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Under the Skin is a 2013 science fiction film directed and a red mass empties through a trough.
co-written by Jonathan Glazer loosely based on Michel The woman seduces a lonely man with facial disfigure-
Faber's 2000 novel of the same name. The film stars
ment (Adam Pearson) but lets him leave after examining
Scarlett Johansson as an otherworldly woman who preys herself in a mirror. The motorcyclist intercepts the man
on men in Scotland.
and bundles him into a car, then sets out in pursuit of the
Glazer and cowriter Walter Campbell developed Under woman with three other motorcyclists.
the Skin for a decade, settling on a film that takes an alien In the Scottish Highlands, the woman abandons the van
perspective of the human world. Most of the characters in the fog. She walks to a restaurant and attempts to eat
were played by non-actors, including road racer Jeremy cake, but retches and spits it out. At a bus stop, she meets
McWilliams; many scenes were unscripted conversations a man (Michael Moreland) who offers to help her. At his
filmed with hidden cameras on the street. It competed house, they watch television and eat, and she attempts to
for the Golden Lion at the 70th Venice International Film tap her finger to music. Alone in her room, she examines
Festival in 2013, and was released in the United States on her body in a mirror. They visit a ruined castle, where the
April 4, 2014. man carries her over a puddle and helps her down some
Though Under the Skin was a box office failure, it re- steps. At his house, they kiss and begin to have sex, but
ceived positive reviews, particularly for Johansson’s per- the woman stops and examines her genitals.
formance, Glazer’s direction, and Mica Levi's score. It Wandering in a forest, the woman meets a commercial
received multiple awards and was named one of 2014’s
logger (Dave Acton) and shelters in a bothy. She awakes
best films by several publications. to find the logger molesting her. She runs into the wilder-
ness but he catches and attempts to rape her; he tears her
skin, revealing a black, featureless body. As the woman
1 Plot extricates herself from her skin, the man douses her in
fuel and burns her alive.
In Glasgow, a motorcyclist (Jeremy McWilliams) re-
trieves an inert young woman (Lynsey Taylor Mackay)
from the roadside and places her in the back of a van, 2 Development
where a naked woman (Scarlett Johansson) dons her
clothes. After buying clothes and make-up at a shopping
Director Jonathan Glazer decided to adapt Michel Faber's
mall, the woman drives the van around Scotland, picking novel Under the Skin (2000) after finishing his debut film
up men. She lures a man (Joe Szula) into a dilapidated
Sexy Beast (2000), but work did not begin until he had fin-
house. As he undresses, following the woman into a void, ished his second film, Birth (2004). Glazer’s producer Jim
he is submerged in a liquid abyss.
Wilson sent him a script that closely adapted the novel;
At a beach, the woman attempts to pick up a swim- Glazer admired the script but had no interest in filming it,
mer (Kryštof Hádek), but is interrupted by the cries of saying: “I knew then that I absolutely didn't want to film
a drowning couple. The swimmer rescues the husband, the book. But I still wanted to make the book a film.”[4]
but he rushes back into the water to save the wife. The Glazer and cowriter Milo Addica, later replaced by Wal-
woman strikes the swimmer’s head with a rock, drags him ter Campbell, spent several years writing and rewriting
to the van, and drives away, ignoring the couple’s dis- the story. They initially conceived an elaborate high-
traught baby. Later that night, the motorcyclist retrieves budget film, and produced a script about two aliens dis-
the swimmer’s belongings, ignoring the baby, who is still guised as husband-and-wife farmers. Brad Pitt was cast as
on the beach. The next day, the woman listens to a radio the husband, but progress was slow. Glazer eventually de-
report about the missing family. cided to make a film that represented an alien perspective
The woman visits a nightclub and picks up another man of the human world and focused only on the female char-
(Paul Brannigan). At the house, he follows her into the acter. He and Campbell deleted every scene in their script
void and is submerged in the liquid. Suspended beneath that did not involve her and removed the elaborate spe-
the surface, he sees the swimmer floating naked beside cial effects sequences, a process Glazer likened to “a big,
him, alive but bloated and almost immobile. When he extravagant rock band turning into PJ Harvey.”[4] Glazer
reaches to touch him, the swimmer’s body collapses and shot commercials while the film was in preproduction,
1
2 4 SOUNDTRACK
2.1 Casting
3 Production
suggested Levi to Glazer, who contacted her after hearing $30m-plus range where marketing begins to snag mass
Chopped and Screwed, her collaboration with the London audiences.”[21]
Sinfonietta. Glazer wanted the music to express the pro-
tagonist’s feelings as she experienced things like food and
sex for the first time, and directed Levi with prompts such
as “What does it sound like to be on fire?" or “Imagine
when you tell somebody a joke and it’s not very good and
5.2 Critical reception
their reaction’s a bit stilted.”[14] Later scenes use less mu-
sic, to emphasise the sounds of the natural world that Jo- See also: List of accolades received by Under the Skin
hansson’s character experiences.[15]
Levi used mainly a viola to write and record over ten The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gives
months, taking inspiration from Giacinto Scelsi, Iannis Under the Skin an approval rating of 85% based on re-
Xenakis, John Cage and music played in strip clubs. She views from 212 critics and an average rating of 7.8/10.
