#14 - The Skin I Live In (2011)
(dir. Pedro Almodóvar)
After his wife was horribly burned in a car accident, plastic surgeon Dr. Robert Ledgard (Antonio Banderas) becomes obsessed with creating a tough and burn-resistant synthetic skin. He uses humans as test subjects, in particular a woman he is holding captive that he has an unhealthy relationship with. I was under the impression that this was basically a remake of Eyes Without a Face, and while it is clearly inspired by that film and shares a lot of elements, the plot here is very different and it's most definitely it's own thing. I'd rather not go into further plot details because it takes some hard left turns and was not at all what I was expecting.
This is fantastic and also super fucked up. Banderas is stellar and really good at being simultaneously sympathetic and dangerously insane. Elena Anaya is excellent too as his, uh, "patient". It's beautifully shot and generally well made in a way that is seemingly at odds with the disturbing subject matter. It also doesn't really feel exploitative to me even though it easily could have. I don't really have a lot to say about this one, mostly because it really needs to be experienced and it would be best to go in as blind as possible. Highly recommended.
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