Mesmerized. That's how I felt, last summer, when I first watched Under the Skin: a strange, highly original and visually stunning 2013 science fiction mystery, directed by the versatile English filmmaker Jonathan Glazer (known for his 2000 crime thriller Sexy Beast and his 2004 family drama Birth).
From the onset of Under the Skin, starting with the galactic opening shots which suggest that extraterrestrial forces arrive on Earth, I got the feeling that I was witnessing something very special. Something of a dark, fragile depth, rarely seen in an industry that's preoccupied with box-office returns.
Mysterious and seductive
Based on the 2000 novel of the same name by the Dutch writer Michel Faber, the intruiging screenplay of Under the Skin was co-written by Walter Campbell and director Jonathan Glazer.
The film follows a mysterious and nameless woman (played with glacial superiority by the talented American actress Scarlett Johansson), while she drives in a van through Scotland and lures solitary men into a trap, charming them while hiding her real intentions and maintaining her apparently dispassionate, ice-cold composure; colder than a femme fatale in a cryogenic freezer.
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| Scarlett Johansson as the strange woman. |
An equally mysterious motorcyclist helps the woman to conceal the evidence of her secretive deeds. What is this methodical duo up to? What is that strange black goo in which their victims end up? Does it extract an energy source or life force? And how does the strange seductress react when she notices essential things around her that make humans human, such as humor, compassion, self-sacrifice, musicality, hunger, fear, lust or love? Is she starting to feel something...?
Experimental
Glazer alternates quasi documentary shots of day-to-day life on the bleak streets of the Scottish city Glasgow with poetic and often hauntingly beautiful images. One of the most lyrical moments is a dissolve between the shot of Scarlett Johansson as the sleeping mystery woman and the shot of a spruce forest that's swaying in the wind.
The experimental images in Under the Skin -such as the fascinating shots of the dark room with its black, liquid and reflective floor- come very close to museal video art and remind me of the visual magic in Stanley Kubrick's brilliant 1968 science fiction mystery classic 2001: A Space Odyssey. And the compelling soundscapes in Under the Skin (composed by Mica Levi aka Micachu), which enhance the ominous atmosphere that is sustained all the way to the film's tragic ending, are reminiscent of György Ligeti's eerie music in Kubrick's terrific 1980 horror thriller The Shining.
Some scenes in Under the Skin, f.e. certain scenes with actress Johansson as the seductress in her van, were shot with a hidden camera. The men who are invited into the van were often unsuspecting passers-by. And it was only after these scenes were already shot, that these men got told they were taking part in a movie. That contributed to their spontaneous, naturalistic interactions while they were secretely filmed. And Johansson herself -with that unique, 'alien', erotic look of hers- is perfectly cast as the enigmatic woman. Through her eyes, we notice (from a new, childlike perspective) the touching stupidity, vulnerablity, ugliness and beauty of mankind (and our individual selves), with wonder and compassion.
What a relief, also, that Glazer had the courage to explain nothing, and leave it to our own imaginations to explore the meaning of what's hidden under the skin of this equally sensitive and disturbing film.
It's hard to find a more striking example of cinema as genuine art. Both cruel and sad, chilling and tender, Under the Skin is a masterpiece of rare, shocking beauty.
Joeri Naanai
Under the Skin - UK/USA/Switzerland - 2013.
Cast: Scarlett Johansson.
Genre: science fiction / thriller / existential drama
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