looked for the natural and “identifiably human” sounds The site’s consensus states: “Its message may prove elu-
in the instrument, then altered the pitch or tempo of sive for some, but with absorbing imagery and a mesmer-
her recordings to “make it feel uncomfortable.”[13] In izing performance from Scarlett Johansson, Under the
an article for the Guardian, Levi wrote: “Some parts Skin is a haunting viewing experience.”[26] On Metacritic,
are intended to be quite difficult. If your life force which assigns a rating out of 100 top reviews from
is being distilled by an alien, it’s not necessarily go- mainstream critics, the film has a score of 78 out of
ing to sound very nice. It’s supposed to be physical, 100 based on 42 reviews, indicating “generally favorable
alarming, hot.”[13] According to Pitchfork, “the strings reviews”.[27] Metacritic also listed the film as the fourth
sometimes resemble nails going down a universe-sized best of 2014 based on its appearance in critics’ top-ten
chalkboard, screaming with a Ligeti-like sense of hor- lists.[28]
ror; elsewhere, they endlessly drone in a gaping vor- Xan Brooks of the Guardian gave Under the Skin five
tex, like Vangelis' iconic Blade Runner score dipped in out of five and called it “far and away the best picture”
turpentine.”[16] The Guardian wrote that Levi’s “score in the Venice Film Festival.[29] Peter Bradshaw, also of
brings together strings, percussion, distortions in speed the Guardian, said the film was “visually stunning and
and clashing microphones to create sounds that are se- deeply disturbing” and also awarded it five out of five.[30]
ductive, perverted and compassionate.”[14] Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph wrote: “If my legs
hadn't been so wobbly and my mouth so dry, I would have
climbed up on my seat and cheered.”[31] Matt Zoller Seitz
5 Release gave the film four out of four, describing it as “hideously
beautiful. Its life force is overwhelming.”[32] Richard
Roeper gave the film an A+[33] and four out of four, stat-
Under the Skin premiered on 29 August 2013 at the ing: “This is what we talk about when we talk about film
Telluride Film Festival. It was screened at the 70th as art.”[34] Christy Lemire gave it four out of four, call-
Venice International Film Festival and the 2013 Toronto ing it an “undeniably haunting, singular experience” and
International Film Festival.[17][18] It was released in the one of the best films of 2014.[35] Jon Espino of the Young
United Kingdom on 14 March 2014[19] and the United Folks gave it nine out of ten and called it “easily one of the
States on 4 April 2014.[20] most visually haunting films of 2014.”[36] Andrew Lowry
of Total Film,[37] Dave Calhoun of Time Out,[38] and Kate
Muir of The Times[39] and Robbie Collin of The Daily
5.1 Box office Telegraph[31] each gave the film five out of five.
Under the Skin was a box office failure,[21] gross- However, Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter
ing $2,614,251 in the United States and Canada[22] said that “the film provides too little for even relatively
and $4,615,682 in other countries for a worldwide to- adventurous specialized audiences to latch onto.”[40]
tal of $7,229,933,[3] against a production budget of Kaleem Aftab of The Independent stated in his review
$13.3 million.[2] In the United States, it opened with that “Glazer simply gave up on trying to find a cohe-
$140,000 in four theatres; despite earning the highest per- sive story.”[41] Henry Fitzherbert of The Daily Express
theatre average of all films playing that weekend, above awarded it two out of five and wrote: “it didn't get un-
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (which also stars der my skin, just on my nerves.”[42]
Johansson),[23] it failed to make the list of top-grossing Under the Skin was named the best film of 2014 by 20
films in the United States speciality box office.[24] In the critics and publications.[28] In 2015, the Guardian named
United Kingdom, it opened with a gross of £239,000.[25] it one of the top 50 films of the decade so far.[43] It
According to the Guardian, the film’s budget was in “the received multiple accolades, including the London Film
danger zone: not in the ultra-low bracket that can make a Critics Circle award for British Film of the Year[44] and
sharply executed future vision ultra-profitable ... [nor] the a European Film Award for best soundtrack.[14]
4 6 REFERENCES
[22] "Under the Skin (2014)". Box Office Mojo. Amazon. Re- [42] “Under The Skin — review and trailer”. The Daily Ex-
trieved 29 December 2014. press. 12 March 2014. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
[23] “Weekend Box Office Results for April 4–6, 2014”. Box [43] Bradshaw, Peter (5 January 2015). “Peter Bradshaw’s top
Office Mojo. Retrieved 14 April 2014. 50 films of the demi-decade”. The Guardian. Retrieved
