Peter Mahaffey | Contributing Writer
Most of the film occurs within the confines of a van, making us feel complicit in Johansson’s actions as we witness her lead these poor souls to their doom
Under the Skin, the new film from British director Jonathan Glazer follows (in the style of The Man Who Fell to Earth) an unnamed alien protagonist, excellently performed by Scarlett Johansson, as she seduces and entraps unwitting Scottish hitchhikers. Most of the film occurs within the confines of a van, making us feel complicit in Johansson’s actions as we witness her lead these poor souls to their doom. The sequences in the vehicle have a strong documentary feel to them which when coupled with the largely improvised interactions between Johansson and her unwitting prey (played by non-actors) make for some brilliantly tense scenes. Glazer contrasts this realistic portrayal of a sort of alien invasion with scenes and imagery that evoke favourable comparison with the work of Stanley Kubrick and David Lynch.
The director chooses to depict the seduction and consummation scenes in a completely surreal way. We see the doomed men led by Johansson’s succubus through a completely black room whilst they take off their clothes. The walk after her, brimming with lust and hoping for sex, but instead ominously sink into some sort of alien ooze, where they remain suspended in a sort of limbo until whatever it is that commissioned Scarlett’s character needs their skins.
despite the films strong and often bizarre eroticism it remains on the whole one of the scariest and most unsettling releases of the year so far
Overall, Under the Skin is a rather quiet film. Scarlett Johansson rarely speaks, allowing herself to emanate her sexuality through an outstanding physical performance, a nice foil to her brilliantly acted, but entirely verbal role, in Spike Jonze’s Her. However, despite the films strong and often bizarre eroticism it remains on the whole one of the scariest and most unsettling releases of the year so far. Glazer effectively blends the real with the surreal, (a skill he showed off previously in has 2000 masterpiece Sexy Beast) making sex and general interactions with strangers, however benign they may seem, completely sinister. The film is never clear about the broad strokes of the story, Glazer chooses instead to keep things vague, showing Scarlett Johansson taking the form of the seductress at the start, but little else in terms of plot is revealed. She does not seem to be the only one of her kind but again that’s never fully explained.
all we see is her journey: from her learning how to lure men into her traps to an evolution into an experienced femme fatale
Instead, all we see is her journey: from her learning how to lure men into her traps to an evolution into an experienced femme fatale. We get some emotional depth along the way via the characters attachment but simultaneous feelings isolation from Earth and its inhabitants. The film is ambiguous as it is divisive, leaving some critics utterly cold and others ecstatic. Many people will unfortunately seek out based solely on the promise of a nude Scarlett Johansson but what they’ll get in turn is an elegant, mesmerizing, and enigmatic near masterpiece by a director with a unique vision who we can only hope becomes more prolific.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoSWbyvdhHw
