Can space define our relationships? It’s a concept that directors Ramon and Silvan Zürcher investigate in their new film “The Girl and the Spider.” Set around the confines of a cramped apartment, the dwelling becomes a central character as important as the roommates — and possibly former lovers — who inhabit it. In the film, Lisa (Liliane Amuat) is about to move out but not before dealing with the peculiar qualities of Mara (Henriette Confurius). What unfolds devolves slowly and deliberately among the uneasy accommodations.
The 2021 Berlinale winner for Best Director, ‘Spider’ also had successful showings at the Toronto International Film Festival and New York Film Festival last year. It marks another critically heralded project for the Zürcher brothers. Ramon Zürcher, with brother Silvan as producer, helmed as well as wrote 2013’s “The Strange Little Cat.” Much like ‘Spider,’ the focus is on a principal setting that amplifies central themes and connections.
The film’s official synopsis:
In their follow-up to “The Strange Little Cat,” Ramon and Silvan Zürcher compose a poetic panopticon of relationships that circle Mara as her roommate Lisa prepares to move out of their apartment. As furniture is moved, walls are painted and day turns to night, secret longings rise to the surface and coalesce around the roommates and an ever-expanding cast of characters–both human and non-human. “The Girl and the Spider” is the second installment of a trilogy about human togetherness. A ballad about the need for closeness and the pain of separation.
A pair of roommates find strange revelations and unexpected consequences in “The Girl and the Spider.” The film debuts April 8 at New York’s Film at Lincoln Center and Metrograph before opening at Los Angeles’ Laemmle Royal on April 15. Other theaters and cities are expected to be announced later. Watch the trailer below.