The Skin I Live In

Colour, DCP
Spain, 2011, 117 min
Section: Horizons

Synopsis

Twelve years after the tragic death of his wife in a car explosion, renowned plastic surgeon Robert Ledgard succeeds in developing a resistant type of skin which would have saved his beloved wife. The charming man, obsessed with an ideal that goes beyond the border of bioethics, doesn’t allow scruples to get in his way, not even when he decides to start testing the viability of his invention. This thriller with elements of melodrama, loosely based on the novel Tarantula (Mygale) by Thierry Jonquet, brings together Pedro Almodóvar and his long-time favourite Antonio Banderas in their first collaboration in over twenty years. "Our face defines us,” says the hero of the film, although his own conceals a few dark secrets. With the help of his screenwriting brother Agustín, Almodóvar tells a story essentially about cold, calculated and exact revenge, masterfully combining various time planes which allow him to expand his themes of passion, carnality and sexual identity. His nineteenth effort is once again a sophisticated tribute to the world of film, this time to Hitchcock, Buñuel and the horror flick by Georges Franju Eyes without a Face.

About the director

Pedro Almodóvar (b. 1949, Calzada de Calatrava, Spain) was educated in a monastic school. He lived in Madrid from the age of 17 where he became a leading figure of the underground "movida madrileña” movement. His feature debut was the "punk-style” Pepi, Luci, Bom (1980). He broke onto the international scene with What Have I Done to Deserve This? (1984), after which Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1987 – Oscar and Felix nominations) became a world phenomenon. The film The Flower of My Secret won Best Actress at the 31st KVIFF. All About My Mother (1999) and Talk to Her (2002) won Academy Awards. Other films by Almodóvar, Bad Education (2004), Volver (2006) and Broken Embraces (2009), have screened at Karlovy Vary. The Skin I Live In was premiered in competition at Cannes.