Film Review: Splice
Splice (2009)
Directed by: Vincenzo Natali
Starring: Sarah Polley, Adrien Brody, Delphine Chanéac
Studio: Warner Bros.
Review by: Britt Hayes
Splice is a film several years in the making. A film I’ve been following for three years, ever since I saw the original concept art for Dren, the film’s featured creature. Vincenzo Natali’s (Cube) latest film premiered at Sundance this year to a warm reception, and for good reason.
The film tells the story of Elsa and Clive (no, their names are not coincidence), near-literal rock stars in the genetic engineering world. They dress like grown-up versions of the kids I hung out with in high school, fill their labs with rock music, collect vinyl designer figures, and create high fives based on the double helix. They work for a pharmaceutical company called NERD. After unveiling their latest creations, the phallic Fred and Ginger, to much acclaim and discovering a protein that could cure disease and help livestock, they insist that the next logical step is the integration of human DNA. Their bosses at the pharmaceutical company agree that this integration is logical and exciting, but the world just isn’t ready for something so…forward thinking. Instead, they should focus on extracting the protein from Fred and Ginger so Big Pharma can make some cash.
Railing against the man in true punk fashion, Elsa and Clive hide away in their lab and start mixing human DNA with a melting pot of animal DNA until finally, something clicks. Clive is hesitant, but Elsa promises they’ll never take the fetus to term. Problem is, the fetus begins growing at an incredible rate, and delivery day comes months early. The result is Dren (Nerd backwards), an adorable little creature with a predatory gene who Clive and Elsa must now hide from the world as they raise her.
Functioning as a meditation on ethics, Splice is a strange film that continues to expound on its weirdness until it becomes outright creepy and bizarre. Sure, some of it is a little predictable, as it treads familiar Frankenstein territory, but Natali really cranks it up a few notches and goes somewhere that few have dared. His take may not be wholly original, but it’s more thoughtful and progressive than the films we’ve been seeing as of late, particularly genre films.
The most interesting aspect to note is that this isn’t a movie about a cute little creature that becomes a nightmare to deal with, although the trailers might lead you to believe that. This is a film about the evil that men do and how the creator is more horrific than the creation. Natali does a sensational job creating an empathetic creature in Dren. Her cute noises and big curious eyes detract from the giant stinger in her tail and her intimidating form. Not once as a viewer do you blame Dren or think “Kill it with fire!” Instead, Clive and Elsa (and in a strange twist, moreso Elsa) are the ones we blame. They keep her locked up and hidden, and Elsa toys with her emotions, volleying between treating her like a child and then like a science experiment, unable to firmly grasp or form a coherent feeling toward her creation. This is where Splice is much like Frankenstein: the scientist’s love of the creation is much like the love of a child, which can convolute the scientific reasoning.
Splice challenges you to question ethics, and the sometimes blurry lines we’re given a choice to cross. The film delves a little into Elsa’s motivations, making those lines even more blurry and toxic in her relationship with Dren. As an audience, we have to ask what we would do in such a difficult situation, and the horror of that choice is what makes Splice such an interesting horror film.
Amidst the science and moral gray areas are some overt sexual undertones. The creatures that Clive and Elsa produce seem to all have some phallic resemblance in some area of their form, and there’s a certain important inanimate object used later in the film that has a phallic quality as well. Then there’s the idea of creatures who change sex in nature, as a part of natural progression. Is this to suggest male dominance, or imply a struggle of sex? Nothing about Splice feels sexist; instead, it feels sexual. These elements seem to exist within the film to emphasize the sexuality in and of science, and how a scientist makes love to their work to elicit a creation.
Natali includes some moments of dark humor, giving us a little reprieve from all the suspense. A particularly gruesome moment with Fred and Ginger had me alternating between my jaw hanging open and nervous giggles. Successful films take you on an emotional ride, where you laugh with the humor, cry with the pain, and gasp in moments of terror. I’ve heard complaints that Splice is unintentionally funny – quite the opposite. Splice is a successful film because you laugh with it just like you’re scared for the characters, and if it can resonate with you and Natali evokes the emotions during each beat that he set out to, then he has accomplished his goal as a director in translating a story to screen and forming a connection with an audience who would otherwise not feel connected to these characters at all.
The CGI and creature design are nothing short of stunning, and as Dren goes through various changes, the effects accompany her beautifully. My only complaint was the lack of a professional projectionist in my big chain brand theater, leaving the picture a bit blurry and detracting from the incredible effort put in by the effects team in combining CG with reality. Delphine Chanéac truly brings Dren to life, adding specific mannerisms and facial expressions that take Dren beyond being a “thing”, and making her an empathetic, living, breathing creature. She’s beautiful (no really, Google Delphine, she’s gorgeous) and intriguing, and playing Dren – a creature who does not speak and communicates mostly with sound and expression – could not have been an easy task; yet, Chanéac makes it seem effortless. Her subtle head movements and the way she uses her eyes give only the slightest hint of underlying motives that maybe we don’t understand.
Splice has already proven to be a divisive film with most critics loving it, some hating it, and a few finding themselves in the middle. Regardless of where viewers’ opinions fall, the one thing that continues to be brought up is the question of ethics. Did the film portray how scientists would react appropriately, or did it miss the mark? Were these ethical questions along the lines of what we’d imagine, or did it not go far enough? Even if you hated the film, I contend that Natali was successful in challenging you to question the ethics and morals of the characters, and yourself. It’s not a film that seeks to define right or wrong – it’s a film that simply seeks to examine ethics and asks you to do the same.
