Spider

Year of release : 2002

 

Run time : 1h39min

 

Genre : Psychological Thriller / Drama

 

Cast : Ralph Fiennes, Miranda Richardson, Gabriel Byrne

 

Director : David Cronenberg

 

 

The movie is based on the 1990 book of the same name by Patrick McGrath, who also wrote the script.

 

Dennis,also known as Spider,because of his love for spiders, is a man who has just been released from the mental institution. He joins a halfway house run with an iron fist by Mrs. Wilkinson.

 

After settling in,he slips into his childhood memories,and we see the events unfold as if we were there,through Spider's eyes,who writes in his journal the lines said by his parents as they happened.

 

Spider was very close to his mother,and didn't quite like his father,as he believed him to have cheated on his mother. That until he finds her wearing -decent- lingerie in the bedroom,asking him,when caught, if he thinks his father would like it.

Women take his mother's face,and he is certain his father k!lled his mother and replaced her with a prostitute who looks just like her,lying to him it's his mother.

 

He starts concocting a plan to k!ll her through a web-like rope design spread across the house,connected to the oven gas pipe.

 

I was afraid to watch this movie,as I know David Cronenberg movies are quite dark,dealing with people with disorders on the fringe of the society. I think this is also one of those movies,although,not on the nose,but from what the movie shows us, Spider might have had unhealthy feelings for his mother.

 

Now,what I liked about the movie, I liked how Spider is in his own memories as a grown man,watching,and writing,as if he's just one of the people in the scene.

I liked how the broken window of the mental institution created a spider web,when put back together.

 

In the first scene of the movie,you can actually see the extras getting out of the way of the camera...which I found funny.

 

The actors were all great,especially Ralph Fiennes who has to portray this schizophrenic man,with his quirks and long silences,who's state of mind and feelings must be guessed,and Miranda Richardson,who had to play quite a few characters,and had to change personalities.

 

The movie was most of the time silent ,and every once in a while the soundtrack,composed by Howard Shore, kicked in.

 

The movie didn't bore me, but it's not a movie I'd watch again.

 

Viewer discretion is advised,as the movie deals with adult matters in certain scenes.

 

Spider is streaming on Mubi, and is for rent / sale on Amazon Video and Apple Tv.

 

Rating : Worth a watch !