If you’re a big fan of the Spanish actor Antonio Banderas, you’ll be excited to learn that he’s playing a Dr Frankenstein-like plastic surgeon in Pedro Almodovar’s latest thriller, “The Skin I Live In.” This movie is very unique and violent.
In the film, Antonio Banderas plays a famous plastic surgeon who develops a way to strengthen human skin through transgenisis, an experiment which is classified as a horrific mutation by some scientists. He goes to great lengths to hide this fact, retreating to a suburban mansion and using a fragile beauty as his test subject.
He keeps her inside his home and cared for by his head maid Marilia, but she doesn’t have access to the outside world. She’s kept in a room with two-way mirrors and is constantly watched by her captor.
His obsession with the girl is what drives his experiments. He uses her as a way to avenge the deaths of his wife and daughter, and he does this by secretly trialing artificial skin on her.
While he’s at it, he also takes on a young man named Zeca (Brian Cox), who rapes his daughter and steals her money. In order to avenge his family’s death, Robert Ledgard creates a synthetic skin which he tests on Vera (Elena Anaya), an attractive but disturbed woman who he keeps captive in the privacy of his house.
The result is a terrifyingly demented film that’s as chilling and disquieting as any of Almodovar’s other films.
In this taut and perverse thriller, the director’s flair for transforming Hollywood kitsch is on full display. As the film progresses, we find our main character, Robert Ledgard (Antonio Banderas), looking like an old-school GQ model but with a cold, purposeful edge to his demeanor and a disturbing fascination with the girl.
This is a film that you’ll never forget, and you’ll be thinking about it long after the credits have stopped rolling. It’s a masterpiece of suspense and horror, with a twist that’s so outre you won’t want to tell anyone.
It’s a film that isn’t for kids, because there are graphic surgical procedures and explicit sexuality including a forced sex change operation on a rapist.
As a matter of fact, there are many disturbing scenes in this film, especially the brutal and sadistic rape scene. The movie is not for everyone, but if you are looking for a very unique, violent and sexual movie with a twist that you won’t forget then look no further than “The Skin I Live In”.
Daniel Nixon thinks this taut thriller about a psychotic plastic surgeon is one of Almodovar’s best.
While the plot may be a little too predictable, it’s the performances that really make this film so good. The chemistry between the cast is outstanding, and the script is smart, dark and disturbingly funny.
The Skin I Live In is a very original, highly violent and sexual movie, which has some really graphic surgical procedures and nudity in it. It’s definitely not for kids, and it contains some very disturbing and bloody moments, like a rape and a forced sex change operation on an unruly teen girl.