Pedro Almodovar’s latest film, The Skin I Live In is a cold, calculating thriller that embraces the director’s trademark visual style and marries it beautifully with a mystery plot worthy of Hitchcock via Georges Franju’s seminal Les yeux sans visage (Eyes Without a Face).
For fans of Almodovar or foreign art house cinema at large who have any misgivings about this “genre” project, bear in mind Almodovar is a fan of cinema at large, and understands the language of cinema almost better than any director alive today. For fans of horror films, know that an earlier film of Almodovar, titled Matador, features a character masturbating while watching bits of Mario Bava’s Blood and Black Lace and Jess Franco’s Bloody Moon, so Almodovar is obviously horror literate. Any thoughts of, “Oh that art house guy from Spain is trying to make a horror movie” can be dispelled now.
Robert Ledgard (Antonio Banderas) is a plastic surgeon that lives in the modern day equivalent to the creepy old castle in the middle of nowhere like Victor Frankenstein. Several years earlier, Ledgard's wife died in a fiery car accident. In his remote “castle” the mad doctor is performing experiments to create a synthetic skin to create a woman who is basically fireproof. Vera Cruz (Elena Anaya) is a patient for whom the doctor is creating this artificial skin. Why is he doing this? Who is she? The two play a dangerous game of emotional cat and mouse as the film slowly answers these questions. Marilia (Marisa Paredes) is Ledgard's longtime maid who holds court attempting to keep things from boiling over, and in typical Almodovar style, harbors a few secrets of her own.
The Skin I Live In is a cinematic reunion for Pedro Almodovar and Antonio Banderas as they haven’t worked together since 1990’s Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! Like many Almodovar films, it deals with sexual repression and obsession, and in usual Almodovar style, you can be sure the plot will do about five things you never saw coming. Based on the novel, Tarantula by Thierry Jonquet, it is a smart and ultimately very creepy film that should leave you guessing until the very end. Some may not see it as being as emotionally satisfying as his other films he has made since All About My Mother, but don’t hold that against it. Almodovar is in fine form, and his ultra stylish melodramatic leanings are fully intact. Now go try and figure out who “Vera Cruz” is before the film reveals it. I anxiously await your comments.
Antonio Banderas and Elena Anaya have wonderful chemistry together and their captor/captive dynamic is entrancing. As one of Almodovar's muses, Marisa Paredes again shows us why he loves her so much. She has a natural screen presence, adept at strangely comic moments and a genuinely heartfelt delivery that will make you wonder how she pulls it off time and again. I must admit, I am not the biggest fan of Banderas, but he gives a tightly wound, nervous performance that is impressive. Having only seen Elena Anaya in Almodovar's previous Talk To Her, she turns in another solid performance in a role that could have easily been phoned in by a lesser actress.
One can't discuss an Almodovar film without addressing his style. A world filled with primary colors and beautiful women, how can you go wrong? The man loves nothing more than a shock of red, whether it is something on the wall, a chair, or a woman's dress. And his camera makes love to everyone is encounters, especially the women. I have always thought of Almodovar's style as sitting somewhere between the visual look of Douglas Sirk and the language of Tennessee Williams.
Sony gets kudos for this transfer. This Blu-ray disc is gorgeous! The level of detail is alarming at times, and the primary colors that dominate the visual scheme of the film are wonderfully reproduced and really pop. There are some quite dark scenes in the film that never turn to mush and I couldn’t spot any visual anomalies that can mar dark shots in films when transferred to video. On the audio side of things, the Spanish language track was very clear, and the musical score by Alberto Iglesias is mixed nicely. The film offers optional English, Spanish, and French subtitles as well as a French dub track.
This movie is being sold as a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack. Bonus feature include "An Evening with Almodovar", which is a 1+ hour interview with the director that was filmed at the USC school of film. The obligatory press kit "making of" runs about twelve minutes and "On the red carpet: The New York Premiere" is a short video of some footage of the red carpet event. Rounding things out are a selection of trailers for other films from Sony and the trailer for the film itself.
Pedro Almodovar proves once again why he is one of the best filmmakers of his generation with this challenging film. It's a horror film for the art house crowd, and an art house film for the horror crowd. If you haven't seen any of Almodovar's previous work, you really can't go wrong with any of it. The Skin I Live In is a fine place to start.
Film Score: 4/5 Disc Score: 4/5
*For more information on The Skin I Live In, visit our recent coverage for a photo gallery, trailer, and clips: http://dailydead.com/the-skin-i-live-in-photo-gallery-and-videos/
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