One of the great mysteries of this year’s Academy Award nominations was the omission of Pedro Almodovar’s scintillating THE SKIN I LIVE IN, from the Best Foreign Language Film category. THE SKIN I LIVE IN (R) the spooky, kooky Almodovar melodrama is now available to enjoy in the privacy of your own home.
A refashioning of the Frankenstein story, THE SKIN I LIVE IN stars Antonio Banderas as famed skin specialist, Doctor Robert Ledgard.
Ostensibly a pillar of the established medical mondo, the dermatological dynamo has a casa that is a compound with a secret laboratory and operating theatre where he burns the midnight oil honing his skills on synthetic skin production. He has been experimenting on the same human guinea pig, a woman incarcerated for many years, and the cellular therapy seems to be accelerating at a satisfactory pace.
But what is the sinister secret of his plastic surgery subject, Vera Cruz, pampered pet and petulant self-harmer, gorgeously personified by Elena Anaya? And just who is his loyal housekeeper, Maria, deliciously Danversesque in the hands of Marisa Paredes, star of Almodovar’s ‘All About My Mother? What is the truth behind the fates of the doctor’s wife and daughter?
All is revealed as the back story is precisely peeled away to reveal the viscera of the story in all its gory glory. We discover that the good doctor’s burning ambition was literally forged in fire and from the ashes of tragedy a Phoenix of fanaticism emerged and a weird pyro Pygmalion scenario engulfed his personal and professional life.
This dermatological drama plays like a literary bizarre bastard child of Franz Kafka and Mary Shelley with its cinematic sensibilities sifted through Bunuel, Sirk and Whale.
Boasting another brilliant score by Alberto Iglesias and stunning production design by Antxon Gomez, THE SKIN I LIVE IN is a sumptuous feast for the ear, eye and psyche.
Pure Almodovar.
© Richard Cotter
23rd May, 2012
Tags: Sydney Movie Reviews- THE SKIN I LIVE IN, Pedro Almodovar, Sydney Arts Guide, Richard Cotter.