roman to stand up for himself, and he does not need to exonerate himself from the guilt of his personal history to do so.
Over the last decade, as an actor, O’Brien waded into adult territory, distancing himself from his teen idol beginnings on Jeff Davis’ 2011 series Teen Wolf and Wes Ball’s The Maze Runner (2014), appearing in character dramas like Graham Moore’s The Outfit (2022) and Quinn Shephard’s Not Okay (2022). To initiate the transition between the poles of his career, in 2021, O’Brien starred in the short film that accompanied Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well”, a pop culture phenomenon that showcased his capacity for depth in his acting.
Reflecting on that short film, O’Brien told GQ in 2022, “It’s hard to execute relational dynamics, the complexities of a relationship, power dynamics, and age dynamics.” Twinless investigates those themes as well.
In the film, Rocky had a successful career, but, in childhood, Roman had made him feel ashamed of his sexuality. In adulthood, Dennis felt spurned by Rocky’s romantic rejection, then accidentally caused his death.
They say good things come in pairs, but Twinless illustrates that the best and worst of humanity can coexist in one person. Even so, there may be something more for which we continue to search.