A female drives a van through the roads and streets of Scotland seducing lonely men. Written by

Plot Synopsis:
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In the opening shot, there is a tiny ball of light, which turns into a bright circular flash, slowly coming into view with a circular object. Amidst the ominous tone that plays, we hear a woman's voice making sounds, trying to get her speech down to being perfect (down to a Scottish accent). We see what appears to be a black liquid circular pool. The light and the circular object come together to form an eye - a mysterious woman's eye.

A shot of a long curving road among the mountains of Scotland with a single headlight appears. The view changes and we see it is an unknown man on a motorcycle.

The man rides his motorcycle to a tunnel where he stops. He gets off the bike and walks off the road into a ditch, appearing a moment later carrying a young woman's body. We assume he knew the body was there because he goes directly to it, so he either knows how she died or was involved in killing her. He throws the body into the back of a white van.

Next, we see the woman's dead body being unceremoniously undressed by another naked young woman in a completely white, brightly lit room. This scene contrasts with the scenes of dark/black rooms we will see later in the movie. After the woman is dressed, she stands over the body and stares at it. The camera focuses on the now nude woman's body and we see a tear fall from her eye. (We are not sure at this point if she was indeed dead, and the tear was simply a reflex, or if she is perhaps in some catatonic state.) The name and identity of this woman remains unknown throughout the film, but due to the tear falling, and due to the motorcycle man knowing exactly where the body was, she may have been in some sort of comatose state and aware of what was going on. The woman who took the clothing bends down over the body and seems to inspect something she picked up from the body. It appears to be an ant that was crawling on the dead/comatose woman's body.

The next scene opens with a cloudy sky and mysterious lights above a tall skyscraper. This scene is supposed to indicate that it is an alien presence that the film is depicting, although this particular scene is so brief the significance of it is lost unless the viewer pays close attention.

The mysterious female (at this point we are unclear if she is an alien, a succubus, or some sort of machine, but since the movie is based on a book that was written about an alien, the prevailing theory is that she is an alien) is then seen leaving a dirty rundown looking house. The white van is parked outside, and the motorcycle man is there as well. The relationship between the two is unclear at this point, although they seem connected (In the book, the male is the female alien's superior officer, and in the film we see hints of this relationship, although sparse and unexplained). These two, although seen together in a few scenes, and often in the same areas, do not communicate at all in the film, leaving us to assume they communicate telepathically or some other way. The man departs on his motorcycle, and the woman gets into the white van and begins to drive.

The following scene opens with the mysterious young woman/alien in a crowded shopping mall. She seems to pick out several items of clothing including a faux fur coat and red lipstick. She then continues to drive in the white van around Glasgow, eyeing men as she drives past. She passes through several crowds of people before stopping on a less crowded street to approach a man who is alone, like any good predator would. She asks him for directions to the local M8 motorway and they converse. Several separate scenes repeat the same pattern- she seeks out lone men walking and asks for directions or some other banal topic. She asks basic questions of these men, such as their names, where they are from, and also more in depth questions that lead you to think her intentions might be more sinister. She asks questions such as if they are alone, if they have a family, if they are going anywhere, and also more personal questions, studying her prey, such as, "Why do you like to be alone?" She drives off when a subject appears to not fit her criteria - at one point, a siren from a police car sounds nearby, and she drives away. At another point, one of the men she is speaking to is called to from somewhere in the distance. She loses interest and drives off. When she is able to determine a candidate is adequate, she invites him into her van for a ride and begins another line of questions - "Do you have a girlfriend? Do you think I'm pretty?" Finally, she finds a man with a green and white scarf who fits her criteria, and we see them entering the run-down house. The surroundings fade to black, and as she looks at the man seductively over her shoulder, undressing, he follows, also undressing. Once the man is completely naked, as he approaches her, instead of getting closer, he suddenly sinks into the floor, as if it were made of liquid. The man appears not to notice, seeming to be hypnotized by the woman. Once he has fully disappeared, the mysterious alien/woman picks up her clothing and walks off camera.

Some time passes, and we can assume the alien woman continues her preying on men, due to scenes of her in the van again driving around.

