Archive of films Skin I Live In / La piel que habito

Spain
2011, 117 min

Section: Horizons
Year: 2011

In his thriller with elements of melodrama based on the novel Tarantula, the celebrated Spanish filmmaker acquaints us with a renowned plastic surgeon (Antonio Banderas) obsessed with his attempts to develop a new type of resistant skin. Without allowing scruples to hinder his progress, he aims to test it out on a woman who bears a striking resemblance to his wife, who died tragically years before.

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.

Contacts

Hollywood Classic Entertainment
Psohlavců 8, 147 00, Praha 4
Czech Republic
Tel: +420 226 224 111
Fax: +420 226 224 110
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.hce.cz

FilmNation Entertainment
150 W. 22nd Str., 9th Floor, NY 10011, New York
United States of America
Tel: +1 917 484 8900
Fax: +1 917 484 8901
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.filmnation.com

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About the film

Color, DCP

Section:	Horizons

Director:	Pedro Almodóvar
Screenplay:	Pedro Almodóvar ve spolupráci s Agustínem Almodóvarem podle románu Tarantule Thierryho Jonqueta / with the collaboration of Agustín Almodóvar and based on the novel Mygale by Thierry Jonquet
Dir. of Photography:	José Luis Alcaine
Music:	Alberto Iglesias
Editor:	José Salcedo
Producer:	Agustín Almodóvar, Esther García
Production:	El Deseo
Cast:	Antonio Banderas, Elena Anaya, Marisa Paredes, Jan Cornet, Roberto Álamo, Eduard Fernández, Blanca Suárez, Susi Sánchez, Bárbara Lennie
Contact:	Hollywood Classic Entertainment, FilmNation Entertainment
Distributor:	Hollywood Classic Entertainment

Guests

Lucie Mazůrková

Distributor

Michal Kroupa

Distributor, Distributor