Dennis Cleg (Ralph Fiennes) was once
a young boy who adored his mother (Miranda Richardson).
Now, a mentally deranged vagrant
in search of a home, peace of mind, and sanity, he thinks back on
his troubling childhood. While most children played
games and made friends, he sat alone in a dingy apartment with only his
mother for company. His days were darkened by the shadow and the temper
of his alcoholic father (Gabriel Byrne), who
gave him the first push towards psychological distress.
As Dennis sorts through these
harsh chapters of his life in the movie Spider, the audience
is challenged to piece together what really happened in
that childhood, and why every woman
Dennis encounters seems to wear his mother's
face.
Spider's director
is a professional at portraying psychological turmoil: David Cronenberg,
the man at the helm of such twisted thrillers as
Dead Ringers,
Crash, and Existenz, has
here taken Patrick McGrath's 1990 novel and filmed a fascinating journey
through the present, the past, and alternate versions of the past warped
by Dennis's confusion. The audience is challenged to separate true
scenes from false ones. In the film, Dennis has just been released from
an asylum—he is half mad, living in a home for struggling mental
patients. In this dark, dank, mildew-colored shambles, he wrestles with
painful memories in solitude.
It is not hard to see why Cronenberg cast Ralph
Fiennes in the lead role: Fiennes has a prominent forehead that looks
like it weighs a ton, swollen with angst and confusion. The rest of the
cast is brilliant as well: Byrne refuses to exaggerate his turn as a
thick-headed drunkard, while Richardson revels in the opportunity to
play the broken mother figure and the vicious mistress. John
Neville, who made such a perfect Baron Munchausen for director Terry
Gilliam, brings much-needed humor to these otherwise morbid scenes.
Unfortunately, the film's slow, toilsome
journey does
not lead to any particularly shocking or interesting revelations. As the
pieces finally begin to form a clear picture, the picture is
disappointingly unspectacular. As a meditation on the fragility of a
child's mind, Spider resonates with truth.
But as a mystery, it's a lot of unpleasant work for the viewer, and
offers a conclusion that will make you say, "Whatever."
Jeffrey's Rating:
B-
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