I have to be honest, but despite his legendary status in the global film community, I haven't seen any of Pedro Almodovar's films until now. It may be a bit mad and a bit melodramatic, but his latest The Skin I Live In is most definitely a horror film.
With a more than a dash of Frankenstein in it's DNA, it's the story of mad scientist Antonio Banderas who defies the law by working on a burn resistant skin replacement for burn victims. The women in his life don't seem to have lot of luck, whether it's his mother, daughter, wife (whom he lost following a fire related incident) and the woman he experiments on, Vera. In fact, this might be a bit uncomfortable for some given that there are a couple of rape scenes in the film (all handled with a cool detachment) which emphasise the treatment of women in the narrative.
Told intriguingly out of sequence, we get to learn about the past misfortunes of these women as well as the future of the mysterious Vera with whom Banderas seems to be very protective of. The film is heavily stylised, having a hyper-real quality to it, and when the connections between the characters are made and the revelations finally exposed for all to see, it's hard to deny the story is a bit bonkers.
The cast are all superb, particularly Banderas who shows he's still got more to offer than voice-overs for fairy tale cats, and from the stupendously attractive Elena Anaya as Vera who is ultimately the big narrative puzzle at the heart of the film.
A beautifully made but nutty horror tale, The Skin I Live In is a fine work exploring the dynamic between what you look like and who you actually are inside.
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