Director Pedro Almodovar's work is as daring as they
come. With a resume that contains
the likes of All About My Mother, Bad Education, and Volver the Spanish native never shies away from pushing the
envelope. After witnessing his
latest masterpiece, The Skin I Live In,
I cannot understand why his homeland doesn't push more of his work
internationally.
The story centers on a world-renowned plastic surgeon
(played by Antonio Banderas) that is attempting to create a synthetic skin in
honor of his wife who was severely disfigured after surviving a car fire. The
story shifts remarkably well from present to past, using the time shift to
explain the mysterious arrival of Elena to the clinic.
Now on the surface this seems like a fairly straightforward
science fiction work, but then we witness a kidnapping that suddenly transforms
the film into a stylistic thriller. Ledgard's daughter was traumatized after
the death of her mother only to suffer a complete emotional breakdown after
subsequently being raped during a prominent social event. I don't want to go too much into it for
fear of spoiling all the fun, but The
Skin I Live In is both haunting and creatively magnificent. This is the
first work in roughly two decades for Banderas and Almodovar, after seeing this
film you know that the final result was well worth the wait!
