Summary:
A plastic surgeon, haunted by past tragedies, holds a mysterious woman prisoner in order to perfect a new type of synthetic skin that can withstand damage.
My Thoughts:
This is part of our World Tour Cinema: Spain series.
For a long time this movie sat on my shelf, unwatched (I’d guess it sat there for at least six years). I picked it up at a used movie sale for somewhere around $2 on the recommendation of a friend. I had heard only whispers about this film, but Pedro Almodovar (director of “Volver”, “Talk to Her”, and “Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown”) had been on my radar for some time. I knew the basic premise, but it had been so long that I’d read anything about it, I was essentially going in half-blind. With the Spain series upon us, I could think of no better time than to finally watch this film.
“There’s a place where you can take refuge. A place inside you, a place to which no one else has access, a place that no can destroy.”
Robert Ledgard (Antonio Banderas, “The 13th Warrior”) is a brilliant plastic surgeon driven by his tragic past to create a type of synthetic skin that withstands damage. The woman on whom he experiments is a mysterious woman named Vera (Elena Anaya, “Wonder Woman”). As we watch the story unravel, the connection between them grows ever more apparent.
So, this is a strange film for me, because I was simultaneously impressed and disenfranchised bit. The direction was absolutely spellbinding. There are lots of moments where the way the frame is laid in an absolutely gorgeous way that hints at some deeper meaning; there are a lot of show-don’t-tell moments and there are a lot of scenes with great subtlety in them. Almodovar is clearly an experienced director, one who knows what he wants and how to get it. The way the story unfolds is also great- we’re constantly learning new things about the characters, things that should’ve drawn me further and further into the story; only, it didn’t.
The direction was calculated in such a way that I felt as if every character, every interaction was cold and heartless. A lot of the characters in this movie are also rather thorny people; there aren’t really any characters I want to root for. And as we learn the sins that have been committed both against and by these people, we’re constantly given different information that makes us reevaluate how to feel about them. From a storytelling standpoint, this is great! It always keeps us guessing, and, as I mentioned above, I was surprised that I just didn’t get sucked into this world.
I think that my biggest personal problem with my initial viewing is that I didn’t know what I was in for. A lot of the themes of the film deal with sexual violence, which, let’s face it, isn’t a fun topic to begin with. There is a lengthy rape scene near the beginning of the film, another rape scene about halfway through that becomes a focal point of the film, and then there is a lot of dialogue that revolves around this same topic. Let me be clear: this is an important topic that should be discussed, only, I wish I would’ve known what kind of discussion I was entering before I entered it, if that makes any sense. I have no problem with a film attacking important social issues (“4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days”), but I feel like I need a little prior knowledge before jumping headfirst into a two-hour discussion about sexuality and violence’s relationship to it. This film is uncomfortable and it doesn’t try to hide that at all. There are a lot of moments that made me squirm in my seat, and some of the revelations we learn did just the same thing to me. This movie is, at its heart and soul, a twisted thriller, and it revels in that perversion that it creates.
Verdict:
As a film in general, this movie is fine. It’s made with enough class and intentional direction that I can’t give it anything less than 3.5/5 stars, which isn’t a terrible score for a movie at all. I can’t say I would recommend this to people because there aren’t many people that I think need to see this film. If you’re really into Almodovar, then you might want to check it out. For me, this movie was directed well enough that it actually got me really interested in Almodovar’s work. Even though this story didn’t grab me like I wanted it to, I still have intentions to watch a few more of his movies just for his direction.
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