Die Brut (1979)
11KDie Brut: Directed by David Cronenberg. With Oliver Reed, Samantha Eggar, Art Hindle, Henry Beckman. A man tries to uncover an unconventional psychologist’s therapy techniques on his institutionalized wife, amidst a series of brutal murders.
“The Brood is undoubtedly the most personal movie Cronenberg ever made : we all know the film describes Cronenbergu0026#39;s vision of his own divorce (and the custody of his daughter Cassandra) ; at that time, his then-wife belonged to what he thought was a cult and he did kidnap his own daughter in order to protect her. Thus The Brood is full of rage, vengeance and death wish It is a truly frightening story and, in its own way, a candid vision of oneu0026#39;s personal tragedy. It seems to be a tale from the Grimm brothers, and, at the same time, a reflection on the powerful link between body and spirit. The script is surprisingly complex and rich, even if, in the end, there is definitely something childish in the movie, but in a positive way: the childish belief that u0026quot;thoughts can killu0026quot; only tempered by the final sequence, when we understand that this little girl, so cruelly abused, will eventually reproduce what her mother developed. The image of this mother (Samantha Eggar at her best, revealing her tortured body that evokes a Roman goddess) is one of the most terrifying one in world cinema. The Brood is a key to understand one of the Cronenbergu0026#39;s major themes: the uncanny How what is closest to us, family, mother, grandparents, might suddenly become the ultimate horror. What frightens us is not outlandish or alien, on the contrary, itu0026#39;s always part of our intimate universe (as in Videodrome).”
