DOPPELGÄNGERS³ (Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stépanian, 2025)
The Earth is dying. Is it too late to save our planet, or must we look beyond the sky for our future home? And if we must, what does that mean for us as a species?
This is what Doppelgängers³ dares to explore in a completely unique look at climate change. Under the lens of everything from feminism to science to politics to history to human rights to art, the film takes us down every possible rabbit hole of wondering what our future is, whether on Earth or somewhere else…
The space age is upon us, with tech billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos tiring of polluting Earth, and turning to space. They plan to use other planets, and possibly our Moon, to build things using processes that pollute Earth, in the name of global warming. But is this the solution for global warming, or is this a problem resurfacing? Are we doomed to repeat the mistakes of our past? Doppelgängers³ names this as space-colonialism, rather than an almighty solution to the issues causing global warming, and examines what the effects of this could possibly be.
While born in France, director Nelly Ben Hayoun, has her roots in Armenia and Algeria, two countries that faced devastation and genocide at the hands of colonialism. Thus lies the framing to try and answer the moral question of space-colonialism. Is it the same as the colonialism we have witnessed on Earth?To answer the question, the film explores the idea of intergenerational trauma, a term we are all too familiar with here in Belfast. In the most simple terms, it means that the trauma our ancestors felt at the hand of colonialism, is built into our DNA, and that we still feel it today. So how does this apply to space? Doppelgängers³ presents it as a way to guide our future, something that we must study to make sure it never happens again. Perhaps space is the perfect place to start over?
The film presents the idea that when we do make it to space, if we have to, we should not and will not go as separate countries, but as one united species. This could end colonialism forever, one, united, interplanetary group. Is it as simple as that? Obviously not, this is a film of problems and questions, and when one is answered, a new series of questions are asked, in this case; is there space for everyone in this new society? And what does this new society look like?
One answer is given by a historian, who claims that on Earth our imaginations are constricted by rules and societal pressure, but in space, or on the Moon we could be truly free, not bound by what we know on Earth. The historian gives the example of everyone being naked, and to try and experience what this future could be like, our director has him roll her up in a carpet, something that would never typically be done on Earth. As he rolls her up, his wife tells him to stop, perfectly illustrating the point of societal pressure, however silly this moment may seem.
This scene perfectly encapsulates the spirit of the film, while these problems are very real, and very serious, when it boils down to it, they are silly at heart. Maybe to solve them, we have to let their silly side flow free. Climate change is a tough issue, and it’s hard to get people to listen and to actually care. Doppelgängers³ is the complete opposite, a fun, exciting, different way of looking at the issue, and of working on a solution.
The film doesn’t just present us as the audience ideas, questions and answers, but in fact brings us along, showing us all aspects of production, the bad moments and the good. When the actual doppelgängers within the film struggle while acting out a space exploration, we are there with them, the moment perfectly revealing that working for our future wont be easy, but if Earth keeps going the way it is, we have no other option. The film also doesn’t make our mind up for us. These are hard questions with even harder answers, not everything can be resolved in the film, as it can’t be in reality, we’ll just have to wait and see what the future holds… As long as the future is close to what we discovered in this film, a place where everyone can be free and welcome, I’ll be happy.