The alien woman is at the beach, and we see her watching a solo male swimming in a wetsuit. When he comes ashore she begins her line of questions, what is he doing here, why is he in Scotland. The two are interrupted by the screams of a woman being pushed out to sea by huge waves, and a man in a heavy coat seems to be swimming after her. The man in the wetsuit rushes over to help, while the alien woman stands there watching, completely passive, as these events progress. The woman in the water is eventually lost to sight, but the man in the wetsuit manages to pull the man in the heavy coat, presumably the woman's husband, to shore, only to have the man rush back into the waters chasing after his wife, who has already been swept too far out. The man in the wetsuit, exhausted from his efforts, does not chase him, instead collapsing on the shore. We seem him move so we know he is alive. Finally, the alien woman springs into action, at first we think to help, but what she does instead is find a rock and bash the man in the wetsuit in the head, to ensure he is either unconscious or dead.

The scene cuts to another part of the beach where she is dragging the body of the man in the wetsuit past a crying child. Since the man in the wetsuit was alone, we can assume the baby belonged to the man and the woman who were swept to sea. The alien woman is completely unfazed by the crying child, intent on her task of dragging the body. She eventually gets the body in the car, and we see the man on the motorcycle locate a tent on the beach which we can assume belonged to the man in the wetsuit. He appears to fold up the tent, and take it with him. We are reminded of the opening scene in which he had originally found a woman either dead or comatose, so we can assume either he or another alien made a victim of that woman, and he was sent to clean it up like he is doing now. We hear the child still crying, and it is now night - the motorcycle man walks toward the child as if to console him, or to pick him up, but stops a few feet away and bends to pick up an article of clothing that was left behind - as if the wetsuit man's body and taking all of his personal belongings are of significance, but the crying child is not. We also see the woman, back in the van, and hear crying again - she seems to notice the crying this time, but looks out her window to see she is back in the city, and the crying is from the vehicle next to her, where a child is in the back seat of a vehicle parked nearby. It is not the same child from the beach, but perhaps she was thinking about that child.

The woman is next seen that evening in her white van in a parking lot. In the car on the other side of her is a group of rowdy men who seem to catcall her. She follows them around what seems like an abandoned building, and when she sees the man who called to her alone outside, she exits the van and starts to approach. As she nears the other side of the building, she suddenly sees a large crowd and realizes the man has gone into a club. A crowd of outgoing women intercept her as she turns to leave and insist she go into the club with them. The alien looks absolutely baffled by these woman and gets ushered into the club with the throng of women urging her to do so. As soon as she enters the club there is loud music, flashing lights, and people everywhere. The first door that she sees, the alien woman escapes into, but it is not a door that leads outside, instead it leads to some sort odd lounge area, where she is again approached by the man who called to her from the road. He insists that she let him buy her a drink, and we see them dancing in the club.

The scene then cuts to the all-black room in the run-down house where the first man sank into the floor. The club guy is dancing, half-naked. We see the alien woman undressing and staring at the club guy seductively. As she walks backward, the club guy sinks into the floor, exactly like the first man, staring at her so intently he seems not to notice that he is sinking. After he is gone, the alien woman walks off, and the camera suddenly pans to the view from under the liquid floor- the man stares up at her as she walks away, unaware of his surroundings until she is out of sight. It isn't until she leaves that he seems to suddenly be aware of what is around him - nothing but blackness, he appears to be frozen somehow, not able to move and the sound seems deadened around him, but he is otherwise alive. Suddenly he looks up, and he sees the first man who was swallowed into the floor with him, floating before him, also in an apparent state of frozen preservation. The first man we saw sink into the floor seems older somehow, his skin twisting oddly on his frame, and he seems to be screaming or mouthing to the club guy, but there is no sound coming from his mouth. The two drift closer to each other - close enough to barely touch hands for a moment, and then the first guy starts drifting backwards with a pleading look of helplessness on his face. Suddenly a sharp snap noise punctuates the silence, and the first victim POPS like a balloon- his skin stretching out and then shrivelling up, just like a popped balloon would. The empty skin floats aimlessly in the black void, twisting like a plastic bag in the wind. The man from the club stares in shock as the empty skin of the first victim gruesomely floats away. We see what looks like a rivulet of blood and debris being funneled down a conveyor belt of some type, followed by disturbing musical tones, and then a bright piercing of reddish light engulfs the screen. We can interpret this as the woman somehow either devouring these men inside of her body (the black goo) where they are destroyed and their skins kept, or another interpretation centering from the novel is that they are in a state of stasis so they can be sent to the alien world to be devoured by the aliens, and the man's body popping was him being eaten and the blood on the conveyor belt going down the hatch showing that he was killed and his body used by them, and the bright light following this scene is supposed to be another sign of alien presence although again, it is so subtle to the point of being almost insignificant.

