Under The Skin
(1997)
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When things start to go badly for Iris, she ends up giving up her job, flat and boyfriend and walks the streets looking for love - in all the wrong places... |
Samantha Morton gives a shattering performance as a young woman driven over the edge by bereavement in director Carine Adler's heart-rending examination of the destructive force of unresolved grief. Liverpool sisters Morton and Claire Rushbrook (who is pregnant) react in different ways when their mother (Rita Tushingham) dies. Rushbrook cries a lot but gets on with her life, whereas the younger, wilder Morton embarks on a downward moral spiral of sordid sex and alcohol binges. Although reminiscent of Breaking the Waves, this quest for emotional fulfilment in tragic times lacks the overall polish and expertise of that grandiose epic. But it is equally as wrenching thanks to Morton's raw and riveting portrayal and Adler's cinéma vérité style that allows access to both Morton's physical and emotional nakedness. The road to Morton's Oscar nomination in Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown started here.
Halliwell's Film Guide
A gritty film about sibling rivalry and reconciliation, powered by excellent acting and observant direction.