*POSSIBLE SPOILERS*
‘Spider’ is a vicarious peek into the mind of a mentally ill Dennis Clegg, played by Ralph Fiennes. Nicknamed Spider by his mother (Miranda Richardson), Dennis has a long-standing history of schizophrenia. Recently released from a mental institution, his new abode is a halfway house in London, where he desperately attempts to recreate the delusional account of his past, and transports us to that realm in his mind.
Based on the novel by Patrick McGrath, this movie opens with the shot of a train pulling into a station, possibly a homage to the Lumiere brothers’ short in 1895. Cronenberg uses the premise of a train station expertly to his advantage with a striking contrast between the hustle-bustle of the quickly departing passengers, against Spider’s sluggish disposition as he climbs down the train, his depiction of a madman spot on – constantly muttering under his breath. His slow shuffle finally takes us to the halfway house he is to live in, and we meet the brusque housekeeper, Mrs. Wilkinson played by Lynn Redgrave. As he roams the derelict neighborhood, he is reminded of his childhood days, and he gradually starts to relive key moments leading to one fateful event. He desperately tries recording every detail in his journal, furiously scribbling in a language illegible to people around him.
Apart from Ralph Fiennes’ haunting depiction of Spider with almost no dialogue, there are quite a few remarkable performances. Miranda Richardson plays both his mother, and his father’s mistress with such divergence that it is difficult to detect that it is the same actress, unless you have already checked the credits. While his mother, Mrs. Clegg is saintly and is attentive to her child; Yvonne, his father’s mistress is vulgar and insensitive. Gabriel Byrne, as his authoritarian father, is equally convincing in both the extremities of his character.
The symbolic aspect of the movie presents Cronenberg at his best, evading body horror in his earlier works, and moving on to explore the horrors of the mind. He creates a Kafka-esque universe where it all begins as well as ends in Spider’s mind. There were numerous hints towards a possible Oedipal Complex that Spider was suffering from, wherein seeing his mother being groped by his father in the garden, or watching her try out a negligee for his father, triggered a switch in his mind to start ‘seeing’ his mother as Yvonne. Gradually, through his eyes, we see Yvonne taking over – his father, the household, the role of his mother, starting with the ‘murder’ of Mrs. Clegg. At this point, adult Spider’s grip on reality is further slackened and he is tormented by visions of Yvonne, in place of Mrs. Wilkinson too. Eventually, he resolves to murder her in her sleep, much the same as he had done years ago with his mother, who he saw as Yvonne. The triple roles of his mother/Yvonne/Mrs. Wilkinson, are an affirmation to his obsession with his mother. The elements of perverseness, a trademark of Cronenberg’s works, is present in the voyeurism that is heightened with an adult Spider watching from the corner, events unfolding in his mind, compelling us to watch helplessly along with him.
‘Spider’ is grim and fascinating, but it does not boast of an incredibly unpredictable climax. Nonetheless, it drives you to try and piece together the events, like in the movie Spider would pore over his jigsaw puzzle. 7.5/10
CineLex 