Movie Review: ‘THE SKIN I LIVE IN’

Women. Sexuality. Violence. Vivid colors. Motherhood.  These are some of the first words that come to mind when contemplating the many films from the Spanish auteur Pedro Almodovar (Volver, Bad Education, All About my Mother, The Matador). The most popular living director from Spain has weaved together the same themes through most of his his films over the years creating a rich tapestry of colorful visuals and intriguing subject matter.  More often than not he seems to ground his characters in a seemingly normal world that slowly begins to become unhinged.  So in a lot of ways, The Skin I Live In, fits nicely within the context of his previous films while also feeling like a slight departure.  The combination results in some-what of a mixed-bag that still culminates as one of the most striking and bizarre films of 2011.

Antonio Banderas plays Dr. Robert Ledgard.  The doctor is a plastic surgeon who has performed four of only nine facial transplants in the history of science.  Unfortunately for him, his interest in further exploring the possibility of a new synthetic skin falls on skeptical ears with his colleagues.  Unbeknownst to them, Ledgard has a patient (played by Elena Anaya) being held captive in his spacious abode that is already a test subject for his treatments.  After a few strangers from the doctor’s past stumble back into his highly secretive life (including a bizarre man in a tiger costume), memories of the doctor’s past are brought into light and reveal both a heartbreaking and sinister side to the creepy doctor.

Through the use of a broken narrative, Almodovar has staged a stunning visual thriller that gives new meaning to the phrase “psycho-sexual.”  Banderas delivers a subtle performance that never approaches the campiness that one would expect from a mad-doctor.  In some of the scenes with the imprisoned Vera, he treats her more like a normal patient while in others his sexual driven, domineering side slightly shines through.  Vera is also underplayed by the exotic Elena Anaya.  Her large beautiful eyes do all her acting as she plays the quiet victim who seems more curious than scared of her captor.  In fact, not much is left for the actors to do but to stand in their place and let the decadent art direction unveil the haunting story.  Like with most of his films, Almodovar tells his story through visuals.  Here, you have Dr. Ledgard standing in front of a giant video screen of Vera, a midnight group-sex rendezvous in a garden, and Vera filling an entire wall with little drawings and poems.  Since the visuals are so striking and the plot gets so disturbingly grotesque in the final third act of the film, Almodovar seems to have chosen to let the dialogue be more of an after-thought in the film.  There’s a simplicity to it that fails to convey any solid emotions in some integral scenes.  In one scene, a character responds by only saying, “I Lied,” when asked to explain their actions.  This is in addition to the fact that the doctor’s motives aren’t explored enough to fully understand his logic.  Yet, maybe that is the point.  Maybe we are meant to have a cold and clinical distance from the main characters.  It just feels a little odd coming from a director who has always been known for letting the audience into the devastating lives of his characters.

The Skin I Live In is a disturbing and horrific film without showing buckets of blood or guts.  It’s all about the shifts in emotions told through the disjointed time of events.  Almodovar is a masterful filmmaker and manages to pull out different emotions from the viewer at the precise moments during the film.  The violin and Spanish horn combination sets a musical backdrop for this wicked plot of revenge, science, and sexuality.  The alluring imagery that Almodovar has become known for will draw his fans into this film; Even if the emotionally queasy outcome and razor thin script will surprise the art-house snobs not ready for a more horrific tale.  Under any other director this darkly absurd tale of physical and emotional transformations could have resulted in an amateur shock science experiment gone terribly wrong.  Thankfully though, Almodovar is the one holding the scalpel, and he knows just the right way to get under your skin.