In My Skin

Synopsis :After falling and cutting her leg severely at a party, Esther becomes obsessed with the lack of pain she experienced. She begins inflicting wounds in the area where she was originally hurt and slowly becomes obsessed with the touch and taste of her own skin.

Overview : Not many movies have put me in a situation to where I NEEDED to turn them off just to regroup. For me, this is a GOOD sign!

*Atmosphere This movie isn't as dark as it sounds, if that makes sense. The surroundings for Esther are very bright - home, work, hanging out with friends. So when she starts going a bit mad, it's extra freaky. The music I felt added a big part to my overall feelings. *Cast/Characters I felt that Marina de Van did a marvelous job! Nothing was lost in the translation and even though you have to read the story, where to main visual effects come into play you didn't lose anything with words. I don't know if it was because the actress is also the writer and director and she was able to do her own vision but a job well done!

*F/X Not many opportunities for intense F/X but it's the subtle ones that really made my tummy turn. Whenever something looks very realistic (or basically looks like it COULD be something that happens to YOU) then that really gets....under my skin! *Pace Pretty smooth movie with only a few moments that just lingered a bit too long on Ester's "eating" habits! I quick push of the FWD button and I was safe again. My advice, don't eat pizza while watching this film!

Jekyll's Thoughts : An amazing movie that I am glad I had the opportunity to watch. I look forward to seeing what de Van has up her sleeve in the future. I give this one a 3 star rating If it makes it to your local vid store, make sure and check it out.

This is a movie made with the confidence of one who knows exactly what she is trying to communicate. The problem is that what is being communicated is so far beyond the norm that it is not going to be easily grasped. Esther is a highly intelligent young woman. The main thread of the story begins when she accidentally injures herself. Through the injury she begins to see her herself as merely meat, an object. Meat can not suffer, has no emotions, has no ambitions, is immune to the pressures and pettiness of everyday life. She finds this release increasingly more fascinating and attractive. This is not something she can communicate to anyone around her so she explores it in secret attempting to finally exist as a mere object devoid of all humanity. Her loneliness adds a cutting edge of sadness to the story. If she found the right person to share her thoughts with we may have ended up with an equally bizarre love story.

I found it difficult to watch this movie all the way through without a break. Some of my friends have not even managed to watch it past the first twenty minutes. If you do manage to sit through this movie, I am pretty sure that not only will you thereafter remember it vividly, you will also find it hard to stop talking about it.

Saw this at a cult film festival. You'd think a cult audience would be able to stomach depictions of self-inflicted violence, but several people walked out. I can't really blame them. It is an intimate and plausible portrait of a woman who has lived her life on autopilot until she finally finds a way to feel alive and beautiful: by mutilating herself. She seems painfully aware that her friends and coworkers won't get it, understandably, and that once she takes that path, there is only one way out.

Devastating.

Disturbing as "In My Skin" is, the movie frequently pops into my mind. Looking at the film on the surface, I was disturbed by the imagery, as apparently were the other people in the theatre who all left before the movie was over.

This is a movie that, much like "Groundhog Day," might be best used for cinema therapy. On the surface, we see a woman who develops an unusual predilection for self-mutilation. Looking deeper though, I saw a woman who became consumed by her addictions. We would not have been as affected if she had "merely" been an alcoholic, a drug abuser, an anorexic or bulimic.

The woman's self-mutilation becomes a metaphor for any number of other self-destructive behaviors. Her self-mutilation is never seen by her friends or family. Similar to someone with anorexia wearing baggy clothes or a drug addict hiding their pain to the point where people would say, "Wow--I would have never suspected her/him to have that problem."

"In My Skin," lays out a plausible timeline for an addiction. Surely, the woman's friends and family in the film would spend hours later determining what they actually saw or thought they knew or wish they knew about the woman and her addictive behaviors.

"In My Skin" is very very powerful and uses a very disturbing metaphor that if people allowed themselves the chance to see and take the time to discuss, could be very influential long term.

I was bitterly disappointed with this film. I was expecting something, deep challenging and thought provoking. As it was, yeah I nearly walked out as well, but only through boredom. The special effects are at a level of unrealism only surpassed by bad horror films- found myself laughing at scenes meant, presumably, to be something other than comedy. What could have been a fascinating portrayal of self injury ends up as forgettable blood porn and if you want that go see Crash, at least that cast can act.