The Skin I Live In

La piel que habito

7 Nov 2012

Director: Pedro Almodovar

Spain

2011

117 min

An occasionally disturbing – but nonetheless stunning – film, The Skin I Live In revisits many themes familiar from earlier Almodovar 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 Almodovar’s hands an almost camp and absurd melodrama, alternately kitsch and unsettling.

2012 BAFTA winner — Best Film not in English