Review of The Skin I Live In (2011) by J.j. W — 07 Jun 2012

Channeling the very best of Old Boy, The Skin I Live In is one of the most psychologically twisted films ever imagined but without the needless gore and violence. It's a fairly shallow observation, I know, but in an age where psychological deviancy usually means gore and violence, it's nice to see this movie's premise executed without becoming self-indulgent in physical sadism.

Pedro Almodóvar has had a history of creating movies that explores psycho-sexual criminal behavior and The Skin I Live In falls neatly in line with his previous works. However, despite it's very tight writing, The Skin I Live in plays with its narrative a little too much and it serves as a detriment to the film.

The occasional time-jump segments serve more to confuse or over-elaborate rather than to clarify. It would have also been nice to see both Banderas and Cornet/Anaya's character psychology explored a little more thoroughly as Almodovar seems to write these character's motivations as a simple revenge and escape.

With what happens throughout the film, a simple revenge trip feels a little inadequate. Despite that, The Skin I Live in is amazing shot as it channels the older erotic crime thrillers such as De Palma's Dressed to Kill but also rises above that now obsolete genre by making us feel very uncomfortable about the human skin and human form.

.. even if those skins and forms are perfect.