We see the alien woman in the van the next day. There is a broadcast on the radio about a body that was found washed up on the beach, obviously drowned. The broadcast references that the man was supposedly at the beach with his wife and 18-month-old child. Obviously, this was the man and woman from the beach with their child. The alien woman seems to pay attention to the broadcast, but shows little emotion. Throughout the day, rather than staring at men, she pays more attention to women and children. But, eventually she does find a man, who tells her she is gorgeous, and that there is something about her eyes (hypnotic, perhaps). She barely seems as interested in him as she was previously with the males she abducted. They end up at the run-down house, and the two are seen entering, but the scene fades to black.

The woman is then seen applying her lipstick in a different room - this room is dark and with a cobbled floor, not the same dark room where she seduces and traps the men. The motorcycle guy is there, and he paces around her angrily. It is obvious the two are communicating, albeit without words. Something she has done has caused the motorcycle man to be displeased, causing him to somehow question or lecture her actions. He stares into her eyes intently for a moment, and then abruptly turns away from her and leaves the room.

The woman is walking down the street and is accidentally tripped and falls flat, face first onto the pavement where she lies still. It is almost as if she is shocked by this event. She lays there unmoving, and eventually a passersby pull her up, asking if she is okay and insisting on helping. She seems perturbed by these events and continues walking. She takes notice of the people around her who pass - not just the men, but women, children, elderly. It is as if she is noticing them for the first time - people smiling, laughing, going about their daily tasks. Almost as if she can see herself in them.

Back in the van later that night, she watches as a single man crosses an empty street, but makes no move to approach him. A moment later, a younger man bangs on her window. He talks to her but he is muffled. He bangs harder and demands she roll down her window. Suddenly, more hoodlums show up and also bang on the windows, demanding she get out of the van. Could they possibly recognize her as the woman who picked up their friend from the club, or one of the other men she abducted? After all, she has been driving around for quite a while, approaching all the men she could find. She drives off and appears unfazed by the hoodlums.

Later that night she finds a single man and uses her same "I am lost" conversation starter to approach him. (Adam Pearson). His face is disfigured due to a condition called neurofibromatosis. She picks him up and gives him a lift. She begins to ask him the typical questions, but does not seem to understand that the man is disfigured and odd-looking, and therefore outcast by society. The alien asks the man when he last touched someone, and if anyone has touched him. He is nervous and uncertain as she takes his hand and lets him caress her face. Perhaps she is thinking she can give this man something nobody else has- because of his disfigurement, he has not been with a woman, and because she is an alien, she does not have the same emotional disgust, fear or shock that other women project toward this man. She takes him into the run-down house and for the first time we see how truly dilapidated the structure is. In the all-black room we see a dark, shiny silhouette approach. The alien woman completely undresses, which is different as she usually stays partially clothed. She lures the disfigured man into the black liquid, but after he is submerged, we see a slender black skeleton on the screen before the scene cuts away to the woman walking down the stairs afterward, like she has done before after seducing her prey, only this time she pauses and gazes into a dirty mirror, staring into her own eyes, perhaps reflecting on what she has done. She stares for a long moment. Her gaze is pulled away by a fly tapping against the door, perhaps trapped like the man she just seduced.

In the next scene, we see her leave the run-down house, with the deformed man alive, still naked, and seemingly still hypnotized, or not aware of what has transpired. She seems to let him free as he is seen walking naked through a field toward a town. It is dawn. The motorcyclist speeds into a housing estate, stopping by a bungalow. He strides up to a car in the driveway, smashes the driver's window and then reaches in to flick a button to open the boot. He then purposefully marches to the back garden where he meets the deformed man climbing through the fence. We do not see him kill or harm the deformed man, but we see from a distance him placing a body into the boot, all the time being watched by a neighbor from her window. As he drives off he looks at the woman, unconcerned.

At this point, the film takes a different turn and focuses more on the alien woman's attempts to understand humanity, rather than hunting them as prey.

Later that day, the alien woman is driving to a secluded beach. She has shed her faux fur coat. She stands in the fog at a lonely beach, perhaps taking it in, perhaps knowing she has done something wrong and unsure of what her next move should be. She hears singing in the background, and a bird chirping. We see her walking down a long abandoned dirt road in what looks like the middle of nowhere.