29 April 2015.
[24] “The 30 Highest Grossing Indies of 2014 (A Running
List)". Indiewire. Retrieved 2014-12-29. [44] White, White (18 January 2015). “Boyhood Takes Three
At The London Critics’ Circle Film Awards”. Empire. Re-
[25] Gant, Charles (19 March 2014). “Need for Speed in pole trieved 11 April 2015.
position at UK box office but Under the Skin infectious |
Film”. The Guardian. Retrieved 14 April 2014. [45] Dudek, Duane (15 May 2014). "'Under the Skin,' with
Scarlett Johansson, confounding, captivating”. Milwaukee
[26] "Under the Skin (2013)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Journal Sentinel. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
Retrieved 11 January 2017.
[46] Robson, Leo. “Scarlett Johansson in Under the Skin:
[27] "Under the Skin Reviews”. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. 'prick her and she doesn't bleed'". the Guardian. Re-
Retrieved 20 April 2014. trieved 2015-07-29.
[28] Dietz, Jason (6 December 2014). “Film Critic Top 10 [47] “Under his skin”. The Economist. 13 March 2014. ISSN
Lists - Best Movies of 2014”. Metacritic. Retrieved 8 Jan- 0013-0613. Retrieved 2015-07-29.
uary 2015.
[48] Puchko, Kristy (April 4, 2014). “Review: Scarlett Johans-
[29] Brooks, Xan (9 February 2013). “Under the Skin – Venice son’s Under the Skin has a special message for men”. The-
2013: first look review”. The Guardian. London. Re- MarySue.com. Retrieved April 6, 2010.
trieved 4 September 2013.
[49] “What in the World Is Scarlett Johansson Up To?". Re-
[30] “Under the Skin review – 'Very erotic, very scary'". The trieved 2015-07-31.
Guardian. London. 13 March 2014. Retrieved 15 March
2014.
[31] “Under the Skin, Venice Film Festival, review”. The Daily 7 External links
Telegraph. London. 9 April 2013. Archived from the
original on 6 September 2013. Retrieved 4 September • Official website (UK)
2013.
• Official website (US)
[32] Zoller Seitz, Matt (23 April 2014). “Under the Skin”.
rogerebert.com. Retrieved 7 January 2015. • Under the Skin at the Internet Movie Database
(IMDb)
[33] Under the Skin Review. RichardRoeper.com. Retrieved
on 2014-05-22. • Under the Skin at Box Office Mojo
[34] ‘Under the Skin’: Brilliant mood piece about a fascinat- • Under the Skin at Rotten Tomatoes
ing femme fatale - Chicago Sun-Times. Suntimes.com.
Retrieved on 2014-05-22. • Under the Skin at Metacritic
[35] Under the Skin. Christy Lemire. Retrieved on 2014-05- • Under the Skin review at AllMovie by Nathan South-
22. ern (rating 4/5)
[36] Estrada, Stephanie (2014-04-05). “Jon’s Movie Review: • Jones, Emma (16 March 2014). “Scarlett Johansson
'Under The Skin' Penetrates Deeper Than Just The Skin”. on playing 'unscripted' scavenging alien”. Entertain-
The Young Folks. Retrieved 2014-08-21. ment & Art. BBC.
[37] “Under the Skin”. Total Film. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
[41] Aftab, Kaleem (29 July 2013). “Review: Under the Skin
– Even Scarlett Johansson can't save Jonathan Glazer’s
laughably bad alien hitchhiker movie”. The Independent.
London. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
6 8 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES
8.2 Images
• File:Micachu_at_Crash_Mansion_2008.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e1/Micachu_at_Crash_Mansion_
2008.jpg License: PD Contributors:
I created this work entirely by myself.
Original artist:
Frogacuda (talk)
• File:Tantallon_castle_1.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Tantallon_castle_1.jpg License: CC-BY-
SA-3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Oehoe at Dutch Wikipedia