Splice (2009): A Movie Review

Spoiler Alert, Spoiler Alert, Spoiler Alert

It is impossible for me to discuss this film as I would like without giving away much of it, including the ending. However, that ending is foreseeable, once the characters have set upon a course of action. There is an inevitability to their fate, a fate to which they inexorably move as the film progresses.

I watched this movie several times (over the years). The first time I saw it, the arc of the tragedy was not clear to me. On subsequent viewings though, the outline of the characters' self-destructive course became clear.

I see the overarching theme--whether it is the writer's intention or not--as one derived from Greek tragedy, specifically Oedipus Rex. When I thought about the movie for a while, several other idea wells contributed to my understanding of the plot: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the Alien franchise, and the movie Mommy Dearest.

Before writing this blog I looked at reviews to see how well received the film had been. One term that kept popping up in reviews was: 'weird', especially weird sex. That may be so, but the sex is no weirder than the sex we find in the film's classic analog, Oedipus Rex.

To recap the plot of this Sophocles tragedy: Laius, King of Thebes, receives a prophecy from the oracle that his own son will kill him. When that son is born, Laius pierces the infant's ankles and instructs a servant to take the child into the wild and leave him to die. The son does not die, but is raised by another king, and is named Oedipus. When Oedipus grows up, he hears a prophecy that he will kill his own father. He leaves home to avoid this fate. On his travels he encounters a man, gets in a scuffle, and kills the man. The man, of course, is Laius, his true father.

All that's left for the prophecy to be fulfilled is for Oedipus to marry his mother. This he does eventually, and the two, unaware of their relationship, have children together.

Here is a Youtube summary of the plot:

The sex in Oedipus Rex is pretty weird, weird enough to make people uncomfortable. Why are they so uncomfortable? Maybe Freud (I'm not a fan) can explain it. According to him, little girls fall in love with their fathers (Electra Complex) and little boys fall in love with their mothers (Oedipus Complex). Here's a clip that explains the Freudian theory better than I have:

In Splice we are offered both the Electra and the Oedipus Complex. This is enabled by a peculiar plot twist.

If we add the hubris of Dr. Frankenstein (assuming the power of gods by giving life to the dead), we come close to summarizing the plot scheme of Splice.

Here's a scene where Frankenstein gives life to the dead:

The Frankenstein aspect of Splice: Two geneticists, Elsa and Clive, live and work together. The couple collaborate on the creation of a unique, living, complex organism. After a mishap, the company that sponsors their research wants to shut down the project. The scientists are ordered to work toward a more practical goal, one that might, for example, increase productivity in the livestock industry.

Elsa and Clive (especially Elsa) will not abandon their project, their ambition. They go underground with their work, and conduct their experiments in secret.

Before long the couple have what they had hoped for: a complex organism, a unique, viable and human-like creature. At this point in the film their doom is sealed. There is no going back.

The organism they have created is a combination of human DNA and DNA from other sources. At the beginning of this creature's existence, Elsa shows an unreasonable attachment to it.

Here is a clip where Elsa displays attachment to the humanoid creature:

Soon, Elsa is referring to the humanoid not as 'it', but as 'she'. The creature gets a name: Dren. It is revealed later in the film that Elsa had contributed her own DNA to be the human component of the creation.

Thus, Dren, the humanoid, is essentially Elsa's offspring--her child. As Clive points out early on, the two geneticists are breaking all the rules. If there are no rules, what are the limits to behavior?

The relationship between the scientists and Dren becomes complicated as she develops rapidly. It seems in a matter of weeks she has become an adolescent and is displaying the rebellious tendencies of an adolescent.

This is where Mommy Dearest elements enter the film. It seems Elsa had a traumatic childhood. As a parent, she acts out what happened to her when she was a child. Although she loves Dren deeply, Elsa is controlling and cruel.

She punishes Dren by humiliating her, tying her down, and maiming her.

Here is the scene where Dren rebels:

Clive finds the brutalized Dren, tied down, and is sympathetic. They form a connection. Dren tries to seduce Clive, and succeeds. This is where the Electra complex kicks in. The 'daughter' has attacked the mother, and is seducing the father. Here is a clip.

It's obvious by now that Elsa and Clive's 'experiment' has spiraled out of control. Things come to a head very quickly. Representatives from the laboratory show up. Dren, who has sprouted wings and has become enormous, swoops downs and kills two people. Here's the clip:

It turns out that not only can Dren fly, but she is also amphibious. I must admit, the filmmakers lose me with all these superhuman powers. That's not even the most of it. More startling perhaps is that Dren changes gender. 'She' becomes 'he'.

Dren kills Clive, and mates with her mother--by raping her.

So far, I've got Oedipus Rex, Frankenstein, and Mommy Dearest worked into the plot of the movie. What about Alien?

Clive is dead. Elsa is carrying a baby apparently conceived when Dren raped her. Her employer, the research laboratory director, explains the economic significance of this fetus. "We will be filing patents for years", she says to the quite expectant Elsa.

This scene may be the most monstrous in the film, and it calls to mind a scene in Alien. Ash, the traitorous android, reveals that the company sponsoring the expedition to space always intended to bring home the xenomorph, the murderous alien. No other consideration existed, no life was to be spared, in pursuance of this financial goal.

Here is the scene from Alien where Ash explains his mission.

Conclusion
I know I've taken a rather unusual approach to reviewing this film. I could have thought about Splice as just a weird movie, a bit of science fiction fluff. It is more than that, though. The director, Vincenzo Natalie, wanted to make a movie about genetic experimentation. He had seen the Vacanti Mouse, a grotesque biological anomaly created in the laboratory. (Don't look at the following clip if you are easily grossed out.)

All that other stuff, about Freud? Who knows. But it's obvious Natali was exploring the depths of human motivation, the limits of science ethics. The movie is about psychology, boundaries, human history and human future. The movie is a cultural soup, with a whole bunch of elements that are obvious, and discrete. Hence, my perspective :)

Splice credits, etc.
Release year: 2009

Main Cast:
Sarah Polley (carries this film almost by herself), as Elsa
Adrien Brody as Clive
Delphine Chanéac as adult Dren
Abigail Chu as child Dren

Writers (from IMDB):
Vincenzo Natali ... (screenplay) &
Antoinette Terry Bryant ... (screenplay) and
Doug Taylor ... (screenplay)
Vincenzo Natali ... (story) &
Antoinette Terry Bryant ... (story)

Director:
Vincenzo Natali

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