There are certain metaphysical questions such as – What is a human being? What does it mean to be a singular person? These questions have no singular answer.
THE SKIN I LIVE IN is a masterful tale of secrets, obsession and revenge from Academy Award winning writer/director Pedro Almodovar. The celebrated director tries to answer the above metaphysical questions through his 2011 psychological thriller, The Skin I Live In. This movie mirrors an interesting and horrific look at human identity. It won the best Foreign Language Film award at the 2012 BAFTAs.
Dr Robert Ledgard (Antonio Banderas) is a hard-working plastic surgeon haunted by personal tragedies. His wife burns to death in a tragic car accident. This prompted the doctor to develop a more creative form of skin that could save the lives of burn victims. After 12 years of research, he successfully creates a synthetic skin capable of withstanding all damage, guards the body and sensitive to touch. This skin could have prevented the death of his wife had he discovered it years earlier. His research is judged to be unconscionable.
His latest “guinea pig” is a mysterious captive whose true identity masks a shocking mystery. Dr Ledgard kidnaps someone to test his creation. With the aid of his faithful housekeeper (Marisa Paredes), Ledgard tests his creation on Vera (Elena Anaya), who is held prisoner against her will in the doctor’s mansion. The doctor is successful in creating a new person. His prisoner, Vera, struggles to cope with her new skin, appearance, and sense of self.
Antonio Banderas reunites with director Pedro Almodovar to star in this skin-crawling thriller. This movie is based on the novel ‘Tarantula’ by Thierry Jonquet.
About the Author
Dr. K. Raja Gopal Reddy is a seasoned internationally qualified Insurance professional.
What you are reading here, may not answer all the questions we have, but has the absolute power of asking unsettling questions which increase the interest in the strange world, and show the contradictory wonders lying just below the surface of the commonest things of life. Look at this disturbing but beautiful thought of Friedrich Nietzsche “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him”.
Dr. Reddy can be reached at: raja66gopal@gmail.com
