The odyssey of Telemachus, brought to the present day, in the person of a psychiatric patient, in a journey of introspection that is more destructive than sobering. The highlight is Ralph Fiennes who expresses much with few words.

Powerful and tragic story, kept me processing it for days after I watched the movie. Pity that intro on RT is a spoiler.

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.

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.

A fiftysomething man endeavours to reconstruct his past.

As disturbingly depressing as it's meant to have been

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.

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.

This doesn't feel like your typical David Cronenberg film (he's known for surreal body horror films, Viggo Mortensen crime thrillers, and most recently impenetrably cold and detached Robert Pattinson arthouse flicks). This psychological thriller feels like a mix between Villeneuve's "Enemy" and the extremely underrated "Possum" (It's free with ads on Vudu, I highly suggest you watch it now. I can't stop nerding out over that film.) With a wonderful cast that includes Ralph Fiennes and Gabriel Byrne turning in strong performances, and a puzzle of a narrative that you need to piece together (wish the ending was more ambiguous on that front, leaving us to put it together ourselves), this is yet another highly underrated film partly because of how impossible it is to watch. I couldn't find a bluray, nor could I find it on VOD, so I settled for a used DVD just to SEE the thing! It's still flawed, and the conclusion is predictable once you've put it all together and a couple steps removed of how far I thought it should've gone, but that's not a reason to avoid the film if you can see it. I recommend it. 8.5/10

Esta película la vimos y la analizamos en la universidad, es un excelente ejemplo para entender las teorías de Melanie Klein. Además la actuación de Ralph es espectacular.

There just wasn't a whole heck of a lot to like here.

Awesomely executed movie about a traumatized person, the acting is superb, the story is great and the dark & gloom are only adding to this

David Cronenberg forebodingly twines a web of psychological detriment and intrigue of a man with Capgras delusion from British gothic fictionist Patrick McGrath's adaptation of his own novel.

Odd, drab, & depressing, this intelligently written & expertly directed psychological mystery laid out the right kinds of clues & offered interesting possibilities of answers; uncomfortably engrossing & worthwhile.

Probably one of the most boring film, I have ever seen. I was hoping it would end within 10 minutes starting. The themes and ideas of the story may have been interesting if I had been interested in the story at that point. The movie never grabbed me into this world or into the story. So for this being one of the worst films that I have seen, and for the trailer being better than the movie, thats why the 2 star rating for the trailer, for the movie itself is simply a 1 star rating, that being said I give " Spider " a D.

this is the film where cronenburg changed his style from the body horror to the bland and normal. while this movie is not normal, it is boring

I used to love Cronenberg but at some point I decided we needed to take a break. Based on the slow, obvious, tedious Spider, I was totally right. Miranda Richardson is great, though.

Well acted and nicely paved, the film only loses a star due to a predictable twist.

Spider may be the biggest departure from a style which defined Cronenberg's career, that does not mean however it's existence isn't welcomed within his canon of achievements. Spider actually surpasses many of Cronenberg's and indeed many other film makers efforts, bringing to life a patient and layered performance based drama, which packs as much weight as it does punches. Spider is forced into confinement due to his deeply disturbed nature, over time he is released on the agreement he becomes a resident of a local east end half way house, a place which holds many memories for the troubled man. Once relocated, Spider retraces the footsteps of his troubled past, a drunk father and a selection of uninspiring mother figures, to unravel the reason for his mental instability. It's a slow and complex affair, forcing impatient viewers to really commit in order to understand the whole affair. Cronenberg's style works surprisingly well within the confines of an English period piece, with bold character work and subtle tension that broods throughout the increasing drama of the piece. It's his reserve here which really stands out, Cronenberg is well known for a visceral and assaulting style, and its a welcomed breath of fresh air to see him tackle something so basic. The cast are a delight to watch, Ralph Fiennes gives a career defining performance as Spider, with Miranda Richardson doubling up as the influencial women in his life. Richardson does such a dynamic job, she comes close to stealing the show. Gabriel Byrne also impresses. Spider has a wealth of attributes, but when all is said and done it never reaches quite the height of expectation or indeed gives us a solid and satisfying conclusion. Its a strong piece, surprising and filled with excellent performance, Cronenberg proves he can master a different style and Howard Shore's score is infectious, but when all is said and done, you wont be rushing back to witness its charm for quite some time.

Deep into the spiderweb of psychology, Cronenberg delivers a feature somewhat unordinary to his kind. Finnes plays a grown up, trapped in his mind as a kid, discovering his hidden and sinister past, and the events assumingly led this his now schizofrenic behavior. Not for the common watcher or the unpatient.