Under the Skin is the latest from director Jonathan Glazier and stars Scarlett Johansson. The film opens with a series of abstract images. A woman’s voice repeats words over and over, gradually forming the English Language. The shapes become more recognisable, a human eye. A biker picks up the body of a dead young woman from a ditch. He puts her body in a white van. In a white void, a naked young woman undresses the corpse. It is her exact double and she assumes the dead woman’s identity. This is Laura, a mysterious alien. She takes to the streets of Edinburgh in a white van and catches the attention of various young men. She takes them to her derelict home and they are never seen again.
Watching Under the skin is a unique experience. It has minimal dialogue, much of which is improvised. The van that Laura drives around is in fact a portable film studio, fitted with multiple hidden cameras providing fixed viewpoints of her and her newly acquired travelling companions. The men Johansson seduces are unaware they’re being filmed (with the exception of a few actors). On disembarking a production team would be ready to leap would from the van waving release forms and an explanation that the woman they’ve just been casually trying to pick up is in fact an A-list Hollywood star.
The film makers put hidden microphones in Johansson’s wig to capture ambient noise and dialogue. When she walks through a shopping centre or Nightclub she is being filmed by guerrilla camera’s hidden from the unsuspecting public. It’s a bold way of making a sci-fi film with such a big name and Under the skin is a distinctly odd and wonderful experience. It resembles shades of Kubrick’s ‘2001’ partly due to its striking visuals and excellent and hypnotic score by Mica Levi. Strings compliment a slow and undulating beat as we see the world from the alien’s point of view. She looks at the world with new eyes, a true outsider. The longer she spends on Earth the more she questions her mission. An encounter with a young man with severe facial disfigurements sets her on a different more human path, questioning the identity she has in her new skin.
Johansson cuts an iconic image in a black curly wig, furry bomber jacket, faded jeans and ankle boots; she is the epitome of an illegal alien from foreign shores. Her clipped British accent is both mannered and charming; she stands out and yet blends in seamlessly as if she’s been there forever. There’s something not quite right about her, maybe it’s because she’s a soulless vessel. She looks at everyone the same. No one has preferential treatment. A scene on the beach with a baby is one of the most dangerous and heart breaking scenes in cinema history. Under the skin also has its feet firmly planted in horror. One scene really got me and made some sense of the victim’s fate, it was tense, intriguing and it packed a hell of a punch whilst simultaneously remaining hypnotic and eerie. If there’s anything negative to say, Laura’s last human encounter is a bit of a bum-note. What could have been tense and suspenseful without dialogue is almost ruined by it, almost.
Under the skin is a very loose adaptation of the novel of the same name by Michael Faber. Comparing the two is difficult as Glazier has taken the barest bones of the story and essentially re-imagined it entirely. I have read the book and I enjoyed it but it has a much more creature-feature vibe to it. Isserley; the alien (renamed Laura) seemed much more cartoony than the alluring creature portrayed by Johansson. If you enjoyed the film it’s work a look out of curiosity but for me it couldn’t compare to the elegance and horror of the film.
OVERALL SUMMARY
A mysterious and beguiling Sci-fi art-house mystery. Some people have really hated the film but if you’re prepared for a minimalist art-house experience I urge you to give it a go.
