Themes: Dysfunctional Families, Existential Crisis, Mothers and Sons
Main Cast: Jeremy Davies, Alberta Watson, Benjamin Hendrickson, Carla Gallo, Matthew Puckett
Release Year: 1994
Country: US
Run Time: 106 minutes
MPAA Rating: NR
Plot
David O. Russell burst onto the scene with this challenging and controversial film about an introverted college student and the incestuous disaster of a summer that follows his freshman year. Ray Aibelli (Jeremy Davies) returns home for what is supposed to be a short visit with his family prior to leaving for Washington D.C., where he will intern in the surgeon general's office. Ray's plans are quickly scuttled by his acerbic and controlling father (Benjamin Hendrickson), a salesman leaving on an extended business trip, who strong-arms Ray into caring for his depressed mother (Alberta Watson) while she recovers from torn ligaments in her leg. Gently prodding his mother to begin using crutches so he will no longer have to change her bedpans and carry her about the house, and so he can still arrive belatedly for the internship, Ray discovers that his mother is not only physically but emotionally dependent on his presence. She begins making inappropriately tender displays of her affection for him, which only become more complicated when he has to rub lotion underneath her cast to soothe her itches. As that relationship grows increasingly fuzzy, Ray must also deal with the sputtering advances of a neighborhood high school girl (Carla Gallo) and the overly aggressive chiding of his estranged group of friends. Russell both scripted and directed this critically acclaimed debut, which courted controversy by following the mother-son relationship into uncomfortably frank and off-limits territory. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Review
David O. Russell was rattling the cage right from the start. The title of his directorial debut is a common euphemism for masturbation, and its subject matter is the Oedipal relationship between a college-aged son and his bedridden mother. But Spanking the Monkey does not get by on sheer audacity alone. Its complexity far exceeds its shock value; in fact, it's hard to figure out whether it's the blackest of black comedies or a drama sprinkled with uncomfortable laughter, leaving video stores at a loss for where to catalog it. That's due not only to Russell's finesse with directing absurdist set pieces, such as Ray having to help his mother shower or brush his squirmy dog's teeth, but also with the scathing details of a screenplay that bleeds a certain twisted truth. Ray is caught in an unending cycle of embarrassment and futility, and it's reflected in all of his relationships: his exacting bastard of a father, his depressed mother, his mercurial sort-of girlfriend, and his juvenile sort-of friends. Even his dog has an uncanny knack for interrupting Ray during his few "moments alone." Russell documents Ray's personal hell with an unflinching eye for discomfort and hopelessness. Jeremy Davies, so memorable as the cowardly soldier in Saving Private Ryan, makes a richly textured starring debut, expertly charting the death throes of the character's optimism. Alberta Watson, as the other half of the taboo central relationship, gives a remarkable performance as an aging temptress weakly struggling against her own self-loathing. After this risky debut, Russell went mainstream with the hilarious Flirting With Disaster and the incisive Three Kings, but continued to find ways to flout conventions in each of his films. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Judette Jones - Aunt Helen; Dean Silvers - Boss; Josh Phillip Weinstein - Joel
Credit
Chad Braden - First Assistant Director, David O. Russell - Director, Stanley F. Buchthal - Executive Producer, Janet Grillo - Executive Producer, David O. Russell - Executive Producer, Susan Block - Production Designer, Michael Mayers - Cinematographer, Dean Silvers - Producer, David O. Russell - Screenwriter
It was produced by Dean Silvers of Teatown Communications Group.
Plot
Susan Aibelli (Alberta Watson), a married, lonely woman, suffers a leg injury at home just as her husband is about to leave on his job as a travelling salesman and her son, Raymond (Jeremy Davies), is about to leave for the summer on a medical internship. Her son is forced to stay at home to take care of her as his father is gone. He loses both the internship and his girlfriend. These troublesome events leave him emotionally confused as he and his mother are left alone together, and they develop an incestuous relationship.
Music
The song "In Spite of Me", from Morphine's album Cure for Pain, plays over the end credits.
