In My Skin
Directed by:
Marina de VanScreenplay:
Marina de VanComposer:
Esbjörn SvenssonCast:
Marina de Van, Laurent Lucas, Léa Drucker, Thibault de Montalembert, Dominique Reymond, Bernard Alane, Damien Roussineau, Alain Rimoux, Marc RioufolPlots(1)
When Esther (Marina de Van), a sweet and self-conscious young woman with a good job and a steady boyfriend, falls and suffers injuries to her leg, she gradually becomes obsessed with her own body and skin to the point where she is aggressively carving wounds in her own flesh. Her boyfriend, Vincent (Laurent Lucas) is understandably concerned and angry, but his inability to understand her disturbed psychological state forces Esther into further isolation and torment. (Tartan Video)
(more)Reviews (2)
Formal and psychological greyness and a huge borefest that hides behind a supposedly controversial and not very often addressed topic in films. Self-harm is, of course, a fetish worthy of a thorough cinematic probe, but Marina de Van doesn't even come close to it and only attempts to break the taboo in two slightly explicit scenes (which, dear fans of extreme cinema, can't be compared to every other representative of New French Extremity). I understand the idea of the impossibility of somehow supporting and confronting this psychological block, but I don't understand why I had to stare at 90 minutes of pure filmmaking shoddiness that doesn't psychologically progress and in sum goes nowhere.
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To give the film depth, it aims for a more artistic approach rather than trying to win over the audience. There are unnecessarily long scenes that start to become quite boring after a while, even though they depict somewhat believably self-harm. Marina de Van became intoxicated with her idea and plot, only to end up halfway there and not bring anything substantially new, just the self-harm itself, which simply affects you because it won't be pleasant to watch.
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