I just watched this for the second time, and I'm left a bit confused. I got that the mentally ill person is "Spider", only all grown up. I understand that when he and the child Spider ar in a scene together, It's merely him as an adult, remembering parts of his childhood. I also understand (possibly wrongly though), that HE killed his mother by the whole stove gas scene. What I didn't get was the parts about kis father killing his mother and burying her, and all the things surrounding the supposed step-mom. Why did he kill his mother? I'm thouroughly confused.
I like Cronenberg's movies, but this one just seems like it's close enought to reality that is should make total sense (unlike other Cronenberg movies), but it still isn't completely clear, or even clear enough for a whole story to be understood. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks, Greg.
There are documented cases in which people believe that a person they know has been replaced by a duplicate. They can see and recognize them, but their brain tells them it is not them. Here it is: Capgras delusion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capgras_delusion). A good book on this and similar phenomena is V.S. Ramachandran's Phantoms in the Brain.
It should be noted that Spider is also schizophrenic. I took the scene where the father killed the mother and buried her as the actual psychotic break, after which Spider's mind is truly broken. He now sees his mother as an imposter, in this case a stepmother, and views everything she does in a negative light. His mother is still his actual mother, and not the evil stepmother; however he sees her behavior this way and as she grows increasingly exasperated with his behavior (he's crazy), it forms a feedback loop increasing Spider's mistaken belief.
An understated movie from often over-the-top Cronenberg. Perhaps too understated. I think it probably most effectively communicates the sadness and despair of being insane. It's not fun and glamorous like a movie, just baffling and often terrifying. If you liked Spider, I would recommend Clean, Shaven, another harrowing, yet realistic look at schizophrenia.
Now I understand it a bit better, I'll haveto watch it again with that in mind. I was trying to piece it together the opposite way, , thinking he really killed his STEPMOTHER, and the illness made him think it turned out to be his real mother.
I can tell you, from working in a prison, in a state where there is no such thing as a plea of "guilty by reason of insanity or mental defunct", mental illness is NOTHING like what hollywood usually makes it out to be.