After soldiering through the last two ultra bleak films by the immensely downbeat Artur Aristakisian, I was hoping to get a little break from the total hopelessness. I can’t say I totally succeeded, because while not completely soul sucking, this week’s flick still has its moments!
The Quick Gist
In Under the Skin, young Iris spirals after the death of her mother, and tries to cope by exploring her sexuality in increasingly dangerous ways.
Fever is the short that inspired Under the Skin. A woman tries to find validation she can’t get from her mother through reckless searches for sex.
Under the Skin (1997)
Now up on on Curiosities & Classics is a film from 1997 called Under the Skin. No, Glazer’s film isn’t a remake. This is a different Under the Skin, also shot in the UK, but by a Brazilian with a British accent: Carine Adler. What the two flicks do have in common is — to put it bluntly — sex, and the destructive search for it.
But it’s way more than that. Under the Skin stars a young Samantha Morton, fresh on the big screen scene in her first feature role. And she absolutely kills it, exuding raw explosive emotion from the get go.
Following the death of her mother, Iris (Morton) is sent spiraling, unwilling (or unable) to face this immense loss. From the first few lines of the movie, we know that she sees herself as second best, falling far short of her big sister Rose, who’s named after her mother’s favorite flower. We can only assume irises were a runner up.
This feeling of being lesser than fuels her search for meaning and comfort. Where does she try to find that? Through hooking up with random dudes. Her coping mechanism is sex. And what starts as something that seems like a relatively harmless moment of acting out morphs into something a bit more out of control. 19 years old at the time of filming, she barely looks it, and her innocence and youthfulness make the borderline dangerous sexual escapades all the more tense.
She may not be a kid, but she’s hardly a mature adult. She’s a young woman who simply isn’t equipped with the tools to deal with this immense loss. Nor should she be. Not at this age. And with an older sister who is preoccupied with her own growing family, Iris is left to go off the rails.
Sporting a sort of Jean Seberg from Breathless haircut, you can easily point out some Godard-like stylistic flourishes. But more so, there’s a noticeable Wong Kar Wai influence: in the way she frames her characters in rooms, the way the camera moves and whips around following Iris, and even down to the red lights that wash over her face. Barrelling down the street, done up in her late mother’s wig and big coat, with large sunglasses to boot, it’s hard not to think of the Woman in the Blonde Wig from Chungking Express.
And with Rita Tushingham making a brief appearance as the mother, there’s a clear connection (and homage) to A Taste of Honey, the knockout film in which she starred. Both feature young women struggling against a world that seems to have lost interest in them. Young, forgotten, and thrashing against a society that couldn’t care less. Except Iris isn’t pregnant. At least she hopes not.
All this to say, the movie’s got style, substance, and solid influences. Some pretty good combos, if you ask me. And boy do I love movies about floundering characters. Characters that even push your limits of empathy and sympathy.
Not only was Under the Skin Morton’s first feature, it was also Carine Adler’s, who made it at 40 years old (don’t lose hope folks!). And it also was her last. With only a few previous shorts under her belt, she threw in the towel after Under the Skin and… well she married a British government minister and called it quits. Boring!
Fever (1994)
Along with her only feature, I’m including Fever, the short that inspired it. Made in 1994, and featuring Katrin Cartlidge — who a year before starred in the blistering and caustic Mike Leigh film, Naked — it’s an obvious testing ground for what becomes Under the Skin.
There’s that same frank depiction of female desire, the sometimes reckless search for sex, and the way our protagonist uses it to get some sort of validation that she can’t get from her distant mother. She attempts to fill some hole (editor’s note: unintended crass pun — wow!!!) that’s been left by their fraught relationship. And it’s got a sense of humor, too. But where Samantha Morton has an innocence and lacks the experience to deal with her emotional turmoil, Cartlidge seems at the end of her rope. Like she’s tried everything else, seen it all before.
Anyway, grief kicks your ass. Makes you do crazy things. Sometime irreparable things. But not always. Sometimes you flounder for a bit, get yourself back on your feet, and just hope the next time ain’t so bad. Clocking in at just under one hour and twenty minutes, Under the Skin is a quick and stylish whirlwind of emotions that’s worth a watch. And Fever, at 17 minutes, is its precise and straight to the point predecessor. C&C approved!
This week’s password to watch on the site is: undertheskin97
Or request access to the Plex server here.
Want to chat about the film with fellow movie lovers? Then check out the Discord!
Supplements
A short interview with Carine Adler on her film, Under the Skin