The Skin I Live In
07 Nov 2012
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Spain
2011
117 min
An occasionally disturbing – but nonetheless stunning – film, The Skin I Live In revisits many themes familiar from earlier Almodóvar works: identity, revenge, and overwhelmingly powerful emotions. Running throughout is the idea of dark secrets and revelation.
Plastic surgeon Robert Ledgard (Antonio Banderas) is obsessed with the development of a ‘perfect skin’ following the death of his wife in a horrific car accident. What could have been a predictable ‘horror’ conceit becomes in Almodóvar’s hands an almost camp and absurd melodrama, alternately kitsch and unsettling.
2012 BAFTA winner — Best Film not in English