The motorcycle man, meanwhile, stands by the mirror of the abandoned house, as if looking for some clue of what the alien woman might have been thinking.

The alien woman has found a restaurant in the mountains. She watches the patrons eating, and is served a piece of delicious-looking chocolate cake. We see her carefully slice off a piece and take a bite, only to immediately spit it out. Any thought that she might still be human is gone at this point, as we realize that she cannot even do something like eat human food. She walks through the secluded mountain town as if she is going to leave, but a villager tells her the bus will be stopping soon, so she decides to wait at the bus stop. She seems uncomfortable, and that continues even after she gets on the bus. The bus driver questions her casually, as to why she is not wearing a coat, is she "feeling alright?" A man on the bus also questions her, concerned but also obviously interested in her. She gets off the bus with the passenger and together they go to the grocery store. She looks around at the items with confusion, as if she has never been in a store before. She is now wearing the man's jacket, and they go to his house. She takes notice of the people in the buildings around them as they walk. She watches TV with the man from the bus while he eats, her food remaining untouched. They listen to the radio, and she idly taps her fingers while music plays. The man brings her a cup of tea and bids her goodnight. She explores the room she is staying in, and inspects her naked body, carefully looking at her legs, toes and fingers.

We see several men on motorcycles zooming down a road. They seem to go in different directions. They might be spreading out in search of the renegade alien woman.

The next morning she goes for a walk with the man from the bus, and he lifts and carries her over a deep puddle. The motorcyclist stops over a busy overpass and looks in both directions, perhaps trying to sense where the alien woman has gone.

Meanwhile, the nice treatment by the man from the bus causes her to exhibit more emotions. They are together in her room at his house and she turns to him as if to kiss him. He obliges, and they begin to undress. She seems unsure of what to do, which is funny considering how she had previously seduced so many men. She lets him take control, but before they can have intercourse, he seems to struggle while entering her. Sudden realization dawns on her, she grabs a light and gazes between her legs. It appears she has a human form that is not complete. She leaves the man's house, and we see her walking alone across a barren field surrounded by a vast forest. She is running, still wrapped in the coat she got from the man on the bus, and she is wet from rain. She may be running from shame or embarrassment after the incident with the guy from the bus, or she could be trying to evade the motorcycle men searching for her.

She runs into a forest worker who begins talking to her about the forest, not getting any replies, and asking, "Are you on your own?" before wishing her well and leaving. Eventually, she comes across a stone-built hut for hikers in the woods. It continues to rain outside. She eyes a fireplace covered in black soot. Perhaps it reminds her of the dilapidated house with the black chamber where she would entrap men, or perhaps it simply reminds her that she is cold - something she rarely seemed to notice previously in the movie. She zips up her coat, huddles into a corner of the building and curls into a ball, falling asleep. Time passes and she awakens to find the forest worker in the cabin with her groping her. She snaps awake and runs from the cabin. She looks back but sees no one. She hides for a while until she realizes nobody is following and then she finds a logging truck, climbing into the driver's seat. She sees the forest worker approaching and honks the horn to alert anybody but, as nobody comes, she runs back into the forest with him in pursuit. He catches her and starts to violently rip off her clothes. She seems confused and scared, and in the struggle he not only rips her clothes but also her skin, to find she has another black skin underneath. He staggers away in shock and she gets up, slowly walks away and starts to peel off her human flesh from her head and upper body, kneels down and looks at her still-blinking human face, held in her lap. The forest worker sneaks up behind her, douses her in gasoline, and deploys a match. The alien, carrying her broken human flesh with her, stumbles away, but it is too late, the flames progress up her legs and we see her running across the hillside on fire. Not too far away, she collapses. We see the motorcycle man standing on a hilltop far above. It is unclear whether he sees the body burning, or if he suddenly lost any trace of the female alien and either knows she has come to harm or does not know what happened.

In the final scene, we see the alien woman's form as nothing more than a pile of ash, the flames beginning to die down. The camera follows the smoke upwards as it drifts into the sky.

The final shot is a prolonged view of snow falling from the sky.

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Eivinas Butkus from Vilnius, Lithuania
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I have to admit that I did not see the first minutes of the film. Neither have I read the book therefore I will write about this film as if it was a piece of art on its own, which it is.

Under the Skin is a new picture from Jonathan Glazer, who has also directed Birth with Nicole Kidman and some music videos for bands like Radiohead. The main character, alien Laura, is played by the famous actress Scarlett Johansson.

