Under the Skin (1997)
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87% of critics liked it
(23 reviews) -
63% of users liked it
(761 ratings)
Samantha Morton, who soon after this film gained attention for her role in Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown, makes an impressive feature debut in first time writer-director Carine Adler's bittersweet saga about a troubled woman's uneven progress toward self-realization. Morton plays Iris,… More Samantha Morton, who soon after this film gained attention for her role in Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown, makes an impressive feature debut in first time writer-director Carine Adler's bittersweet saga about a troubled woman's uneven progress toward self-realization. Morton plays Iris, a woman who feels ignored by her boyfriend Gary (Matthew Delamere), her self-possessed pregnant sister Rose (Claire Rushbrook), and even her beloved mother (Rita Tushingham). After their mother dies suddenly of a brain tumor, Iris falls apart. Tired of a supervisor's hostility, she suddenly quits her job as a clothing saleswoman and has a sexual encounter with Tom (Stuart Townsend), a man she meets in a movie theater. Iris leaves Gary, starts wearing her mother's wig, and dresses like a slut. She gets drunk and desperately picks up men in bars, and she ends up being abused by Max (Daniel O'Meara). Iris mooches money from her sister and they fight over a ring that Rose claims their mother gave her. She finds out that her best friend Vron (Christine Tremarco) has taken up with Gary and tries to seduce Rose's husband Frank (Mark Womack). ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi
- Directed By
- Billy Burke, Carine Adler
- Genres
- Documentary, Drama, Art House & International
Unrated,
- In Theaters
- Jan 1, 1997 Wide
Critic Reviews
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Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
In her feature debut, Adler shapes her film gracefully and elicits a scorching no-holds-barred, totally selfless portrayal from Morton.
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John Hartl, Film.com
Morton's Iris keeps going in circles... It's a spooky, movie-dominating performance.
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Elizabeth Weitzman, Film.com
Although Iris has no idea who she is, Morton is utterly certain, and inhabits her temporarily defeated soul with an ease that knocks you out.
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Janet Maslin, New York Times
While Ms. Morton embodies the role with furious intensity and with a raw yet waifish presence that brings both Emily Watson and Claire Danes to mind, Ms. Adler directs the film in ways that live up to its title.
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Joe Baltake, Sacramento Bee
It isn't often that a film offers a heroine who is this aggressive, angry and self-punishing, and the filmmaker and her star work in perfect harmony to get at all the complexity behind it.
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Cast
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Samantha Morton
as Iris
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Claire Rushbrook
as Rose
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Rita Tushingham
as Their mother
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Mark Womack
as Frank
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Matthew Delamere
as Gary
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Christine Tremarco
as Vron
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Stuart Townsend
as Tom
- Clare Francis
- Joe Tucker
- Daniel O'Meara
- Lisa Millet
- Jack Marsden
