Dr. Robert Ledgard (Antonio Banderas, glacial and magnificent) is a brilliant plastic surgeon. His wife burned to death in a car accident. His daughter suffered a traumatic assault and later committed suicide. Now, six years later, he has perfected a transparent, tiger-proof synthetic skin. His test subject? Vera (Elena Anaya), a mysterious woman held captive in his country estate, forced to wear a body-hugging suit and practice yoga. She is his masterpiece. She is also, we slowly learn, his prisoner, his patient, and his grotesque idea of love.
There is a moment in La piel que habito —about thirty minutes in—where you realize you are not watching a revenge thriller or a Gothic romance. You are watching a creation myth filmed like a nightmare. Pedro Almodóvar, the master of crimson curtains and broken hearts, trades his usual Madrid sunshine for the sterile, white glow of a Toledan mansion. And what he finds there is something colder than any ghost: the male gaze turned into a laboratory.
Watch this film if you dare to see Antonio Banderas break your heart with a pair of surgical scissors. Watch it if you want to feel your own skin crawl. And then, afterward, touch your own arm and whisper: This is mine. Have you seen La piel que habito ? Did you find it a twisted love story or a pure revenge tragedy? Let me know in the comments.