Tag: The Skin I Live In

Poster Fix: The Skin I Live In (dir. Pedro Almodóvar, 2011)

The poster for Pedro Almodóvar’s The Skin I Live In (La Piel Que Habito) has been released. I am already in love. The poster, which to me looks like the cover of a romance novella,  is so Almodóvar.

The Skin That I Inhabit, which releases in September, reunites the Spanish director with his old collaborator Antonio Banderas. Before Banderas made it big in Hollywood, he starred in five Almodóvar films: Labyrinth of Passion, Laws of Desire, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! and, my personal favorite, Matador.

Banderas plays a plastic surgeon obsessed with finding the men who raped his daughter. It is a horror story based on Thierry Jonquet‘s novel Mygale. I expect the film to tackle many of the same themes (sex, death, misogyny) seen throughout Almodóvar’s work. I am also intrigued by how Almodóvar will present the father-daughter relationship. Father figures are noticeably absent in his films in favor of female solidarity. Needless to say, I am intrigued and excited.

What are your thoughts on the poster and Almodóvar’s upcoming film?

Pedro Almodóvar and Antonio Banderas: Together Again

After 20 years, director Pedro Almodóvar and Antonio Banderas are reteaming for La Piel que Habito (The Skin I Live In).  Before Banderas became a Hollywood star, he worked with the Spanish auteur on a series of five films in the late 1980s: Labyrinth of Passion(Laberinto de pasiones, 1982),  Matador (1986), Law of Desire (La Ley del Deseo, 1987), Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios, 1988), and Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (¡Átame!, 1989).

Carmen Maura and Antonio Banderas in Matador

Almodóvar said on renewing the old partnership: “[Banderas is] exactly the same as when he left. From the minute he walked in, it was as if we had just finished “Tie me Up” the night before.”

La Piel que Habito , which is in active pre-production, is the story of a plastic surgeon who seeks revenge on the man who raped his daughter.

According to Almodóvar, La Piel que Habito is “a terror film, without screams or scares. It’s difficult to define and although it comes close to the terror genre — something that appeals to me that I’ve never done — I won’t respect any of its rules. It’s the harshest film I’ve ever written and Banderas’ character is brutal.”

He continues: “”I could have continued with a puerile guy with an overpowering power of seduction, but this guy [in Skin] is a real psychopath and Antonio, at 50, is perfect for this exercise is something so different from anything I’ve done until now.”

Almodóvar? Banderas? A film that is difficult to define? I am so there.

Does this news make you excited for La Piel que Habito? This is great move for Banderas, who is currently best known as the voice of Puss-in-Boots. If you have seen Banderas’ early work with Almodóvar (Matador and ¡Átame! are two of my favorite Almodóvar films), then you have just been waiting for Banderas to have a career resurgence. There is no time like the present.