Firstly, there is no obvious narrative in this film, because it does not have a big significance or importance here. On the most basic level it is a story of an alien imposing a woman and seducing men from all over Scotland in order to drain their flesh. This is the most simple summary of the movie. On deeper layers it is a serious study of our society. The film's main focus is on the inside and outside of things, the philosophy of form and material. Johansson's character is struggling in this society. She is always portrayed as going against the stream, she is lost in the sea of rushing people who do not want to get deeper into things, because they know they could be hurt. This is represented in a very subtle visual way. For instance, roses look nice in the film, but they have spikes which make rose seller's hands bleed. A piece of cake seems delicious, but the taste of it is disgusting. It is always the fight between the surface and depth in this film, the first impression and further investigation. I believe it is a very important theme for our society where people are afraid of making commitments or engagements, where they seek for quick pleasures, even though they need true and honest love. The film is very strong visually and stylistically. In order for the reader to get a glimpse of what it is, I will say that it is sort of a combination of Kubrick, Lynch and von Trier.

Kubrick - for using clever cinematic language, for all the subliminal messages that are there like a sign on a building saying "Open 24" which is pretty ironic as nobody in the film is truly open. The director deliberately plays with this open and closed concept a lot. The music is somewhat similar to Eyes Wide Shut's too and I think it is used to the fullest in Under the Skin as a form of expression. One can also feel the influence of 2001: A Space Odyssey with all those shots of abstract liquids and close-ups of a human eye.

Lynch - for the dreamy, surreal sequences and the guy with the ugly face. I see it as a direct reference to his film The Elephant Man where he also talks about the inner beauty of a human being.

Von Trier - for the sea scene (Breaking the Waves), for the foggy scenes in the woods (Antichrist). Like it usually happens with von Trier's work, someone might blame this film of cheap shock value. I do not think that is the case. The film is being a little provocative, indeed, but at the same time all those provocations are reasoned by the message the director wants to convey.

So one can easily feel some influence from other directors, maybe some references, but I should say that this film does not lack originality at all. The directing decisions and the choice of music are as strong as the 2.5 minute close-up of Nicole Kidman's face in Birth. If you have seen that scene, you know what you are dealing with here.

Even though, in my opinion, the images are very meaningful and extremely powerful, Under the Skin has received a lot of contrasting responses. Personally, I think the film is a masterpiece and it is worth the Golden Lion, but there are people who actually hated it and booed at it after having seen it. I cannot really understand why they did that, but I think it is good when a piece of art inflicts emotions and receives such different responses. It means that it is not mediocre and that it will cause discussions, maybe some self reflection which is always a good thing. The film suggests that I should get more into details, analyse things carefully from beginning to end, but I will not, just because I want other people to see it first and make their own conclusions. But obviously Under the Skin demands a bigger analysis than this one. I will just say that I was blown away by what I saw on the screen and by what I heard from the speakers. I hope I will get to see it again on the big screen. It has so much power and it is questioning the most important, essential things about our existence - our values as human beings. Where are we going, where are we rushing? Maybe we need to stop and look at the beauty around us? Maybe we should stop being superficial about others? Or maybe we are empty like balloons ourselves? For me it is definitely the best film from the 70th Venice Film Festival and one of the best films I have seen in my life.

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ArT_of_InSaNiTy from United Kingdom
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I would like to start by saying i am a fan of films that are "different". I don't need a million gunshots or explosions to entertain me. I am not set on good guy vs bad guy and good guy winning. I like thought provoking films; i enjoy them much more than the soul sucking films that are manufactured on a daily basis. So i was intrigued by this one. The trailer was dark and seemed full of suspense. The critics had made bold comparisons with Stanley Kubrick, which in itself is a massive compliment. And as someone who lives in Scotland it had a little sentiment to it.

But for me it was dull. Every time i thought it was going to pick up the pace, it decelerated. It was so slow it may as well have been going backwards. There are far too many scenes that are prolonged. I am fully aware of its intention to focus on aesthetically driven scenes. But 5/6 seconds is enough to appreciate it, not 10/15 seconds. At some points i thought the reel had maybe stuck and was expecting a CineWorld employee to come pacing round the corner to explain that there was something wrong. It just pauses at points that don't need that much attention. I am also aware of the symbolic nature the film carries. It is clearly a film you need to look further to understand it in more depth. That is fine; i welcome that, but the problem is that it does this without conviction. I don't need to see the masses of drunkards who swarm Sauchiehall Street 20 times. What is the purpose? To let us know that we, as people, blindly walk through life intoxicated not appreciating the finer things in life? That Under the skin we are empty? I assume that is a candidate for its meaning.

