He unpacks his suitcase, which is mostly filled with wires and twine and a secret notepad which he immediately hides under the carpet. The next day at breakfast he chats with housemate Terrance...
The housemaster (Lynn Redgrave ) is the first of several dominant female characters which are central to the film's Oedipal themes. While the film ostensibly takes place in the present (the 90s?), everything about it feels trapped in time. This, we'll soon learn, is intentional. I've made this point before, but the restraint Cronenberg has embodied in his storytelling during this run has been impressive and in stark contrast to the pulpy, exposition-heavy nature of his more famous early period work. He lets scenes breathe and he's even quite fine with nothing happening at all, like when Cleg simply stands in a field with two other guys holding a shovel...
Cleg is then seen putting together a puzzle at the house and his work is admired by Terrance...
This is first of several allusions to puzzles and, eventually, impossible ones or puzzles with missing pieces, which the film itself seems to be; a purposeful choice, mind you, that clearly seems to be evoking and embodying the spirit of Cleg's affliction.
Cleg pulls out his secret pad and begins to transcribe gibberish notes, a kind of mad scribble language occasionally touching on foreign glyphs and marks...
This obsessive practice, we learn, is a bridge into his past, as he seems to be transcribing memories in his own personal language. And we are quickly whisked away into 1950s London where Cleg sees himself as a boy through the window of his childhood home...
From this point forward, the bulk of the film takes place in this dreamy between-world, where Cleg — nicknamed Spider by his mother — recalls events both real and possibly imagined, as his former self is not always a participant in the scenes. We see an unhappy home life where his mum (Miranda Richardson) and Bill, his dad (Gabriel Byrne), slog through the day-to-day with copious amounts of alcohol. Eventually, dad — a plumber — begins a flirtation and then an affair with a local 'tart' named Yvonne (also played by Richardson) and some light plumbing double entendre ensues as Spider looks on creepily...
Richardson is so good in this dual role that I — honest to God — did not think this was the same actor (although, to be fair, the first appearance of Yvonne IS a different actor, creating another layer of confusion and purposeful dissonance). And when she gives Bill an H.J. under a bridge, a memory that couldn't possibly have belonged to Spider, it's Spider we see zipping up after she flicks his semen into the river...
Spider is nicknamed Spider for a reason. And that reason is the massive spiderwebs he likes to build in his room...
Back at the boarding house, he can't quite get the final puzzle piece into so place and he freaks the fuck out...
Terrance tries to calm him down outside. It could be a reach here, but this character almost feels like a third iteration of Cleg/Spider. Perhaps an indication that, while he never fully heals, he improves and is able to find some solace in life down the line.
Later, Spider thinks he's smelling gas in his room. There is an ever lurking menace of a giant factory just outside his window, and all the surrounding areas, providing tremendously dour vibes throughout. I'm struck by just how different this film felt in comparison to the rest and that's really been one of the defining elements of this brilliant run: from the cold freeways of Crash's Los Angeles to the flashy techno-dystopia of eXistenZ to this bleak English period piece. Tonally and visually, they are all so unique.
We then get a little closer look at what's he been scribbling in that notepad...
We're then treated to THE inciting incident: the murder of Spider's mother at the hands of his father. She catches him screwing Yvonne in the shed and he bashes her head in with a shovel...
A gleeful Yvonne laughs as Bill buries her in the garden and immediately brings her back home to serve as his new wife and Spider's new mother.
We then get our first and only flashback to Spider in the mental institute. After another inmate shatters a window and threatens to kill themselves, he sneakily takes one of the shards. And this is the closest we get to body horror...
In an act of strength and growth, Spider returns the shard to the doctor who had been strangely and painstakingly recreating the windowpane like a, you guessed it, puzzle...
In this case, fitting the final piece into place is not only cathartic, it has its rewards (Spider's release into society). Although we'll come soon to see that the greater puzzle is only getting more difficult to complete.
Back in his memories, Spider's new mom secretly admits to the murder, while his dad is frustrated and angered that his son can't accept this mother for who she really is. And when everything feels like it couldn't get any murkier, he starts seeing Yvonne as the housemaster in the present when she bursts into discover his new spiderweb...
Later that night, after stealing a hammer and a screwdriver, he sneaks into her room and hovers over her. The menace and suspense is enormous...
Just lingering on that for over a minute is expert filmmaking. Back in the past, child Spider has concocted his most elaborate web yet: one that will switch on the gas from the oven and poison his fake-mom as she sleeps...
But when dad pulls her limp body from the house, it isn't Yvonne at all. It's his original mother...
The film ends with an adult Spider being driven back to the asylum, and far more questions left than answered. To say nothing of its myriad themes, Spider, on the surface, is a story told from the perspective of a man with schizophrenia: the ultimate unreliable narrator. It doesn't feel like you're supposed to walk away making much sense of it on the narrative level because the narrative itself has been filtered through the mind of this sick man (much like the invented language he furiously transcribes).
This has been a really thrilling and exciting ride the last few installments and I'm very glad I decided to engage with the Cronenberg filmography in this manner. The next couple are ones I've seen before, but it's been awhile. It will be fun to see where all of this goes.
𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 16th 𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝙲𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚗𝚋𝚞𝚛𝚐 – 𝚖𝚢 𝚌𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚘𝚕𝚘𝚐𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕 𝚠𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑/𝚛𝚎𝚠𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑 𝚘𝚏 𝙳𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚍 𝙲𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚗𝚋𝚎𝚛𝚐'𝚜 𝚏𝚒𝚕𝚖𝚘𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚙𝚑𝚢. 𝙲𝚕𝚒𝚌𝚔 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚏𝚞𝚕𝚕 𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎...
CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ EPISODE 534 - (YOU ARE HERE) - EPISODE 536 ⫸
⫷ EPISODE 534 - (YOU ARE HERE) - EPISODE 536 ⫸
Spider is a 2002 psychological thriller film produced and directed by David Cronenberg and based on the 1990 novel of the same name by Patrick McGrath, who also wrote the screenplay. The film premiered at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. It was released on December 13th, 2002.
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