[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by nosferatu42

One charity shop find this week.
In my skin.

Attachment 221961

Never even heard of it but looks interesting.

It's excellent. Be warned. Don't watch it if you are feeling down, it really isn't a cheery film at all.

Here's my review.

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Dans Ma Peau (In my Skin) 2004

A woman who falls and suffers deep gashes in her leg becomes obsessed with her body leading to extreme forms of self harming.

Dans Ma Peau is a beautiful yet extremely harrowing journey of a womans psychosis. Its difficult for me to judge on self harming as it isn't something i've ever done nor known anyone who's done it. The fact she has a stable relationship with her boyfriend, indeed they are house hunting, been promoted at work and is welcome at the most upmarket parties in town suggests it is all in her own head and not caused by day to day life.

The film is shocking and not for the squeemish, wounds are examined and picked at in close up and the film almost strays into cannibalism as she starts to eat her own flesh, eventually attempting to preserve some for all time. Its through these scenes that the idea of self harm disolves and an idea of addiction springs to mind. An addiction where one woman attempts to consume her own body. In one restaurant scene Esther becomes so disengaged with her surroundings she begins picking at her arm with a fork, later going to the chemist to find out about the best way of preserving her own chewed at flesh.

The film borders on the absurd in a way as the director Marina De Vans, who incidently is also the star, pushes everything to the extreme, almost hoping to overstep the audiences boundaries. These almost surreal steps seem to be there to provoke an audience reaction, yet for all this Dans Ma Peau remains a thing of beauty, just not as we know it.