The Skin I Live In/La Piel que Habito (2011) or, Almodóvar's Extreme Make-Over

♥♥♥

The ominous poster for Pedro Almodóvar's The Skin I Live In

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SPOILER A feted Spanish plastic surgeon has a patient locked up in his basement: It is actually the man who raped his daughter, which made her commit suicide, whom the good doctor has now decided to give a sex change, slowly ... Meanwhile, the surgeon's mother also acts as his maid, who has never told him the Truth, and one day the other son comes and rapes the prisoner. She later breaks free.

Antonio Banderas (I'm So Excited (2013)) acts well in this his first collaboration with Spanish master filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar (Bad Education/La Mala Educación (2004)) in 21 years. For better and for worse, the film examines the boundaries of the genders in a mad doctor-plot, which is greatly inhibited from excessive stylization and focus on decor over presence and soul. The result is a very vulgar and empty film that is improved by intermittent doses of humor.
Almodóvar co-wrote The Skin I Live In with his brother Augustín Almodóvar (Wild Tales (2014) producer), based on the novel Mygale/Tarantula (1984) by Thierry Jonquet. 
Though I am an Almodóvar fan, I did not care much for this unusual sex drama.
Currently, he is filming his next film, the drama Silencio (2016), which centers on a woman gone mad.

Related reviews:

Pedro Almodóvar: Broken Embraces/Los Abrazos Rotos (2009) or, Mysteries in Love and Life
Live Flesh/Carne Trémula (1997) or, A Spanish Fix
Labyrinth of Passion/Laberinto de Pasiones (1982) - Sexual mix-ups in screwball Madrileña style

Watch the trailer for the film here - underlaid a track by Danish electronic artist Trentemøller

Cost: 13.5 mil. $
Box office: 30.8 mil. $
= Minor flop
[The movie was released in the autumn, in contrast to Almodóvar's usual habit of spring releases in Spain and autumn for the rest of the world. It was nominated as Best Foreign Film at the Golden Globes and for 16 (!) Goya awards (Spain's Oscar), winning 4. The film is generally better reviewed than here.]

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