Cannes 2011

The Skin I Live In

4 STARS

We refuse to spoil the secrets of writer/director Pedro Almodovar’s terrific skin-flick – and shame on those who do – but it’s something as deliciously twisted as anything that extreme auteurs like Park Chan-wook (OldBoy) have cooked up for Cannes in past. Mystery melodrama, revenge thriller, body horror, loopy black comedy…

The Skin I Live In sutures everything together for a genre-bender, a gender-bender and the most enjoyable film we’ve seen at the festival so far. The story – based on French crime writer Thierry Jonquet’s novel Tarantula – begins with a beautiful woman (Talk To Her’s ridiculously hot Elena Anaya) apparently imprisoned in the lavish home of master plastic-surgeon Antonio Banderas, who has invented a way to create superhuman skin. From there… Well, you’ll have to wait and see. Things just get darker, weirder and wittier. And when you’re sure that a rapey jewel-thief dressed as a tiger is the oddest thing you’re going to see, Almodovar yanks a wicked central plot-pivot and corkscrews his tale of madness and passion to new levels. With Banderas still smouldering nearly 30 years after Almodovar first gave him his big-screen breakthrough, this is an exciting fresh thrust from Spain’s arthouse camp-daddy.

This won’t be a Cannes that Lars von Trier will forget in a hurry, following the afternoon’s press conference for his new film, Melancholia. (Watch today’s video to see for yourself.)

Putting the controversy behind him, the director joined the film’s stars for the evenings premiere, including Charlotte Gainsbourg and Kirsten Dunst, who play sisters in the film. Jodie Foster, whose film The Beaver premiered the previous night, was also in attendance.

Guest, producer Meta Foldager, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kirsten Dunst, Director Lars von Trier, Bente Froge, guest and Charlotte Rampling

Kirsten Dunst

Jodie Foster