Synopsis
Lisa is moving. Upheaval all around: Her mother flirts with a handyman. An eccentric woman seems to be preparing for a glamorous event, a family next door returns from vacation, and a girl documents the adventurous day. As boxes are transported, walls painted white, and furniture is assembled, underlying problems in need of fixing are revealed, a to-do list expands, and desires and needs flair up.
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Cast
- Henriette ConfuriusMara
- Liliane AmuatLisa
- Ursina LardiAstrid
- Flurin GigerJan
- André HennickeJurek
- Ivan GeorgievMarkus
- Dagna Litzenberger-VinetKerstin
- Lea DraegerNora
- Sabine TimoteoKaren
- Birte SchnöinkMaid
Recommendations
- 100
The New York Times
The film demands and rewards repeat viewings; it’s different, and more entrancing, every time. - 91
The Film Stage
The Girl and the Spider’s lovely concluding shot visualizes this fading relationship, and stands as the filmmakers’ final statement on the fleeting nature of love in all its forms. It is both bitter and sweet. So is this beautiful film. - 90
Los Angeles Times
Unassumingly electrifying and amusingly elusive, this modern-day fable focuses on the marks we leave behind in others when paths diverge and physical distance grows. - 90
The Hollywood Reporter
Unlike Mara, the writer-directors of The Girl and the Spider can shape and control their story. They orchestrate a closing sequence of high-impact lyricism, bringing their tale of the mystery-infused quotidian to a shimmering, open-ended conclusion. - 83
IndieWire
This is an odd film of poetic abstractions and ellipses, but consistently fascinating in its unrepentant coyness. - 80
Variety
Few directors could get away with giving audiences so little context or plot, but the Zürchers succeed in piquing our curiosity, which is all one really needs to sustain a film. - 75
The A.V. Club
It pays off in a work of gorgeous stylistic precision where cautious glances and wistful anecdotes melt together to form a melancholy arthouse jewel about the tearing down of one woman’s identity. - 75
RogerEbert.com
My own taste runs to different modes of poetic cinema, but I credit The Girl and the Spider for the seemingly paradoxical clarity of its mysterious vision.
