Spider

4.00
    Spider
    2002

    Synopsis

    A mentally disturbed man takes residence in a halfway house. His mind gradually slips back into the realm created by his illness, where he replays a key part of his childhood.

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    Cast

    • Ralph FiennesSpider
    • Miranda RichardsonYvonne / Mrs. Cleg
    • Gabriel ByrneBill Cleg
    • Lynn RedgraveMrs. Wilkinson
    • John NevilleTerrence
    • Philip CraigJohn
    • Bradley HallSpider Boy
    • Gary ReinekeFreddy
    • Sara StockbridgeGladys
    • Cliff SaundersBob

    Recommendations

    • 90

      Washington Post

      His story is sad, compelling and morbidly, tragically watchable.
    • 90

      Wall Street Journal

      The most elegantly crafted and confidently directed of all his (Cronenberg's) films, it's a calm, chilling portrait of a blighted soul and, just as calmly but quite stunningly, an evocation of the thought processes behind the blight.
    • 88

      Rolling Stone

      What catches us in Spider's web -- besides the indelible performances of Fiennes and Richardson -- is the director's sympathy with this freak man-child who struggles to order his confused memories into a kind of truth.
    • 88

      The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

      This is a rare adaptation where the script (by McGrath himself) heads straight for the novel's horrible essence, reproducing it non-verbally and in an even more concentrated form.
    • 88

      Chicago Tribune

      A shocker for devotees of stylish angst and psychological torment. You'll have to watch it with patience and great attention, but it richly rewards that patience.
    • 80

      Film Threat

      This is the film that "Shine" and A Beautiful Mind could not be, a story about schizophrenia that doesn’t neatly resolve its complex subject matter.
    • 80

      Salon

      It isn't likely to drive anybody out of the theater -- although getting people out of the house to see a meticulous, minimalist study of madness and memory may be another story.
    • 78

      Austin Chronicle

      Cronenberg’s nonlinear narrative is trying at times – it keeps you nearly as off-kilter as the characters, and surely that’s intentional – but as a character piece about madness and stymied dreams, it’s remarkably realistic.

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