Details
Film Title: The Skin I Live In
Year: 2011
Directed by: Pedro Almodovar
Stars: Antonio Banderas, Elena Anaya, Marisa Paredes, Jan Cornet, Roberto Alamo, Blanca Suarez
Running Time: 120 mins, 2 hrs
Langauge: Spanish
Rough Plot Synopsis: A brilliant plastic surgeon, haunted by past tragedies, creates a type of synthetic skin that withstands any kind of damage. His guinea pig: a mysterious and volatile woman who holds the key to his obsession.
Thoughts
Without a doubt, one of the most disturbing films I have ever seen, The Skin I Live In(2011) is a psychological thriller that will leave you pondering long after the credits roll. The film plays very cleverly with the viewer's expectations, letting the questions accumulate and then answering it all in one fell swoop of sickening realisation.
When I got the gist of what was happening around 3/4 of the way into the film, I felt an intense wave of disgust and sickness envelop my body just at the mere idea of what I had seen. I was horrified, and not in the conventional horror-movie sense, but in a deeper more intellectual and emotional sense. I was dumbstruck by how sickening and perverted the story was and, at the same time, in awe that it was able to affect such a reaction in me. This film is astounding! I have never encountered a film whose plot twist was so affective, so absolutely twisted, that I genuinely felt horrified for the character.
The actors did a wonderful job. Antonio Banderas plays against the charismatic and romantic hero type that he is often expected to play, coming off instead as a cold, calculating psychopath that you cannot believe you actually sympathised with in the beginning of the film. Elena Anaya also shines as the central character in the film, whose tragic vulnerability and mistreatment serves as the seat of perspective that Almodovar has crafted for the viewer, the seat from which they can share in the helpless and inescapable horror that she endures.
I don't want to give any of the good stuff away and spoil it for anyone so suffice to say that this film has elements and deals with topics that will make both men and women squirm uncomfortably in their seats. Perhaps a warning is in order though for those who are more sensitive in nature and might get offended since it is quite graphic, especially in its depiction of rape. But don't let that throw you off, its' unapologetically graphic content is a big part of what makes the film so powerful and suspenseful.
The Skin I Live In(2011) is definitely a film that I will recommend for people who enjoy revenge-type thrillers or basically anyone who enjoys a film with a good mind-blowing plot twist.
Film Title: The Skin I Live In
Year: 2011
Directed by: Pedro Almodovar
Stars: Antonio Banderas, Elena Anaya, Marisa Paredes, Jan Cornet, Roberto Alamo, Blanca Suarez
Running Time: 120 mins, 2 hrs
Langauge: Spanish
Rough Plot Synopsis: A brilliant plastic surgeon, haunted by past tragedies, creates a type of synthetic skin that withstands any kind of damage. His guinea pig: a mysterious and volatile woman who holds the key to his obsession.
Thoughts
Without a doubt, one of the most disturbing films I have ever seen, The Skin I Live In(2011) is a psychological thriller that will leave you pondering long after the credits roll. The film plays very cleverly with the viewer's expectations, letting the questions accumulate and then answering it all in one fell swoop of sickening realisation.
When I got the gist of what was happening around 3/4 of the way into the film, I felt an intense wave of disgust and sickness envelop my body just at the mere idea of what I had seen. I was horrified, and not in the conventional horror-movie sense, but in a deeper more intellectual and emotional sense. I was dumbstruck by how sickening and perverted the story was and, at the same time, in awe that it was able to affect such a reaction in me. This film is astounding! I have never encountered a film whose plot twist was so affective, so absolutely twisted, that I genuinely felt horrified for the character.
The actors did a wonderful job. Antonio Banderas plays against the charismatic and romantic hero type that he is often expected to play, coming off instead as a cold, calculating psychopath that you cannot believe you actually sympathised with in the beginning of the film. Elena Anaya also shines as the central character in the film, whose tragic vulnerability and mistreatment serves as the seat of perspective that Almodovar has crafted for the viewer, the seat from which they can share in the helpless and inescapable horror that she endures.
I don't want to give any of the good stuff away and spoil it for anyone so suffice to say that this film has elements and deals with topics that will make both men and women squirm uncomfortably in their seats. Perhaps a warning is in order though for those who are more sensitive in nature and might get offended since it is quite graphic, especially in its depiction of rape. But don't let that throw you off, its' unapologetically graphic content is a big part of what makes the film so powerful and suspenseful.
The Skin I Live In(2011) is definitely a film that I will recommend for people who enjoy revenge-type thrillers or basically anyone who enjoys a film with a good mind-blowing plot twist.