Jesse Eisenberg stars in this darkly fantastical drama, based on the story of the same name by Fyodor Dostoevsky yet shot through with an aesthetic that’s entirely its own. From the first shot to the last, The Double is visually and aurally oppressive, with benighted visuals akin to Terry Gilliam’s Brazil and the Coen brothers’ Barton Fink, and a sonic backwash that recalls David Lynch’s Eraserhead. Simon diligently goes about his desk job, yet struggles to make an impression in this ominously retro environment, where everything seems to come from a science fiction vision of the future circa 1979. The jobsworth security guard refuses to recognise him, even though he’s worked there for seven years, and even mechanical things like lifts stubbornly refuse to operate when he’s within their locus. Simon admires a pretty colleague, Hannah (Mia Wasikowska) literally from afar – he can see her apartment through a telescope, since she also happens to live in the building opposite his own – but he can barely pluck up the courage to say more than a couple of words to her. Then, one day, a new employee arrives: James, who looks exactly like Simon, and is also played by Jesse Eisenberg. But where Simon is nervous and seems to be trying to shrink back inside his outsized grey suit whenever he’s in company, this newcomer is garrulous, confident and somehow able to make everyone like him within seconds. Worse still, his charisma immediately captures Hannah’s attention. Ayoade’s film is a magnificent observation of what it means to feel out of step with the world, whether you’re a teenager or an adult. It captures the frustration of being trapped in a mind that simply won’t function as it should in polite company, that desperately wants to be liked and accepted, but simply doesn’t give out the right responses. In his dual role, Eisenberg is superb. So much of his performance’s strength comes from the subtle modulations of his body language; Simon is hunched and stiff, as though he’s constantly recoiling from something. James, meanwhile, is upright and almost aggressively proud, his grand statements and snappy responses the complete opposite to Simon’s reticent stammerings. “A person should amount to something and not float around the Earth like a ghost,” runs a vital, desperately poignant line from the film. As a surreal portrait of alienation, The Double is almost flawless. Superbly shot and powerfully acted, it’s a Fight Club for the socially awkward. Only two films into his career, Aoyade has established himself as a unique talent in British filmmaking. The Double is out in UK cinemas on the 4th April. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.