David Cronenberg
Spider

I, Spider.

The nickname was given to me by my mother for my ability to create intricate webs with ropes. You know, it's one of my passions. My other passion is watching Mom as she dresses, admires herself in the mirror, and cooks delicious dishes for me.

Unfortunately, there's my father. Yes, unfortunately. He's one of those "belt-whipping" dads, always ready to punish you if you do something he doesn't like. Always ready to jump to the nearest bar where he has a fixed appointment with a pint of beer. But I can accept everything except when he tries to kiss Mom. It's clear she can't stand his kisses.

Dad is also quite the womanizer. Now he's infatuated with this peroxide blonde, a low-class whore. It doesn't matter that if it weren't for the hair, she'd look identical to Mom, she's still a whore.

So, one evening, after my mother had gone out yet again to find him and uncover his shenanigans, that scoundrel comes home with the blonde tart, who lies in bed on Mom's side. And there's no news of Mom. The blonde tries, I say tries, to behave like her, including the attempt to cook me good things, but there's only one Mom...

Hiding behind a finger is difficult, imagine what it might be like to hide behind a thread. But if you place thread next to thread and another, if you try to cross them, well then, you'll get a thick web where you can hide and wait.

Because sometimes the only thing left is waiting...

A spider remains there, still on its web and waits...

My thoughts, my hands are threads...

Extracted from the novel by Patrick McGrath (author of bestsellers like Asylum and Spider), adapted by the same writer, in this film Cronenberg abandons bodily metamorphoses to focus his perversions on intricate mental mechanisms.

Dennis "Spider" Cleg (Ralph Fiennes), released from the asylum, with only a suitcase, finds accommodation at a boarding house run by a strict hag. Thus begins a journey into his childhood memories: the Oedipal complex towards his mother (Miranda Richardson), the conflicted relationship with his father (Gabriel Byrne), the doubts about her actual disappearance.

In this film, you won't find crackling flesh and obscene transformations of it, but long silences, mutterings, unreasonable pauses. Everything is presented from the point of view of a schizophrenic mind, with its precarious balances, continuous overturning of the perception of reality. Cronenberg does not seek to find a logical thread in the alternating sequences, leaving the viewer with the feeling of being in Spider's mental web firsthand.

The director places a camera in the mind of the sick and shows their thoughts. As a creator of visions, he lets them arise independently, first in the mind of the unfortunate protagonist, then in that of the viewer. The Richardson's performance is splendid, in the triple role of the mother, the prostitute, and the landlady. Fiennes also offers a decent performance, especially delving into the character with his facial expressions.

Ultimately, a film recommended for those who love getting trapped in the web suspended between dream and reality.