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In My Skin (2002)

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From Time Out London

When businesswoman Esther (de Van) accidentally cuts her leg, she discovers that the wound is a source of pleasure as well as pain. Soon she is inflicting further blessures, neglecting her job and her relationship with her nice-guy boyfriend (Laurent Lucas), and sliding slowly into dementia…
At last year’s Edinburgh Film Festival, de Van’s film provoked a steady stream of walkouts as ‘disturbing images and themes’ started to unfold. But, despite several grisly moments, it never delivers anything truly grotesque. Instead, de Van always seems about to show us something awful.
There’s no shortage of stuff to chew on, however, in this most graceful and poised of ‘skin-flicks’ – one which, like ‘Secretary’, shows scarification as a direct response to reification. The most remarkable scene sees Esther slowly threatening various parts of her body with a knife, making it perhaps the first stalk-and-slash film in which victim and assailant are the same person.

Author: Neil Young

Time Out London Issue 1778: September 15-22, 2004

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User reviews of this film

Technoguy said...

Posted on Jan 18 2008 01:33 I felt it stopped at the right time.The film didn't work.There was no pychodynamic motive to suggest the reasons why this woman sought this form of relief.She was the nutty nut in a flimsy shell.It was a real performance by the director/actor,but sometimes I flinched wondering how much more gore I had to wade through.She had job promotion and a supportive partner.In such a context she would not be able to hold down that job,and the guilt and recrimination with her partner would not support that relationship.So what was I missing? It seemed about transgressing boundaries that are taboo.It reminded me there are certain French performance artists that self harm by cutting their bodies like a living sculpture in front of an audience,depending how much the audience can(or want to ) take.To watch was torture.Obsession as disease. At times I felt it was a step or two away from pure horror.How come she had extended days away from her boyfriend where she was allowed to become a self-cutting solitary recluse?

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