Review of The Skin I Live In (2011) by Tibor B — 22 Feb 2012

I often have a hard time with Almodovar, yet again The Skin I Live In proves no exception. On the one hand it has plenty of very intriguing and disturbing elements. Banderas is a blank as the coldly psycopathic surgeon who uses his skill, first as perverse revenge on a young man he suspects raping his fragile teenage daughter sending her to suicide, then increasingly as psychosexual obsession of his wife he tried and failed to help following severe burns.

This alone is enough for a very complex examination of gender/ identity and madness. Yet, Almodovar can't help but pile on more subplots and themes including the mother of the surgeon, and her other illegitimate son, a raving, hedonistic bank robber ( dressed as a tiger for good measure) and a generic escape finale.

What this amounts to is all surface, no feeling. Ledgard's drastic change in motive from revenge to desire makes little sense, other than as an interesting and disturbing plot twist and the shooting of his brother amounts to nothing as well, other than an odd, explicit digression.

It seems however hard he tries, Almodovar can't resist adding more to his pot, resulting in a messy dilution of individually interesting ingredients. But at least he's never boring.