Scarlett Johansson doesn't have a lot to do in this film; basically make small talk and get naked, all the while with a plain face. And considering how ridiculous the Scottish actors are made to look, maybe she is due some credit for maintaining that straight face. There are a few things that bug me however; like she can walk down your average staircase, but panics with a spiral staircase. There is a definite point to this film, but with the layout, with there being no real culmination, no real explanation, it leaves you feeling you have been robbed of a film that could have been more. Could have told a better story. And for any Americans who watch, not all Scottish people talk like that, or wear horrible purple shirts, unnecessarily tucking them into our over elevated jeans. We don't all support Hibs and when a van is parked not all of us will gang up and try to break into the van. So feel free to visit. It is a nice place after all. Although the film had some stunning scenes and promotes Scotland visually, it doesn't exactly put the people in a great light.

I wanted to enjoy this film, but i couldn't. I wanted to agree with comparisons with Kubrick, but i certainly won't. You can throw arguments of it was beautifully crafted or had symbolic serenity, but at the end of the day it is slow, uneventful and lacked culmination.

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postmortem-books from United Kingdom
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At the end of this film someone shouted out "What a load of old pony" and a cheer went up from a fair proportion of the audience - that part that either hadn't left before the end or hadn't fallen asleep. To continue the metaphor then this film is up there with the old nag that Steptoe and Son keep in their back yard.

The opening minutes are pretty indicative of what's to come. A nonsensical light show that signifies what precisely? Throw in eerie soundtrack music. And then extend it way beyond the powers of concentration of the most devoted of viewers.

Motor-bike man runs into a dark ditch and picks up a woman who looks dead. Next, another woman strips the dead woman. Next, she is driving around Glasgow in a white van. The combination of darkness/semi-light and Glaswegian accents which are more or less indecipherable only serves to make whatever's going on on-screen even more confusing. Somewhere along the line the Elephant Man has escaped from another film and gets picked up by Johanssen. He doesn't drown like the previous two men that she seduces but runs off naked across the moors. Motor-bike man catches him and puts into the boot of a car. He drives off. Don't know what happens to the car or Elephant Man. By this time people were leaving, my neighbour was sound asleep and I had two red-hot pins ready to stick into my eyes.

I can't even be bothered to run over the rest of this abysmal, tedious story. Shots were held for ever in the mistaken belief, I presume, that we gave a damn about we were seeing. Nothing happened.

It's now the next morning and I'm still angry at forking out £10 and wasting 2 hours of life to see this pile of dreck. Beany-hatted, sandal-wearing academics will just love this film and will witter on endlessly to their poor students about the "significance" of it all. Believe me, there is none.

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davidgee from United Kingdom
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The last time I was this bored in a cinema it was during the era of the French New Wave: films like Last Year In Marienbad and Hiroshima Mon Amour, which were all about Style (if you can call it that) rather than Substance.

Scarlett Johansson plays a mysterious woman who preys on hitch-hikers and dropouts in Glasgow and the Scottish Lowlands. It isn't confirmed until the end that she's a PREDATOR-style alien being, but the critics have not kept this "spoiler" from us, so I guess it's okay to mention it. Based on a cult novel and with a cult director (Jonathan Glazer: SEXY BEAST), the film is full of long shots and long silences. It's also filmed in near-total darkness, presumably to keep down the cost of special effects, but this means the viewer can't actually tell what's going on most of the time. Is she just killing her victims or is she 'assimilating' them? Don't know and - sorry! - don't care.

I can't imagine why they needed a star of Johansson's magnitude for this low-budget tosh. Nor can I imagine why she took the role. The SPECIES movies covered the storyline more thrillingly and more viscerally. If this is meant to be a pretentious "art-house" film about an alien predating on alienated members of Scottish society, all I can say is it definitely alienated me!

