Jonathan Glazer's third feature film comes ten years after
2004's Birth. What he was doing during those ten years is unclear, but quite a
bit of it must have been spent trying to convince people that this film would
work, an often intangible mix of science fiction and a road movie with horror
elements. Sort of. I walked out of the cinema unsure of what, exactly, I had
just seen, but I'm glad Glazer succeeded in releasing this film, for a world
without Under the Skin would be a far less rich and interesting one.
To even try and describe what this film is about would be a
disservice, but one could possible summarise with this; an alien seductress
(who goes throughout the film unnamed, but who is labelled as Laura in the
production specs) travels around Glasgow and surrounding areas of Scotland in
her van, preying on men and luring them to their deaths.
If you've seen the film, you know that barely scratches the
surface of what it's about. From its indescribable opening to its hauntingly
beautiful climax, the film constantly challenges the viewer to think and
respond to it, creating some incredibly experimental and effective moments. A
scene on a beach with a family is simultaneously one of the most terrifying and
devastating things I've ever seen in film. Another sequence, where Laura
wanders through the crowds in a shopping centre, will challenge your perception
of the people who pass you every day. I could spend the majority of this review
praising the astonishing sound design (you'll never hear the sound of a
screaming child in the same way again) or the unforgettable abstract imagery we
see throughout, such as a sequence where a man's body literally crumples.
Yet ultimately there are two very clever tricks this film
pulls which make it work. One is setting the story in Scotland, a land as equally
hostile and outlandish as the alien dimension from which the protagonist
originates, and one which grounds the more abstract ideas in an often comically
mundane reality. The other is the casting of Scarlett Johansson as Laura, whose
status as a big-name Hollywood actress would seem out of place in this very
low-budget art house British film. Nonetheless, after seeing Under the Skin,
it's difficult to imagine anyone else in the role. Johansson is one of those
impossibly beautiful actresses who seems forever out of reach. We can see them
in their films and on talk shows but, as a typical British filmgoer, we know
that they are part of a completely different world, and we can never truly know
someone like that. And that's what makes the character in this film so
interesting. Never before has a film so perfectly captured the sense of
extra-terrestrial unfamiliarity; Scarlett Johansson is an alien, and her presence
prompts a similar response to those of the fine selection of Scottish men her
character lures into her lair, that of completely mesmerised awe. The film then
proceeds to try and take apart this fascinatingly enigmatic character, by
getting both metaphorically and, at one point, literally under her skin. It's a
challenge for the viewer to follow Glazer's vision, but one which is incredibly
rewarding.
You will leave this film with more questions than answers,
such as why Laura decides to kill the men she seduces, or the perplexing
significance of the man on the motorbike. To find concrete answers to these
questions, however, would be to undermine much of the power of Under the Skin.
It is not a film to be explained rationally and logically, but one to be taken
in on an emotional level. I've only seen this film once, which may be a mistake
- I intend to see it a second (and perhaps third) time, if only to develop my
understanding of some of the more obscure elements - but even seeing it once
left a truly lasting impression. A modern masterpiece.
★★★★★
