We’re not exactly sure what this says about the world we live in now but Julia Leigh’s Sleeping Beauty won’t be the only Cannes-bound film to feature a sexual degradation chamber. Fact. Based on Thierry Jonque’s 2005 novel Tarantula, Pedro Almodovar’s “The Skin I Live In” boasts a skin-crawling synopsis (read below) and as of today, a skin-crawling teaser in which Antonio Banderas conducts heinous experiments on a female prisoner and is generally very creepy. Eeek. Almodovar’s obsession with skin has always manifested in flashes of nudity or stories about conflicted self-identity and comfort within one’s own body but never before has his gaze been so visceral. We’re both excited and terrified. It’s only 30 seconds but watch below for some Oldboy revenge flick vibes and at least one woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown…
Says the synopsis: “Ever since his wife was burned in a car crash, Dr. Robert Ledgard, an eminent plastic surgeon, has been interested in creating a new skin with which he could have saved her. After twelve years, he manages to cultivate a skin that is a real shield against every assault. In addition to years of study and experimentation, Robert needed a further three things: no scruples, an accomplice and a human guinea pig. Scruples were never a problem. Marilia, the woman who looked after him from the day he was born, is his most faithful accomplice. And as for the human guinea pig…”