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spacejunk001 from Montreal, Canada
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This is a film that will divide audiences, for sure - but, don't forget, so did 2001: A Space Odyssey when it came out. Despite the presence of a mainstream actress, and a science fiction premise, this is an art film 100%, inviting a very subjective response from audiences. Which isn't to say it doesn't have a plot, though. Addressing the confusion of previous IMDb comments - the men that Johansson's alien traps have their innards sucked out and transported through a cosmic portal. One scene makes that pretty hard to miss! The film is about her developing a morality based on her actions, and trying to escape the purpose on earth that she's functioned for, that her overseers (the people on motorbikes - also aliens in human form) make sure she goes through with)

A super-creepy music score, amazing visuals and a brave & mesmerizing performance from SJ combine for a film that will be talked about for years to come. Ignore whatever you read about it - especially the bad comments here, which are completely ignorant - and go in with an open mind.

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markgorman from United Kingdom
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You have never seen a movie even remotely like this.

It's been a long time coming. Ten years in development, to be precise, and I've followed the saga throughout.

My interest was based on my love of the source novel by Michel Faber which is a modern classic.

Clearly the 10 year development period demonstrated the difficulty with which the novel would translate to the screen but, in my opinion, it was worth the effort, and the wait.

When I heard that it was in Jonathon Glazer's hands (Birth and Sexy Beast) I was encouraged, and when I found out that Scarlett Johansen was to play the central character Isserley (unnamed in the movie but credited as Laura for some reason) my heart skipped a beat.

I was not disappointed, but let's make no mistake, this is a Marmite movie.

My wife was bored to tears. And I can see why one IMDb reviewer headlines his review "Tedious. Thoughtless. Empty. A failure in all ways." But I disagree entirely. It's fair to say that the pace is laconic, but it's a thing of beauty and a movie packed full of ideas, unique special effects and greatness.

If you haven't read the novel you might be forgiven for asking what the hell is going on in this story and, yes, there are elements of it that are fully explored. The long section of the movie where Isserley combs the streets of Glasgow, looking for her victims, with the help of hidden cameras bringing a documentary feel to the whole proceeding, is long and a little repetitive. But it's necessary to show the exhaustion of her task and her eventual disintegration. What's more, it does not paint the city in an entirely positive light. To that end Creative Scotland should be commended for supporting it. It's a movie packed with visual metaphor. There are some moments of horror but they are far from gratuitous and all completely emotionless which is to be expected given that Isserley is an alien, devoid of emotion, sent to earth to farm unattached males for her home planet (not that you'd work that out).

From the opening sequence in which Isserley's eyes are created, to replicate humans', the imagery is breathtakingly disconcerting. It's underpinned by an outstanding soundtrack by Mica Levi.

Johansonn is magnificent. Isn't she always? She is brave to take on a role this opinion dividing, and she manages to exude a total lack of emotion throughout in such a way that, unbelievably, you kind of sympathise with her role as human culler.

Glazer is magnificent. But he always is. Birth is a much underrated movie and anyone who saw his debut, Sexy Beast, cannot fail to love the guy.

This is a great movie. Rammed to the rafters with original thought. It's just a great pity so many of you will dislike it so much.

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Lisbeth_S from United States
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Whenever you have a groundbreaking film that redefines Form, you are going to have some that either love it or hate it. Having said that, as I get older I more often find reading the user comments on IMDb fills me with despair for the species. For anybody to dismiss Under The Skin as "boring" they must have no interest in human consciousness, science, technology, philosophy, history or the art of film-making. Finally I understand why most Hollywood productions are so shallow and vacuous - they understand their audience.

"Under The Skin" is unique among films in content and scope. The cinematography is out-of-this-world, breathtaking, and the musical score is sublime. I rarely use the word "masterpiece" to describe a movie. But Jonathan Glazer's "Under The Skin" is art in the highest sense, like Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa", or Vincent Van Gogh's "The Starry Night".

The film requires you to watch in a different way than you normally watch films. It requires you to experience strange and beautiful images without feeling guilty that there is no complex plot or detailed characterization. Don't get me wrong, plots and characters are good, but they're not the be-all and end-all of everything. There are different KINDS of film, and to enjoy 'Under The Sin' you must tune your brain to a different wavelength and succumb to the pleasure of beauty, PURE beauty, 'the vast unknown' and an Alien perspective, unfettered by the banal conventions of everyday films.

"Under The Skin" is a absolutely unique movie experience. Those who miss out on it do so at the detriment of their own intellectual and imaginative capacities.

