Spider

R

Released Feb 28, 2003

1 hr. 38 min.

Mystery & Thriller

Drama

List

85%

139 Reviews

Tomatometer

68%

10,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Released after decades in a sanitarium, schizophrenic Dennis "Spider" Cleg (Ralph Fiennes) moves into Mrs. Wilkinson's (Lynn Redgrave) halfway house and befriends a fellow resident, Terrence (John Neville), before retreating into personal writing and the darkness of his own haunted mind. Spider struggles to decipher murky memories of a childhood trauma involving his abusive father (Gabriel Byrne), his murdered mother (Miranda Richardson), and a prostitute who may have replaced her.

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Critics Consensus

Ralph Fiennes is brilliant in this accomplished and haunting David Cronenberg film.

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David W

While difficult to follow at first and leaving the audience with too many unanswered questions for my liking, Spider does offer interesting and compelling filmmaking with the audience piecing together the story alongside the protagonist. However, the opacity is too much for my taste. I would only watch this again if there were nothing better to choose from.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/24/24

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Farah R

Despite Ralph Fiennes' exquisite performance and the shocking plot twist ending, Spider is painstakingly slow and dull. I'm not sure its pros outweigh the cons.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

08/17/23

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colin m

A fiftysomething man endeavours to reconstruct his past.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

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Audience Member

As disturbingly depressing as it's meant to have been

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Dennis Cleg (Ralph Fiennes), a schizophrenic man who has just been released from a mental institution. He is given a room in a halfway house catering to mentally disturbed people, ran by an unrelenting landlady, Mrs. Wilkinson. While in his new abode, he starts piecing together in his memory an apparently fateful childhood event... Rotten Tomatoes critical consensus reads, "Ralph Fiennes is brilliant in this accomplished and haunting David Cronenberg film." Roger Ebert gave the film 3/4 stars, writing, "The details of the film and of the performances are meticulously realized; there is a reward in seeing artists working so well. But the story has no entry or exit, and is cold, sad and hopeless. Afterward, I feel more admiration than gratitude." Nev Pierce from the BBC awarded the film 3/5 stars, calling it "dour, thoughtful, and oppressive". Stephen Holden from New York Times praised the film, calling it "as harrowing a portrait of one man's tormented isolation as the commercial cinema has produced." Peter Travers of The Rolling Stone awarded the film 3.5 out of 4 stars, writing, "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. That's what makes Cronenberg a world-class provocateur: His movie gets under your skin." Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian rated the film 4/5 stars, calling it " an intensely controlled, beautifully designed and fascinatingly acted account of Patrick McGrath's original novel". Mike Clark from USA Today awarded the film 3/4 stars, commending the film's direction, cinematography, and performances, while also stating that it was not particularly "sizzling" as in his previous films The Fly and eXistenZ. This psychological thriller produced and directed by David Cronenberg and based on the 1990 novel of the same name by Patrick McGrath, is a bit different from Cronenberg´s "normal" work. It´s a descend into schizophrenia and that haunting state of mind. The storyline is tragic and difficult and we get great performances specifically from Ralph Fiennes. The film premiered at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival and enjoyed some media buzz; however, it was released in only a few cinemas at the year's end by distributor Sony Pictures Classics. Nonetheless, the film enjoyed much acclaim by critics and especially by Cronenberg enthusiasts. The film garnered a Best Director Award at the Canadian Genie Awards. The stars of the film, Ralph Fiennes and particularly Miranda Richardson, received several awards for their work in the film. Trivia: Spider's difficulty with his family history is a real psychological syndrome called the Capgras delusion. Persons afflicted with the syndrome are convinced that a person close to them has been replaced by an identical-looking impostor.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/21/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Ralph Fiennes delivers one of the best performances I've ever seen on film. this is a movie which actually requires the audience to think, which is too rarely the case.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/13/23

Full Review

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David Cronenberg

Director

Ralph Fiennes

Spider

Miranda Richardson

Mrs. Cleg

Gabriel Byrne

Bill Cleg

Bradley Hall

Boy Spider

Lynn Redgrave

Mrs. Wilkinson

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Barbara Ellen

Times (UK)

The film's slow, plodding pace relies too much on strong performances and grubby splashes of "atmosphere" rather than genuine emotion and plot.

Jan 3, 2018

Full Review

Empire Magazine

Rated: 3/5

Dec 30, 2006

Full Review

Newsday

Rated: 3.5/4

May 28, 2003

Full Review

Bill Bria

Vague Visages

Cronenberg’s more internalized era doesn’t skimp on the devastating effects of self-destruction — in fact, it arguably finds them even more pronounced.

Jun 15, 2023

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Fiennes delivers an extraordinary performance.

Rated: 3/4

Dec 23, 2022

Full Review

Rob Gonsalves

Rob's Movie Vault

Cronenberg’s most delicately poetic work yet.

Rated: A

Sep 17, 2022

Full Review

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Synopsis

Released after decades in a sanitarium, schizophrenic Dennis "Spider" Cleg (Ralph Fiennes) moves into Mrs. Wilkinson's (Lynn Redgrave) halfway house and befriends a fellow resident, Terrence (John Neville), before retreating into personal writing and the darkness of his own haunted mind. Spider struggles to decipher murky memories of a childhood trauma involving his abusive father (Gabriel Byrne), his murdered mother (Miranda Richardson), and a prostitute who may have replaced her.

Director: David Cronenberg
Executive Producer: Charles Finch, Simon Franks, Zygi Kamasa, Martin Katz, Luc Roeg
Screenwriter: Patrick McGrath, Patrick McGrath, David Cronenberg
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Production Co: Artists Independent Network, CBL
Rating: R (Language|Brief Violence|Sexuality)
Genre: Mystery & Thriller, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 28, 2003, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 1, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $1.6M
Sound Mix: Dolby Stereo, Dolby Digital, Dolby A, Surround, Dolby SR
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

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