The Skin I Live In doesn't approach the complexity or emotional depth of Hitchcock's masterpiece, but it does present a morbidly fascinating account of the lengths to which one man will go to assuage his inner demons. It helps that the film's lead actors - eternally watchable, infuriatingly handsome Antonio Banderas and impossibly beautiful, vowel-hogging actress Elena Anaya - are both really, really ridiculously good-looking but equally capable of suggesting inner torment that only occasionally rises to the surface.
The film's problems come from the underwritten characters: they're all bursting with the potential of the kind of depth that made Vertigo what it is, but we never really get to the heart of their motivation. Why Banderas' character goes to quite such extreme lengths is explained but not fully explored, and the secrets harboured by the rest of the players never satisfyingly explain their actions.
That said, Almodóvar is still one of the world's most interesting auteurs, and you'll be lucky to find many directors making whatever the hell they feel like and still producing watchable, quality stuff like this.
Apologies for going all serious there and using words like "assuage" and "auteur"; here's a little game of Where's Pedro? to redress the balance:
While at a post runway bubbly bash during my video days covering the Haute Couture shows in Paris I had the disturbing experience of coming face to facade with Jocelyn Wildenstein. It was most disturbing. Why on earth did this woman, wearing jewellery that could be exchanged for my whole street, allow such an horrendous fright of a mask be put in place of what was once her face. I'm not sure where the skin grafts are taken from, but she probably does talk out of the back of her arse.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, under age drinkers are sometimes worried that a barman is going to "Ass u age."
At a high spotty (house party where coal comes in sex and pepper is used for writing letters), an annoying mother in law is an auter as in "You auter do this or that."
I regret my repetition of 'disturbing' and spelling auteur as I shouldn't aughter in my comment above. I often wish I still had my original English teacher whispering comments and corrections in my ears.
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