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mavnick-1 from United States
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OK, so we sat through the entire film. We left after the credits rolled and looked at each other with the "WTF was that!" look. Some observations: 1. Scarlett had one facial expression throughout the whole film 2. Those who compare it to the works of Stanley Kubrick have obviously not seen a Stanley Kubrick film 3. The soundtrack was annoying which I would contribute to the director having made too many music videos 4. Too many holes in the script to mention here 5. Who were the guys on the motorcycle and how come they did not need to "feed" ? 6. The reviews I had read mentioned that it used ground breaking techniques in camera placement (in the van), Have these guys seen any episodes of COPS? That is inventive camera placement! 7. And what was she thinking when she signed on to do this film???

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Sharonov from United States
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About 5 years ago I read the book by Michael Faber. In the book, a strange looking woman with big boobs picks up Scottish hitchhikers, ascertains if they're alone in the world; if they are, she takes them to a secret place where they are anesthetized, then castrated and de- tongued. They are then fattened to be used for food in the place she comes from, an unnamed planet. She has had her face altered to look human by removing her snout. She feels very ugly because of this. At one point a male she was in love with comes to visit the secret place and she feels terrible because of her "deformity", realizing that now he will never love her. At one point in the book she is almost raped by a very crude man, and blinds him with her nails.

The poor men being fattened for food are depicted as being very pathetic, and I originally thought it was a protest against the way we treat factory farm animals. Michael Faber denied this, and maybe that's why he hasn't protested this very vague use of his work. And, maybe he's just hungry.

This movie is so far from the book it's ridiculous, but that would have been OK if it weren't so boring. Some of the special effects and music were just weird enough to make what happens almost believable. Had it been shortened; had it been a little more obvious why the men were being caught and imprisoned in the jello stuff, I think I would have enjoyed it more. As the previous reviewer pointed out, the scenes were just too long.

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RaveReviewerzzz from United Kingdom
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I am surprised by the amount of negative criticism about this film as I found it mesmerising and intriguing. If your expecting some Hollywood movie about a sexy alien killing lots of dull characters in a gory and sensationalised way (with lots of explosions thrown in), then you will be disappointed. The pace is slow however I felt that this contributed to the whole feel and atmosphere. I liked the use of Scotland as a setting especially the way it contrasted the natural beauty of Scotland with some of the urban ugliness that exists. I also liked the way Scarlett Johansson played the main role - cool, sexy and almost emotionless. I am glad I didn't watch this at the cinema as watching it at home meant I could discuss the film during the many periods of calm. There were a few arty scenes in the film but I did not feel these were pretentious or contrived, again they added to the feel of the film. The ending was a little disappointing in my opinion but I still feel this film is classy, original and will make most people think!

female nudity|alien|desire|male frontal nudity|female frontal nudity|scotland|human prey|very little dialogue|femme fatale|erection|male full frontal nudity|woman looking at herself nude in a mirror|labia|looking at one's self in a mirror|deformed man|playing against type|attempted rape|human alien|glasgow scotland|disguise|based on novel|pubic hair|nudity|female star appears nude|male nudity|male pubic hair|void|walking in a forest|walking along a road|fog|hit with a rock|woman carrying a woman|snowing|logger|cabin in the woods|man undressing|crying child|personification of death|rape|van|bare chested male|woman wearing black lingerie|close up of eye|woman undressing|death of family|ant|stripping|burned alive|applying lipstick|shopping mall|motorcycle|immolation|doused with gasoline|fire|title same as book|proteus syndrome|asking for directions|woman undressing a woman|nightclub|bottomless|cfnf|deformity|briefs|biker|club|traffic jam|lipstick|bus|eating chocolate cake|fur coat|lynchian|three word title|nothingness|male rear nudity|swimming in surf|accidental drowning|drowning at sea|male underwear|nameless character|female rear nudity|sinister|sexual relationship|seductive man|erotica|seductive woman|creature|eroticism|extraterrestrial|seduction|art film|boxer briefs|rave|eating cake|swollen face|drowning|

AKAs Titles:


Certifications:
Australia:MA15+ / Brazil:16 / Canada:14A / Canada:13+ (Quebec) / France:Tous publics (with warning) / Germany:12 / Hong Kong:III / Iceland:12 / Ireland:15A / Italy:VM14 / Japan:R15+ / Mexico:B-15 / Netherlands:12 / New Zealand:R13 / Philippines:R-16 / Portugal:M/16 / Singapore:R21 / South Korea:18 / Switzerland:16 / Thailand:15 / UK:15 / USA:R