Pedro Almodovar's The Skin I Live In

I have been waiting for this movie to come to Australia, and it did indeed, closing the Brisbane International Film Festival tonight. Nick and I decided to forego the 'let's walk down the red carpet like the other people pretending to be fancy' and instead, jumped the rope and walked up the stairs into a 1/2 filled theatre. I went to buy myself a glass of wine, and in the 10 minutes it took me to do that, the cinema was jam packed! Every seat in the house!

My love affair with Pedro Almodovar and Antonio Banderas began way back with Law of Desire in 1987 and continued with Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down.. Then hollywood called, and in my opinion, Banderas in English cannot compare with Banderas in Spanish.

Pedro Almodovar is a director without peer. I think he writes and directs the best roles for women in film - All About My Mother - a masterpiece and tribute to mothers - all kinds of mothers - showing that you do not have to have a child to be a mother and you do not have to be a woman to be a mother... No other director has the ability to portray the sympathetic villain with such beauty and empathy. In Tie Me Up... a man kidnaps a woman until she loves him. In Talk To Her, a nurse rapes a comatose patient because he loves her... Almodovar sees things differently, and thank God, he can make us see things differently too.

In the Skin I Live In, Dr Robert Ledgard loses his wife in tragic circumstances, and as a result, creates a synthetic skin that cannot be harmed. He experiments on a live person, and I cannot tell you any more than this, otherwise I will spoil the film.

Needless to say, the film is shocking and bizarre and with a whopping great twist that leaves you in complete disbelief. However, you have a sympathy for Dr Ledgard, you understand his pain and his drive. As violent and brutal as the films themes are, the film is also beautiful and moving.

Banderas is fabulous as Ledgard. His physicality is so powerful. The way he wears his clothes, the way he walks, and this might be strange, but I love his wrists and the way his watch sits (ok wierd, but i like Adrien Brody for the same reason). Elena Anaya as Vera is stunning, perfection. Marisa Paredes is also very very good as Ledgard's lifelong carer.

This movie belongs to Banderas though, and he is never better than with Almodovar.

I think this film is not for everyone, I think Almodovar is an acquired taste for people who may not culturally identify with him. You need to let your belief systems stay outside the cinema for a while. I for one, loved every bizarre minute of it.

4/5