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Under The Skin is, let’s get this out the way, the film where Scarlett Johansson gets her kit off.
Without anyone in the cast having a name for their character, she plays an alien who crash lands down in Scotland. It’s not quite clear whether she’s all for Scottish Independence, or for the Better Together campaign but, what is known, is that she’s stopping random men and having sex with them.
Scarlett provides a rather haunting presence as she delivers her dialogue in a straight fashion, even before the background music kicks in. However, she hasn’t planned things out too well, since she lives in an incredibly grotty house which would find both the Young Ones‘ house, and the Trainspotting toilet way too clean to be of worth in her abode.
By contrast, Under The Skin also takes in a number gorgeous sights around Scotland, including Tantallon Castle, Auldhame, East Lothian; the forest at Lochgoilhead, Argyll and Bute; and she does like to be beside the seaside at Auchmithie, Angus.
The premise behind Under The Skin is a very intriguing one, but it’s one where, overall, it doesn’t really make a whole heap of sense, since the first 30 mins makes you think the plot is building up to something to something quite unique… but then as it goes on, it just meanders for the remainder, which is a let-down. However, it’s still very engaging for most of its running time, mainly due to Ms Johansson, so it’s certainly worth a watch.
Oh, and you’ll need the subtitles on for the Scots lingo.
Fascinating fact:
- When director Jonathan Glazer made this film, the intention was for the pick-ups to be real, so he hid in the back of the fan and passed instructions to our leading lady via an earpiece, about who to chat up, with the exception of the man played by Adam Pearson, who’s heading for Tesco. Then, once the van filming was complete, the reason for the pick-up was revealed to them and they were then asked to film some additional scenes, the content of which I will not reveal here. Hence, there’s a lot of improvised dialogue in this film which always makes for an intriguing watch. Well, except for much of the film Confetti.
And below you can hear the main haunting piece in the film: Lonely Void by the film’s composer, Mica Levi.
Go to page 2 for more thoughts on the film, plus the presentation and extras.
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.