THE SKIN I LIVE IN

(15) 117mins

Director: Pedro Almodovar

Starring: Antonio Banderas, Marisa Paredes, Elena Anaya

SOMETHING rather different this week - a Spanish subtitled horror movie directed by the worldwide acclaimed Pedro Almodovar and which leaves the audience rather unsettled.

Banderas plays skilled plastic surgeon Robert Ledgard who has created a synthetic skin that can’t be damaged.

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Unbeknown to the authorities, the surgeon has moved on from testing his project on animals to a human guinea pig.

However, this is far from a modern-day Frankenstein film.

The first third of the movie introduces us to the characters and reveals some of the secrets, along with a catalyst who sets the movie in a different direction.

The second third takes us back a few years and we have explanations for all our questions - and this is where Almodovar’s skill is revealed as the audience is left with a totally different viewpoint of what’s happened in that first part of the film. The final third wraps up the loose ends.

It may sound a little confusing and might have been left in anyone’s else’s hands, but Almodovar is a skilled craftsman.

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He’s helped by some superb acting from Banderas who looks far more comfortable speaking his native tongue. Elena Anaya, also in top form, is the mysterious woman locked in a room in Ledgard’s gothic mansion.

The whole film is shot with precision and is a perfect example for any film students on how to frame a shot for maximum effect.

The success of the film, though, will be if you guess the reveal. I’m hopless at spotting clues or seeing through a plot and so was suitably shocked and horrified.

If you’re the type who always works out whodunnit halfway through a film then you might be a bit bored and underwhelmed.

three out of five stars

Steve Payne

Screening courtesy of Cineworld Crawley