Under the Skin (1997)

Directed by

Carine Adler

Genre

drama film

Country

United Kingdom

Runtime

1h 22m

Rated

18

Rating

6.1 of 10 from 37 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

Two sisters cope differently after their mother's sudden death. One sister moves on while the younger one spirals into risky sexual behavior and self-destruction.

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What happens

Under the Skin is a 1997 British drama film written and directed by Carine Adler and starring Samantha Morton and Claire Rushbrook. It tells the story of two sisters coping with the sudden death of their mother. While one sister, Rose, manages to get on with her life, younger sister Iris goes down a self-destructive path in which she loses herself in one-night-stands and anonymous sexual encounters. Adler based her ideas for the script on forensic psychiatrist Estela V. Welldon's book Mother, Madonna, Whore, which argues that whereas men tend to externalize their grieving processes through anger, women internalize them via paths which can incorporate such extreme reactions as self-harm and promiscuity. Morton was widely praised for her performance and the film won top critics’ prizes at various film festivals, including the award for Best British Film at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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