History Film / Spider2002

* TheEndingChangesEverything

* FlashBack: See PensieveFlashback

->''"Mr. Cleg... How many shirts are you wearing? One, two, three... Four! Now really, is this absolutely necessary?"''
->''"Oh indeed it is, Madam. Clothes maketh the man; and the less there is of the man, the more the need for the clothes."''

''Spider'' is a 2002 psychological thriller from Creator/DavidCronenberg starring Creator/RalphFiennes, Creator/GabrielByrne and Creator/MirandaRichardson, [[TheFilmOfTheBook based on a book/screenplay]] by Patrick [=McGrath=].

* [[AndThatLittleGirlWasMe And That Little Boy Was Me]]: That we're seeing a FlashBack isn't made apparent until we see Adult Spider repeat and eventually pre-empt Boy Spider's lines.

* WindmillCrusader

* RummageSaleReject: Adult Spider appears to wear his entire wardrobe at the same time; several pairs of trousers, many shirts and a hulking great shabby overcoat.

* ThereAreNoTherapists: TruthInTelevision to an extent; schizophrenia is still a poorly understood illness, and at the period this film is set Britain was busy releasing mental patients into the public with little or no assistance under its [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Care_in_the_community Care in the Community]] programme.
* ThoroughlyMistakenIdentity
* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness
* UncleanlinessIsNextToUngodliness: Spider, an institutionalized paranoid schizophrenic, has very poor personal hygiene. He also constantly wears at least five layers of clothing which he never seems to change.
* TheUnintelligible: As well as a bad case of the mumbles, [[TheIllegible Mr. Clegg writes constant gibberish in his journal]].

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Spider being afraid of the gas towers, staring at the canal under the bridge and crying in an allotment.

%%* FlashBack: See PensieveFlashback

->''"Mr. Clegg... How many shirts are you wearing? One, two, three... Four! Now really, is this absolutely necessary?"''

It tells the story of a paranoid schizophrenic, the titular Spider (real name Dennis Clegg), who is released from a mental asylum into a halfway house in London. Here he relives his traumatic 1960s childhood as he tries to piece his life back together and come to terms with his madness.

''Spider'' is a 2002 psychological thriller from Creator/DavidCronenberg starring Creator/RalphFiennes, Creator/GabrielByrne and Miranda Richardson, [[TheFilmOfTheBook based on a book/screenplay]] by Patrick [=McGrath=].

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[[caption-width-right:350:"What have you done?"]]

->''"Mr. Clegg... how many shirts are you wearing? One, two, three... four! Now really, is this absolutely necessary?"''

** This might be an inside reference to ''TheFly'', where Creator/JeffGoldblum's character's only clothes are multiple versions of the same suit, but he doesn't wear them all at once.

!!Tropes used in this film include:

* SelfMadeOrphan: [[spoiler: A half-way example. Clegg is horrified to discover that he murdered his mother during one of his hallucinations as a kid. It's the reason he's been institutionalized ever since.]]

* FlashBack: Much of the story is told through Spider's flashbacks... [[UnreliableNarrator even of scenes he couldn't possibly have seen]].

* ActingForTwo: Miranda Richardson plays [[YouALLLookFamiliar three distinctly different roles]], [[MindScrew two of which were played by different actresses earlier in the film]]. Her performances are so distinctly different that many people don't notice the change on the first viewing.

* [[spoiler: SelfMadeOrphan: A half-way example.]]

* DoingItForTheArt[=/=]NoBudget: Most of the actors, as well as the director and producers, deferred their wages so that the film could be made with it's minimal budget of $8m.

* HeyItsThatGuy: [[Film/HarryPotter Voldemort]] is the son of [[TheUsualSuspects Keaton]] and [[{{Blackadder}} Mad Queen Bess]]!