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Under the Skin Movie Review

Under the Skin is a 2014 science fiction film directed by Jonathan Glazer and starring Scarlett Johansson. It’s a very strange arthouse indie that doesn’t quite work, but it is unique.

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“Do you want to look at me?“

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Disguising itself as a human female, an extraterrestrial drives around Scotland attempting to lure unsuspecting men into her van. Once there, she seduces and sends them into another dimension where they are nothing more than meat. When I first watched this film almost a decade ago, I really disliked it. Watching it again after all these years, I appreciate it more for its originality and atmosphere, though I still find the execution to be wanting in polish and engagement.

This is arthouse cinema, which means that it’s really not for the regular moviegoers. It’s intended for critics and for cinephiles who appreciate slower and minimalist movies. The minimalism on display here was extreme to the point where the dialogue was immensely sparse and the overall story felt undercooked, though the visuals did at least tell that story somewhat effectively.

And what is the story about? Well, this movie can be understood differently by different viewers depending on their own experiences and points of view. There is a clear sense that the film is a critique of gender and sexuality, in particular focusing on the performative aspect of sexuality. The complex identity and the crisis that the alien experiences also can stand for different things, including racial or gender identity. It’s all very ambiguous, but there are these ideas that are definitely present here. The issue of rape is also most definitely there.

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My issue here is that the sci-fi elements were only secondary to the aforementioned themes. There is that very memorable ending where we finally see an alien body and the scenes set in another dimension are pleasantly ambiguous and creepy, but too artsy for my taste. This alien examining humans and in the end maybe wanting to fit in was all there, but only explored slightly. A stronger focus on these themes would have made this film very interesting.

But the biggest issue for me personally is the film’s very limited appeal. Not only is the pacing extremely slow and meandering, but the minimalist dialogue was also a problem for what is supposed to be an intriguing SF story. There is also a clear titillating element to the film meant to appeal to straight men that felt overly graphic in nature. Scarlett Johansson is very good in the role, but her character was underwritten and the performance was overall too cold and far from her best works. The male characters fared much worse as they were literally disposable and stereotypical.

Under the Skin has an interesting style that mostly worked, but too often the movie focused on these takes and shots that never end and that did not offer anything new or meaningful to the story. The pacing was horribly sluggish. The cinematography is strong and the score is fittingly eerie, but the movie never fully went into horror territory, which was a shame as it was solidly set up as such.

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