The Fly

The Fly is an entertaining patchwork that stitches together all the alluring delights to be found in the cinema of David Cronenberg, combining science fiction, the body horror sub-genre, and romantic drama with a dystopian future. While trying to perfect his experiments in the teleportation of matter, physicist Seth Brundle meets journalist Veronica Quaife. The pair become lovers, and Veronica starts observing the scientific work being conducted by Seth, who decides to use himself as a human guinea pig. A fleeting moment of bad luck, however, results in his gradual genetic transformation into an enormous fly, with inexorable consequences. This theme of transformation – perhaps the most steadfast touchstone of Cronenberg’s oeuvre, with all its countless allegorical ramifications – here becomes the vehicle for a thrilling metaphor that touches on senescence, mortality, the inevitability of death, the elusiveness of love, and the underlying essence of the human condition in a film that unfurls like a Kafkaesque dream – without a clear beginning, but with a most certain end.

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Direction: David Cronenberg

Script: Charles Edward Pogue, David Cronenberg

Cinematography: Mark Irwin

Editing: Ronald Sanders

Music: Howard Shore

Actors: Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, John Getz, Joy Boushel, Les Carlson, George Chuvalo, David Cronenberg

Production: SLM Production Group, Brooksfilms

Producers: Stuart Cornfeld

Format: DCP

Color: Color

Production Country: USA

Production Year: 1986

Duration: 96'

Contact: Park Circus

Awards/Distinctions: Best Horror Film, Best Actor, Best Makeup – American Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films 1987, Special Jury Award – Avoriaz FFF 1987, Best Makeup – Academy Awards 1987, Best Cinematography in Theatrical Feature – Canadian Society of Cinematographers 1987