The Skin I Live In

pls for an English version 😭🤲

One of THE worst movies I have ever seen!! I couldn't have cared less about any of the characters and by the end of the movie I was wishing they all would die. None of them had any redeeming qualities as far as I was concerned. Normally, I love foreign films, art films, but this was just a BIG waste of my time. I have seen a few of Pedro Almodovar's films so I was expecting bizarre twist and turns but this was not as well done as some of his other works. I agree with another reviewer that Almodovar might be an acquired taste, but since I had seen his work before I was disappointed with this outing.

In Toledo, the scientist and surgeon Dr. Robert Ledgard (Antonio Banderas) is researching a synthetic skin capable to resist fire and any harm after the death of his beloved wife, who was burnt in a car accident. He is isolated in his mansion with his maid Marilia (Marisa Paredes) and his mysterious subject Vera Cruz (Elena Anaya), who is testing his experiment but is locked in her room. After the assault of the thug Zeca (Roberto Álamo), who raped Vera, Robert has a nightmare with his daughter Norma (Blanca Suárez), who was raped in a party by the youngster Vicente (Jan Cornet) and committed suicide later. Robert plots a scheme to revenge his daughter that has begun with the abduction of Vicente. What is the connection between Vicente and Vera? "La Piel que Habito" is an intriguing and dark film of revenge and obsession by Pedro Almodóvar that recalls George Franju's "Les Yeux Sans Visage" ("Eyes without a Face") but in a David Cronenberg's style. It was very difficult for me to write the plot summary without spoilers since the screenplay is very well developed like a puzzle and the mystery is kept along most part of the story. The gorgeous Elena Anaya has a great performance in her ambiguous role. Antonio Banderas and Marisa Paredes are wonderful, as usual. Ending my review, I would like to write that even those viewers that have never seen a film by Almodóvar will enjoy "La Piel que Habito". My vote is nine. Title (Brazil): "A Pele que Habito" ("The Skin I Live in")

The Skin I Live In is really a film that should be seen by a very big audience, obviously it's a movie that probably doesn't appeal to a very big crowd, it appeals to an older crowd or a young hipster type crowd who enjoy foreign films. I have read the novella Tarantula that this is supposedly loosely based on, however I found that it followed the novel extremely closely, I thought a lot of the twists and stuff that were in the book would be taken out if the film but thankfully most are present and accounted for. Antonio Banderas is so terrific as the leading man, he hasn't looked this great in screen in a long time, I think he seems more at home in his native language, and Elena Anaya is absolutely radiant on the big screen, her face just lights up the screen and she is absolutely exceptional in a very strange role. The story is really a bizarre one, it's seems like a less perverted De Sade and a more understandable David Lynch, it always takes you by surprise and it is highly original and also somewhat daring I think, and thank god a director like Almodovar decided to film it and not some silly director. The cinematography and music is beautiful, the colours and textures in the film are picked up beautifully by the camera and the music is a great companion to each scene, it's so close to perfection in the production design department that i would go so far to say as I haven't seen a better looking film this year. This movie is in my opinion the least accessible of all of Almodovar's films but I hope it doesn't put people off, as his touch and style is clear and present here. It's very different, strange, perverted, horrific, beautiful and always entertaining. Enjoy :)

Pedro Almodovar has brought his famous visual flair and panache to perfection in La piel que habito. Few directors have such a distinct style as Almodovar. Bright colours, carefully designed sets, beautiful people in weird, over-the-top situations, unconventional relationships, and a sense for detail worthy of a true perfectionist. It's all there in this film, and better than ever. The story is intriguing enough to keep you on the edge of your seat, with some crazy twists that only Almodovar can come up with. The cinematography is excellent, with some scenes that are pure visual poetry. Make sure to enjoy the scene where Vera tears her dresses apart and removes the pieces with a vacuum cleaner, or the way Almodovar films the murder scene with the camera looking down from the ceiling, or the close-up of Vera's feet wriggling in the black skin-tight socks. There's so much to admire and enjoy. The film stars Antonio Banderas, who renews his cooperation with Almodovar: the last time the two worked together was in Atame from 1990. Banderas is a rich surgeon who has developed a new sort of artificial skin, and turns out to be a creep who thinks he has the right to literally mold people to his taste and preferences. Banderas plays this man in a properly emotionless way. The very demanding role of Vera is played by Elena Anaya, of 'Lucia y el sexo'-fame, who also played a part in Almodovar's 'Hable con ella'. In some reviews this film is called a horror-movie. That's a very misleading description. There are hardly any horror elements, there even is very little blood. The only way to describe it, is as a typical Almodovar-movie. This director has created a genre of his own.

The credits are rolling as I type this, and my opinion may change upon further meditation, but at the present moment, I cannot think of a better film I've seen in my entire life. This film is equal parts "The Piano Teacher" and "Serbian Film." It is deeply unsettling, profound, and beautifully executed. I have to admit that my expectations were lowered by Antonio Banderas' involvement and the plot (allegedly) involving a surgeon trying to do something or other. It sounded like a tame, modern, artsy reinvention of "Eyes Without A Face." I suppose that film is a part of its heritage, but The Skin I Live In is much more engaging and unsettling. I'm not going to take the time to organize my thoughts into a proper five-paragraph format. If you like disturbing stuff, and / or if you are a film snob, this is top-shelf. There's really nothing better out there.

