The Spider’s Stratagem

The Spider’s Stratagem

Year: 1970

Runtime: 100 mins

Language: Italian

Director: Bernardo Bertolucci

DramaMystery

Returning to his rural hometown, a young man sets out to uncover the murky details of his father's death—officially blamed on Fascists in 1936, before the son was born. As he pieces together a tangled network of deception that permeates the entire community, he becomes caught in the very web he is trying to expose.

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Timeline & Setting – The Spider’s Stratagem (1970)

Explore the full timeline and setting of The Spider’s Stratagem (1970). Follow every major event in chronological order and see how the environment shapes the story, characters, and dramatic tension.

Time period

1930s

The story unfolds in 1930s Italy under fascist rule, a period marked by censorship and political fear. A fortune teller’s prediction and an unopened letter foreshadow a confrontation with the past. The town’s memory is curated to preserve a heroic narrative and suppress inconvenient truths.

Location

Tara

Tara is an insular town built around a central square dominated by a statue memorializing a resistance hero. The atmosphere is tense, with rumors about the father’s fate and a mythic history of fascist violence. The theatre and the statue become focal points where truth and legend collide.

🏙️ Claustrophobic town 🗿 Statue-centered square

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 14:35

Main Characters – The Spider’s Stratagem (1970)

Meet the key characters of The Spider’s Stratagem (1970), with detailed profiles, motivations, and roles in the plot. Understand their emotional journeys and what they reveal about the film’s deeper themes.

Draifa (Alida Valli)

Draifa is the enigmatic patroness who invites Athos to Tara and reveals a network of personal and political motives. She embodies manipulation and secrecy, guiding Athos toward or away from the truth. Her role centers on confronting a town that favors myth over memory.

🕵️ Mystery 🌫️ Intrigue

Athos Magnani Jr. / Athos Magnani Sr. (Giulio Brogi)

Athos arrives to uncover his father’s fate and the heroic myth surrounding him. He is cautious, introspective, and bound by kinship to his father. His journey tests whether personal truth can survive a community built on myth.

🧭 Search for truth 🕰️ Heritage

Costa (Tino Scotti)

Costa is a wary local who knows more than he reveals about the father and the attempted bombing. He embodies the town’s habit of evading complete truths. His cautious stance adds to the atmosphere of suspicion that surrounds Athos.

🎭 Secrecy 🗝️ Complicity

Gaibazzi (Pippo Campanini)

Gaibazzi is a conspirator who retains inside knowledge of the father’s plans. He represents loyalty tangled with fear and the cost of truth. His memory links the past plot to the present investigation.

🗝️ Secrets 🕯️ Conspiracy

Razori (Franco Giovanelli)

Razori is another contact of the father who offers fragments of the truth. He personifies the difficulty of reconstructing history from rumor and fear. His unreliable testimony underscores the film’s theme of myth-making.

🗯️ Rumor 🕷️ Betrayal

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 14:35

Major Themes – The Spider’s Stratagem (1970)

Explore the central themes of The Spider’s Stratagem (1970), from psychological, social, and emotional dimensions to philosophical messages. Understand what the film is really saying beneath the surface.

🕵️ Truth vs Myth

Athos’s return drives a search for factual history that clashes with the town’s comforting narrative. The father’s supposed bombing plan becomes both history and myth, shaping what the town accepts as truth. The film explores how memory can be manufactured by those in power and how individuals challenge that fabrication. It asks what remains of truth when myth is convenient.

🗝️ Legacy

Draifa’s presence and Athos’s arrival force a reckoning with a family legacy that has been mythologized by the community. The father is remembered as a hero, yet the details are contested, revealing the power of narrative. The theme examines whether legacy is a burden or a tool that binds the living to a past they did not choose.

⚖️ Betrayal

Conspirators and police contribute to a web of betrayal surrounding the father’s death. Fear and self-preservation blur moral lines, turning inquiry into a game of half-truths. The film critiques how societies preserve order by sacrificing truth to maintain a convenient story.

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 14:35

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The Spider’s Stratagem Summary

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The Spider’s Stratagem Summary

The Spider’s Stratagem Timeline

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The Spider’s Stratagem Timeline

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The Spider’s Stratagem (1970) Plot Summary & Movie Recap

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The Spider’s Stratagem (1970) Spoiler-Free Summary & Key Flow