Pedro Almodovar is the most successful and acclaimed Spanish
director of the last 30 years. Although he makes accessible, adult movies that
blend comedy, melodrama and pop culture into his own unique style, Almodovar is
categorized in the U.S. as an art-house director and his films have never
received mainstream commercial success. Although he has won an Academy Award
for best foreign language film and several Cannes Film Festival awards,
Almodovar has never abandoned his native Spain for the lure of Hollywood money.
The Skin I Live In
(2011) is somewhat of a departure for Almodovar in that it incorporates
traditional horror film elements into his melodramatic formula. Antonio
Banderas plays Dr. Robert Ledgard, a renowned scientist who is attempting to
develop synthetic human skin. His wife died years earlier in a car accident and
he is trying to create skin that will be impervious to fire and cuts. However,
Dr. Ledgard is soon revealed to be an obsessed “mad scientist” that has
actually kidnapped a young woman named Vera in order to have a test subject for
his skin experiments.
Dr. Ledgard keeps Vera locked in his isolated mansion, bound
in a compression bandage to keep her synthetic skin graft in place. Vera is a
morose and mysterious figure who looks more like a mummy than a living woman.
After a visit from the housekeeper’s son ends in brutality and violence, the
film begins to reveal the tangled web of sinister events that has led both
Ledgard and Vera to this dark and twisted existence.
At times, the film’s outlandish plot has comical
coincidences but they always lead to gruesome and disturbing developments. The Skin I Live In reminded me a of a
modern-day giallo with its sometimes absurd but always diabolical plot twists
and turns amidst the picturesque European locations. It is difficult to discuss
any events in this movie without giving away the myriad of surprises Almodovar
presents throughout the film. Suffice to say that Ledgard and Vera both have
vicious secret pasts that are revealed in flashback, and eventually they become
lovers. However, as one is captor and the other captive this affair always
carries an ominous undertone of menace.
While The Skin I Live
In is filled with dark and violent scenes, Almodovar keeps the tone from
being overly bleak through his vivid mis-en-scene and the melodramatic quality
of the script and performances. Casting Antonio Banderas in the lead is part of
the key to keeping the film from becoming a parade of misery. Banderas, who
Almodovar made a star through numerous early movies, brings those movie star
looks to the role of a mad scientist. The audience wants to like him and feels
sympathy for him at times because even when he is committing atrocious acts he
never projects the quality of someone who is truly evil. Whether Banderas is
capable as an actor to even project those emotions is debatable but you can
judge that for yourself.
The Skin I Live In
obviously borrows heavily from the surreal classic Eyes Without A Face, but it does so with a knowing wink. Almodovar
uses both Eyes Without A Face and Frankenstein as the genre canvas on
which to paint his own original piece of modern pop-gothic art. He takes horror
genre elements and builds a 21st Century version of those classic
tales by adding a layer of sexuality that those earlier films could only hint
at through obtuse subtext. The classic mind-body schism is contemplated through
the lens of gender identity, sexuality and even love. Almodovar is
contemplating not only what makes us human but also what makes humans male or
female and asking where human sexuality fits on the continuum between the mind
and body.
While this is an enjoyable film for all the reasons I have
mentioned, it is not in the same league with Eyes Without A Face. That film may not ever be equaled for the
quality and subtlety it used even while incorporating elements of medical
horror in its contemplation of the pain of human loss and suffering. Almodovar’s
modern version of medical horror is an interesting experiment and it is nice to
see a filmmaker step out of his comfort zone and tackle an unfamiliar genre
with such genuine affection and verve.
Available on DVD and Blu-Ray from Sony Pictures.
