Well… What to say…. that is exactely the reaction you have when the credit shows up after 1h50 of the film Under the skin. So quite speachless, only the fact you cannot resist looking next to you and feeling the need to share with someone your impressions on what you have just seen, if you have seen the same, the need of a real debriefing: Did we saw the same movie? What about Scarlett?
Indeed, this is the kind of “experimental” movie you are not sure youl followed what the director meant or where he wanted to lead the audience. An sensory experience since the two stars of the movie are Scarlett and the omnipresent, oppresent and sometimes bizarre original soundtrack.
This is an adaptation from Michael Faber’s novel, about a femme fatale,, an alien, a men predator for confusing reasons. With the hunting field sets in Scotland, this luscious, disembodied and dangerous woman drives across the land until questioning why she is doing this lethal stratagem.
As mentioned in the title, the theme is very fleshy but also very dehumanized. With a very slow rhythm, Scarlett has very few lines; it’s the soundtracks and its creaking strings that actually tell the story.
What’s most interesting in the movie is the shot angles research from the director, the experienced Jonathan Glazer, who has directed movies before. Between the over layered cuts like in Shining by Kubrick, the imposing pan shots and the shirker camera, the cinematographic language becomes complex, maybe even too much?
What about Scarlett in all this? Indeed, After watching the film, you wonder who is using who between the actress and the director? Is the plastic used for the screenplay? Or is the daring topic used for the best of a career? For sure, the actress is very convincing as an alien who traps her preys one by one. The director puts at their advantage her generous lines and shows how difficult it is to resists them. She is actually brave or provoking since she gets completely nacked on screen.
After such a film, who benefits more in credibility? The director who has been able to transform the actress or the international star who has dared to take advantage of such opportunity? Honestly, watching Scarlett surpasses herself in front of the camera makes you lose a the thread of the story a bit. The risk is to appreciate much more’ Scarlett’s performance than to spread through her alien role.
In brief, between an intro like The Space Odyssey, shots borrowed from Kubrick, and a story kind of far-fetched, you can claim this is a highbrow movie.
Moreover, this is not a date movie, if your +1 always has a secret crush on Scarlett Johansson, embarrassing situations may occur…
