Literally Speaking: Spider
David Cronenberg’s films have often been referred to as “body horror” but in Spider it’s the mind that the Canadian director focuses on. This is no horror film though, this is social commentary - care in the community Cronenberg style.
Dennis Cleg arrives at a halfway house at the start of the film. Where he’s come from we don’t learn until later but it’s clear from the start that something isn’t quite right about Dennis. He’s schizophrenic and has been institutionalised for many years but has just been released into society. He sleeps at the halfway house but is free to wander the London streets, revisiting places he’s not seen since childhood.
We spend much of the film inside Dennis’ (nicknamed Spider by his mother) mind, as he relives moments from his childhood. Just how true these recollections are isn’t clear. In much the same way he did with Videodrome, Cronenberg keeps the viewer unsure of what is real and what’s a figment of Dennis’ disturbed mind.
There are two key performances in the film - Miranda Richardson’s and Ralph Fiennes’. Actually that’s not really true, Richardson alone gives three performances, playing Dennis’ Mother, his Father’s lover and as Dennis grip on reality becomes ever more unglued, Mrs Wilkinson the woman responsible for the halfway house and its residents. It’s an impressive display with the mother/lover characters at the centre of Dennis’ mental meltdown.
Giving a performance that is almost monosyllabic, Fiennes is simply incredible. There’s an honest truthfulness about his portrayal that’s a world away from Hollywood blockbusters like Rain Man and A Beautiful Mind. One can only guess how much time he spent preparing for the role but it was worth every minute. That he didn’t receive an Oscar nomination, given the Academy’s love of actors portraying disabilities, is something of a surprise but perhaps he was a little too real for them.
Cronenberg’s film shows us just how fragile the human psyche is. It’s at times creepy, at others intensely moving but it’s always intelligent. I’ve been a Cronenberg fan since I first watched Shivers as a teenager but for some reason I’d never got around to watching this until now. While not the director’s best work it is a remarkable film. It’s not the sort of movie you’ll be watching on a lazy Sunday afternoon and I can’t see myself going back to it for awhile. If you’re in the mood for a thought provoking though drama you could do far worse than check it out.
[...] seem to have much in common no doubt slowing it down some, but it finally produced the answer – Spider. “What could David Cronenberg’s drama about a schizophrenic man have in common with A Tale of [...]
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