In Her Skin

In 1999, in Melbourne, the Babers are a happy middle-class family, and the fifteen-year-old ballerina daughter Rachel Barber (Kate Bell) is in love with her boyfriend Manni (Khan Chittenden), who dances with her. One night, Mr. Barber (Guy Pearce) is waiting for Rachel at the tram station, but she never appears. On the next morning, Mrs. Barber (Miranda Otto) and he go to the police to report that their daughter is missing, but the police detective does not give much attention, believing Rachel is a runaway home. However, Mr.& Mrs. Baker do not give up and distribute missing person pamphlets along the tram route. Manni discloses to them that Rachel had been invited by an older woman for a confidential job to earn a great amount that would allow Rachel to buy the desired ballet slipper. Meanwhile, the unstable teenager Caroline Reid Robertson (Ruth Bradley), who has inferiority complex, low self-esteem, depression and eventual seizures due to the medicines she must take, sees Rachel and Manni making out in a bench on the street. She was a former front door neighbor to the Barber family, with divorced parents, that idolized Rachel and tried to imitate her. Her obsession increased over the years, and she plots a plan to lure Rachel and bring her to her apartment. What will happen to Rachel?

"In Her Skin" (2009) is a dramatic Australian thriller based on a true story. The screenplay is very well written, showing the story by different point of views from the family and the killer. Unfortunately, this DVD was not in my priority list of my collection and only yesterday I saw this great film. The sad story is very well-acted and despite the names of Guy Pearce, Miranda Otto and Sam Neill, the unknown Ruth Bradley steals the movie with her magnificent performance as an insane teenager. How Caroline transported Rachel's body to hide at the farmer of her father is never explained. Was her wealthy father involved? Further, the sentence of twenty years imprisoned with the right to probation after fourteen years is absolutely unfair to the Barbers, who lost a beloved fifteen-year-old daughter in a planned murder. It seems that the Australian justice system has similar problems to the Brazilian one. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Vítima Perfeita" ("The Perfect Victim")

The title it played in Germany at the Fantasy Filmfest. A very strange little movie, that is very dark and will very likely appall a lot of people (if they don't know what they're in for especially), because of it's theme, but also because of it's graphic nature (at times, not that often, but still quite disturbing).

The actors involved in here are all good, Guy Pearce giving a better performance (there must be a better script at hand I reckon) than in "Don't be afraid of the Dark". One of our lead actresses has to go to really tough places and she manages to do so very convincingly. Not for everyone and I'm not sure "enjoy" would be the right word to use after watching it, but this is a really good work of art!

This a powerful movie with a long lasting impression. I think Simone did a fantastic job with this story. She kept to the actual events of what happened to Rachel, her family, friends as well as Caroline without glorifying it, sugar coating it and hollywoodising it. It is real and it is raw. This is what happened and this is how the people involved experienced it. The acting is fantastic, the way the scenes flow and the cinematography is excellent. Along with the true story there are messages to take from it, one being involved and recognizing mental illness, as we know is a massive and growing problem in the community.

A film with many names. "I am you" originally, turned to "In her skin" and in other countries the rather over used and not very original "Missing".

Already in the opening scene you realize this is film which will be pleasant on your eyes. A great opening scene! Beautifully shot, great camera movements, and great setting of emotional feelings, as well as colors and sounds. This is a film which is eye candy, though it's a bleak true story.

The film starts with a young daughter, Rachel, going missing on her way from dance practice. The parents know that this is serious, but as always, the police doesn't. Then we tend to another story, about Caroline, which has a mental illness, which affects not only the near family.

The film's problem is that the stories are starting over and over in the beginning and takes away the tension. This doesn't help the story telling. Too bad, because there's such an amount of talent here. I think a more traditional storyline would have done different. Without this, the film would have gotten a better score. Still a great story, but the jumping doesn't allow a proper story building for this to become a classic.

The mother of Caroline and her crying didn't convince me, but the cast is doing a great job. Amazing acting. A-class. Ruth Bradley is amazing in her role as Caroline.

The film reminded me of "Black swan" in more than one way. Both the mental illness, the ballet dancing and the overall quality. Well picked score, heavy on emotion. A great Film, and one if the better Australian films I've seen.

This movie is a puzzler. On the second viewing, I thought it was pretty good.

I don't know why that is for certain. Is it because, on first viewing, the film makes you angry about innocence stolen and snuffed out forever? This is the natural reaction you get from watching this, but the final shot makes you feel as though the makers of it disagree or were too busy being even handed, respectful to both families,that they leached the ending of it's inherent power. You'll have to see this film to find out. I will just conclude with this point. Dear filmmakers, choose a lane. This isn't one of those stories where you can "take both sides".

Miranda Otto is the standout performance, but the entire Otto family is wildly talented, so unfairly, a genius acting performance is to be expected from her clan and as per usual, she doesn't disappoint. Guy Pearce is solid and the young actors in this film are uniformly excellent. A solid crime film, based on a true story that you won't soon forget.