The girl and the spider uses a move as a pretext to take stock of a girl's life and the people around her. However, it is significant that the film focuses more on the dismantling of the old apartment rather than on the construction of the new one which is liquidated in the first part.

The cinema of the Zurcher brothers tells through small objects, small gestures, fleeting shots that manage to steal small truths that are probably hidden even from those who are experiencing them. They build characters, all defined and analyzed with small impressionist brushstrokes.

The result is complex and fascinating even if at times it is a little too cerebral. Perhaps as a small European film, perhaps as a film entirely shot indoors, it at times recalls the first Haneke, for better or for worse. Probably because the rigorous and detached direction makes us feel a bit like a voyeur of other people's lives.

The cast is good and mixes well and creates a credible community in its problems and phobias. The two co-protagonists are excellent, whose insecurity shines through on their faces indelibly.

The only flaw is the dreamlike and surreal scenes which, being few, blend in with the rest of the film and undermine the final result. Because The Girl and the Spider is cold and cerebral, it drifts at times but it's worth an evening.