The release of a new Pedro Almodóvar film is always worth watching out for, and The Skin I Inhabit looks to be no exception to the role. Starring Pedro's aul' mucker Antonio Banderas (their first collaboration since Tie Me Up Tie Me Down in 1990), it's a twisted story about a plastic surgeon and his obsessions.
The poster, which was released on the Facebook page of Pedro's brother and producer Agustín, picked up by El País and spotted in English by Indiewire, doesn't give much away, it's fair to say. It is, however, rather stylish and echoes the film's preoccupation with skin, anatomy and, er, weirdness. We're guessing, however, that the film won't be quite this pretty.
The film's based on the book Tarantula by Thierry Jonquet, and stars Banderas as a plastic surgeon out for revenge on the man who raped his daughter. The catch is that the surgeon himself is, Almodóvar says, "a real psychopath" who keeps his wife locked in the basement, telling The Playlist a few months back that, "The film will be a terror film, without screams or scares. It's difficult to define and although it comes close to the terror genre -- something that appeals to me that I've never done -- I won't respect any of its rules. It's the harshest film I've ever written and Banderas' character is brutal."
So, er, not your average revenge thriller then. It's apparently something that Almodóvar's been wanting to make for years, so expect something very good but really, really disturbing. It also stars Marisa Paredes (also seen in All About My Mother and The Flower of My Secret), Jan Cornet, Roberto Alamo, Blanca Suárez, Eduard Fernández, José Luis Gómez (Broken Embraces), Bárbara Lennie, Susi Sánchez, Fernando Cayo and Teresa Manresa.
La Piel Que Habito, or **The Skin I Inhabit **for those of us not native Spanish speakers, will hit cinemas in Spain in September and - if past directorial form is anything to go by - might well premiere at Cannes if it's finished in time. With a bit of luck we should see it here in Blighty some time this year.