Maybe this works as a black comedy but I doubt that was the intention. Antonio Bandaras sleep walks through the lead role. The story jumps around through time. For a while it works and can be taken seriously until the brother who he doesn't know is a brother arrives dressed as the LSU tiger because he can only go out in costume...don't ask. Outstanding art direction and set design are about the only positive in this trashy mess. At one point guns hidden in every drawer, rather then foreshadow and create suspense, seem funny. Women are poorly treated. In Todd Browning's "Freaks" the most horrible thing was to turn the bad guy into a giant chicken, here it's give him a *. The movie will not get a wide distribution. Consider yourself lucky if it doesn't come to a theater near you.

I've never seen a Pedro Almodovar film before. I had been wanting to see this ever since I saw its premise. Very interesting, but it still surpassed my expectations. The film is unpredictable in it's pace. You never know what to expect next. It is hugely intriguing because of this. You can sense deeper and darker secrets are at the core of it all, but you don't know what. It becomes even more mysterious once it jumps back six years in time. There was a shot that convinced me what was really going on. It was a shot that mirrored two characters... well, that's all I am going to say. But when I saw that shot, I was convinced of what was going on underneath, and I was right. That doesn't mean it was predictable... not at all. Despite being sure of what was the twist, the film was still able to surprise me again and again. I want to take note that this really wouldn't be an easy film to pull off. In fact, on the surface, it's quite soapy, and on the hands of someone else, could have easily turned into a full-blown melodrama. It didn't and I am very glad of that. The icy cinematography and direction brilliantly keep us enthralled in a world in which anything is possible. It feels like science-fiction and horror blended with real grounded drama. I also want to take note of the performances. Being Mexican and having been raised of full-Mexican parents, I knew who Banderas was, but I never knew he could act this well. He never makes his character easy to figure out, and there's always a sense of empathy that we have with him, but should we? Who is the victim here? Elena Anaya is the star though. She has incredibly expressive and emotional eyes, and from the start we sense something underneath her. This is an incredible performance, one of the best supporting performances of the year. The ending was sort of abrupt though. All in all, I loved this film. Completely intriguing, hugely entertaining, very mysterious and gleefully thrilling without becoming a melodrama and feels very mature. Oh, and did I mention that the music score is fantastic!

The Skin I Live In (La Piel Que Habito, 2:00, R) — other: drama, 3rd string, original Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar has a just reputation for taking women seriously in his films. His latest effort (as usual in Spanish with English subtitles) is no exception, even tho he gives most of the screen time to his most accomplished discovery and frequent star, Antonio Banderas (seemingly one of the few Hispanic actors whom Americans will tolerate in a lead role), playing the brilliant and innovative plastic surgeon Robert Ledgard. This is a deadly serious role, in marked contrast to Banderas's other current star turn as the voice of Puss in Boots. The female lead, Elena Anaya, plays Vera Cruz (yes), Ledgard's stunningly gorgeous patient, experimental subject, apparent captive, and … well, here Almodóvar (who co-wrote the screenplay with brother Agustín) gets a bit coy. Is she a manikin, an Eliza Doolittle to Ledgard's Henry Higgins, a Sabina Spielrein to his Carl Jung, possibly a creature to his Frankenstein? Or maybe none of the above? We know only that she seems devoted to him, tho he is unresponsive to her charms. Vera is confined to the big bedroom, elegantly furnished, where she does her yoga exercises dressed in a flesh-colored body stocking. Ledgard has the only key to the room, and he always keeps her locked in. He himself stays in the smaller bedroom next door, where he watches her intently on a wall-sized video screen. All her food and other needs are delivered from the kitchen via a dumbwaiter, and she communicates with only 2 people: Robert in person, and the housekeeper via intercom. Ledgard is a widower, and we see in flashback that his wife Gal suffered a terrible car accident and fire, leaving her horribly disfigured even after Robert's virtuoso surgical work and devoted care. But even after all his efforts, Gal is unable to stand her pain, weakness, and ugliness, and she commits suicide. Unfortunately, it's right in front of their tweenage dotter Norma (Blanca Suárez), who is driven into hysterics and a nervous breakdown by the sight. Ledgard, as one of the world's leading reconstructive surgeons, does not lack for cash, so he devotes the next several years to his twin obsessions, coaxing his dotter back from the precipice of madness and developing a graftable artificial skin, which he somewhat ghoulishly dubs Gal, a combination of human and pig genes that's highly resistant to burns, cuts, and punctures. Such an epidermis would have saved his beloved wife, he reasons, and this alone justifies his transgressing the ethical boundaries against transgenics. (This is the only science-fictional element in the film, and it's not much of a stretch from what modern medicine is actually capable of doing, which is why I categorize it as essentially a psychodrama.) There are 3 other characters of note: Ledgard's housekeeper Marilia (Marisa Paredes), an older woman with secrets of her own; her wastrel son Zeca (Roberto Álamo), who pays an unwelcome visit; and studly young Vicente (Jan Cornet), son of and apprentice to the local dressmaker, who takes a shine to now-teenage Norma as she shyly tries to work her way back into normal society. We learn most of the above during the first half hour, which leaves us wondering just what on Earth is going on here. The remainder of the film slowly pulls aside one curtain after another to fill us in. And that is all I will say on the subject. You'll have to see the rest for yourself. And you should.

This film is being billed as a "horror" film or a "thriller", but is neither. It is a disgusting mess, and contains an unnecessarily explicit rape scene which the director almost seems to gloat over. None of the characters is appealing. They are all depressed, mad or criminal in some way, and the whole experience left me feeling like I needed a shower. I don't want to "spoil" the experience for anyone, but I would just say that you need a strong stomach, a good dose of insensitivity and a willingness to not laugh out loud at some ridiculous plot twists. Throughout, Antonio Banderas looks like he wishes he was somewhere else, and his expression never changes, whatever ridiculous development comes.