I mean no disrespect to the film's special effects when I say that the most alien and disorienting parts of Under the Skin are the shots of ordinary Glasgow streets packed with ordinary citizens. We are so accustomed to seeing on screen even the most ordinary of settings through a movie gloss, so used to artifice and misdirection, that to see a rainy city for what it is just looks weird. Really weird. Of course, Scarlett Johansson herself plays a big part in this.
Seeing her walk past a BHS and a Greggs, watching women putting on makeup in Debenhams is incredibly bizarre.This is a major factor in the success of the film, and it continues to work throughout. Of particular note are the scenes where she rides a bus, or sits in the most painfully ordinary house, watching television with a plate of beans on toast before her. She is magnificent in her gestures and expressions, and transcendent when allowing us to simply observe her.
Contrary to the film's title, we spend a lot of time looking at skin, and more broadly, at the facades humans erect around their everyday lives. The strange ritual of applying makeup, or buying clothes or watching television or dancing are shown onscreen for what feels like the first time. Johansson herself is often shown looking from behind things, even the poster does this, her face behind a cloud of stars. We see her through trees, through filthy glass , even through memories shown onscreen. Indeed, the pivotal moment where she decides to free a man she has taken pity on occurs after a very long shot of her staring into a filthy mirror.
Johansson is naked a lot in the film, as are the various men she preys on. The nudity isn't just for a moment either, in fact at one point she stands for a long time examining her body in a mirror. There is nothing erotic about this scene, not to me at least, she seems to be literally examining the body she is inhabiting. Testing it out and learning how to use it.
There is very little that I find erotic in the film. She is Scarlett Johansson and she is playing the role of seductress so there is necessarily something more than a little sexy in it, but especially on second viewing I found myself more frightened than anything else. Jonathan Glazer (the talented director) should most definitely consider this a success. The opening of the movie clearly refers to 2001, it almost seems to warn the audience that they need to be ready to follow Under the Skin in the way that 2001 needs to be followed: visually and emotionally. There's also something of Solaris and Altered States to be found here.
Although, in classic Kubrickian style, even following it visually yields no answers in the opening, and don't expect the rest of the film to clarify it. The images onscreen seem to show the construction of an eye, but simultaneously they seem to show some kind of spacecraft or something (I give up on this sentence). This very obscure, protracted 'scene' coupled with an immediately unnerving soundtrack sets up the tone of the movie in perfect fashion.
And what tone is that? Uneasy, cold, curious, predatory, feminist and even at times, strangely comic. To sum it up, I felt weird indeed, after both times I saw the film. The scene on the beach seems to be the nadir of our sympathy for Johansson's character and a masterclass in controlled horror. The crying of the baby affects neither alien at all, and Glazer chooses to leave its fate entirely unresolved. For me, its cries were an ever present echo throughout subsequent events; the scene unnerved me more even than the ones where her prey
met their end.
Which brings me to the special effects. Not until the end do we get any glimpse of what the hell she is, the only clues we have are (besides her performance in general that is) in what we see of her prey's fate. They enter into a void of blackness, and her siren song begins. It is bone chilling (listen below). She undresses, drawing them further in, and as they walk on they sink into some unimaginable black abyss in the floor, literally walking to their doom. Later in the movie we follow them and see what will become of them. So this is what 'under the skin' means. The most strangely touching moment of all occurs here, when two of her victims reach out and hold one another for the briefest of moments before something truly horrific happens.
http://www.juno.co.uk/miniflashplayer/SF523835-01-01-03.mp3
Those scenes in the black void are some of the most atmospheric, horrific and most full of dread I have ever seen.
Now for a few lofty ideas about what I think Under the Skin may mean. Firstly, the most obvious perspective that occurred to me was the feminist perspective. She is a hunter and a predator, and her prey are exclusively men. Perhaps that shouldn't make such a bold statement but I think it does. In those final moments, she has all the power. 'Come to me' she commands, drawing them in to their strange fate. In the scenes in the van where she is hunting, she asks all the questions and determine their ultimate destination. Her sexuality is her weapon, or more benignly, her prerogative. Only once in the film is the promise of sex fulfilled and it is entirely on her terms.
The other way to view the film is as a look at what it means to be human (cliche I know) and how we define ourselves. The whole second half of the movie is in fact overtly devoted to this. But it can be found right from the start. She prowls the streets of Glasgow, and we see just how odd it all is really. Thousands of people rushing around buying clothes and spending money for no real reason, doing things that on a grander level, mean nothing at all. The first time we see her really confused and even frightened is when a group of women bring her into a club. She has never seen anything like this, and you can tell. Later on, the look on her face is one of utter perplexity when watching a comedy routine on television. Later still, trying to initiate a kiss with a kindly man she looks so clumsy and unnatural it is difficult to remember this is Scarlett Johansson.
At times like these, something approaching sympathy and understanding begins to be felt for her. I think this is because the character is becoming disassociated with her alien nature and becoming more of a general embodiment of humanity. She represents the part of all of us that still feels lost in a vast, frightening and incomprehensible world.
It is a major achievement to carry off the balancing act that Under the Skin successfully does, between the most mundane social realism and the most incredible special effects. To show us a man opening a carton of eggs to make sure they're not broken before buying them, and then to show us an alien taking off a human skin is bold indeed. It could fail, but I don't think it does.
But I think we should forget all of this when watching the movie. No 'explanation' can cover the entire movie; themes fade in and out, becoming more or less relevant as it progresses. Under the Skin is all about mood and emotion. Themes can be identified after, but the genius of it is such that without making any populist concessions, the movie engrosses entirely on its own terms. To call it slow paced or plotless is not even criticism. It is what it is, and what it is is a work of art.
Director- Jonathon Glazer
Music by Mica Levi
