The Implications of Implications

"If you could understand crazy, it wouldn't be crazy."

This comment by the protagonist of Vincenzo Natali's film SPLICE refers to her mother, and to painful events in her chilhood that she never brings to mind. One implication of the film is that people who do not want children often have good reasons to be childless; another is that adults who refuse to learn from their family history will repeat the mistakes of their parents all over again.

These implications at the heart of SPLICE remain implied, nothing more. While someone like David Cronenberg digs out the implications of his implications, Natali keeps the subtext of his film in the basement while focusing on a surface of uncluttered narrative. This is not a bad way to make a film, but it does limit the scope of the film's meaning. While Cronenberg will add layers to a film like THE FLY, to explore ideas about the effects of aging or disease on a male ego, on the way a man facing death can often perceive romantic partnerships as a means of personal extension beyond his own failing body into recombinations of personality and genes in the forms of relationships and children, SPLICE never becomes more than a monster film.

As monster films go, I would call SPLICE a good one. The story moves efficiently, the transformations of both plot and creature are carefully foreshadowed, the performances and dialogue are convincing, the music by Cyrille Aufort is understated, eerie, and poignant. The film disturbs, and it lingers in the mind. If you can accept its limited scope, you might find it well worth seeing.