Susan Granger’s review of “Spider” (Sony Pictures Classics)
Director David Cronenberg, whose previous films include “The Fly,” “Dead Ringers,” “Videodrome” and “EeXistenZ,” takes a different turn with this ponderous, existential examination of mental illness. Ralph Fiennes plays Dennis Cleg, a schizophrenic who, after spending 20 years in a mental institution, is released to a halfway house in London under the stern supervision of Mrs. Wilkinson (Lynn Redgrave). Nicknamed Spider because he constructs real and metaphorical webs, he’s a muttering paranoid who wears four shirts in layers and scribbles illegibly in a notebook that he carefully hides under the carpet in his room. Venturing out each day, he furtively explores the drab East End neighborhood where he grew up and, as jumbled memories flood back, he becomes increasingly more confused and disoriented. Writer Patrick McGrath has concocted a clever but contrived concept steeped in the complex Freudian mother/whore conundrum as the delusional Spider becomes an observer of the stark scenes and traumas that tormented his childhood, particularly the interaction between his parents (Miranda Richardson, Gabriel Byrne). What’s real and what isn’t? That’s Spider’s shadowy dilemma as well as the audience’s as various perceptions are confronted. This is essentially a weird, somber acting exercise for Ralph Fiennes (“The English Patient”) who delivers an impressive performance, delivered primarily in facial pantomime since his speech is garbled. Despite Peter Suschitzky’s impressive camera work and Howard Shore’s score, tedium prevails, amplified by the methodical pacing and heavy-handed symbolism. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Spider” is an enigmatic, bizarre yet boring 4. While admirable, this is not a film I would recommend.
