under the skin

Under the Skin is a 2013 science fiction film directed and co-written by Jonathan Glazer, its based on Michel Faber's 2000 novel of the same name. It stars Scarlett Johansson as an otherworldly woman who preys on men in Scotland. The budget for this film was 8 million and it made 7.2 million at the box office.

The film uses dark lighting to convey themes of death and mystery, however this type of lighting is mainly shown when the lead female character is with her victim, this is because it is the victims death and mystery to what is going on, in some ways the audience can relate to the victim because at first we are as clueless to them as to what is going on.

Additionally, the same music plays when the victims are in there last minutes, it becomes a signature of their death. In the film there is the idea that there want for sex lead to their death as this is how the alien female character is luring them in. although the character in this feel strips she is not sexualised, this is because she is presented as very powerful, in shots she is always placed in front of the victims as if she is leading the way to their death. To add to this the idea that she is represented as a predator defies stereotypes because usually in films it’s the males who look for a female to go home with, this allows her to be represented further as powerful due to not being there “pray”. There is a key scene in the film where the female character is seen literally walking above her victim whiles his trapped this signifies in the hierarchy of power she has the upper hand.

Furthermore, when the second victim is trapped there is a use of uncomfortable audio codes; the background noise is quite, although you hear the smallest noises such as his neck moving. A shot reverse shot is used to show what he is looking at once the shot has reversed from the previous victim we see a close up to show his emotions of shock and disgust. Blue lighting is also used which gives the audience a insight to how they feeling as blue connotes to cold temperature. This scene in this mystery setting goes off for a long time to make it even more uncomfortable. Until one point in this scene there is no other noise other than the cracking skin noise, then all of a sudden there’s a loud bash which represents the end of his life, after this nothing but his skin is left this may link to the title.

In the beach scene it becomes clear to the audience that the females protagonist speech is almost like a test ,with every victim the lines are nearly the same., she needs to find out how alone they are in order for it to work. We also are shown how emotionless she is, as the action unfolded she did nothing, there was no facial expressions or action to show she was phased by it this links to her alien characteristics , this is emphasised by the baby crying she does not notice the baby. This tends to be out of the ordinary for humanity as most humans would go and help, this is the scene where the theme of human kindness is introduced.

However, there is a part in the scene where we see a change in the protagonist, this seems to occur after she stares at herself in the mirror, this is a technique used in film to show that characters are thinking. We then see a mid-shot of her leaving her van which implies she’s leaving her past behind, as a long shot her walking into the fog it suggest her future is uncertain. Shots in this scene in particular have a long duration. Also a part of the mise en scen is missing in this scene for the first time, her fur coat is removed it signifies that her power has been taken away. Under The Skin juxtaposes the idea of powerful and powerless.In the final scene we see a reverse in power. In the final scene the same soundtrack plays however someone is killing her this time, the sound track foreshadows what is going to happen to her as it has meaning. She then takes her "skin" off this mid shot is used to show this, it allows us to understand the meaning of the title and film but also see the guy who is her murderer coming back for her. At this point we know more then she doesn't, since she changed the audience now sympathises with her so we feel a sense of shock when we see whats happening to her.