The Skin I Live In is
a full-blown gothic horror movie by Pedro Almodóvar.
I’m just gonna let that sink in a moment.
Almodóvar’s films invariably place among the best
movies of any given year. He tells
carefully constructed and observed stories with humanity and an impeccable eye
for composition. Films like Volver and All About My Mother offer not just an evening’s entertainment, but
full-blown aesthetic experiences.
And here, in The
Skin I Live In, he gives us a full-blown aesthetic experience that’s also a
‘mad scientist’ movie.
Antonio Banderas, reminding us that he was an actor
before he became a personality, plays the mad scientist - mad in both senses of
the word. His faithful assistant
(and Almodóvar regular), Marisa Paredes, enables and supports him as only a
faithful assistant in a mad scientist movie can. The nature of his madness I’ll leave for you to discover.
The really interesting part of all this, however, is
what Almodóvar does with Banderas’s madness. He uses it to investigate and question our sense of self, of
sexuality, of our relationships with the most important people in our
lives. What are they founded
upon? Are they malleable? If so, how much?
And he does all this with the thoughtful,
compassionate gaze and impeccable eye for beauty that marks all his work. He takes a ‘mad scientist’ movie and
turns it into something different, better, more. He makes us think, and he makes us really see, and he gives us beauty at 24 frames per second.
Pedro Almodóvar can do no wrong. The Skin I Live In marks yet another fine example.
