What Does The Ending Of Enemy Really Mean?

4. Relationships Are Dictatorships

Though there are plenty of theories online about how Enemy is a metaphor for living under a totalitarian state, in more abundant terms it feels like the film is drawing parallels between global politics and relationship politics.

When Adam is lecturing at the university early on, he says, "Control. It's all about control", and goes on to state that dictatorships maintain control by "[censoring] any means of individual expression."

Minutes later, Adam repeats this speech at another lecture, but this time Villeneuve intercuts it with scenes of Adam having sex and hanging out with Mary, as if to deem this Adam's "freedom of expression". Anthony's married life with a pregnant wife, Helen, meanwhile, is the dictatorial means of controlling his life.

To that end, it's fair to surmise that Adam's depression and subsequent development of a split personality comes down to his desire for greater freedom, a disdain for control and a fear of one thing above all else...