The Skin I Live In

2011 ‘La piel que habito’ Directed by Pedro Almodóvar

A brilliant plastic surgeon creates a synthetic skin that withstands any kind of damage. His guinea pig: a mysterious and volatile woman who holds the key to his obsession.

Antonio Banderas Elena Anaya Marisa Paredes Jan Cornet Roberto Álamo Eduard Fernández José Gómez Blanca Suárez Susi Sánchez Bárbara Lennie Fernando Cayo Chema Ruiz Buika Ana Mena Teresa Manresa Gabriel Barbosa Agustín Almodóvar Miguel Almodóvar Marta R. Mahou Carmen Machi Fernando Iglesias

Alternative Titles

La Peau que j'habite, 我的华丽皮囊, Skin I Live In, The, (18) La Piel que Habito, A Pele Que Habito, 내가 사는 피부, 吾栖之肤

thriller mystery drama

120 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by maria ★★★★ 6

what's her skin routine, dermatologists hate her
Review by FredM ★★★★ 7

Talk about movies you will not forget having seen them a decade ago, well, this is a perfect example.
A truly mesmerizing experience, which gets more and more uncomfortable as it progresses.
Forget the slashers with axes, true horror, that's surgeons with scalpels.
Review by DirkH ★★★★½ 20

Dios mio.
Dios fucking mio.
Pardon my Spanish, but this film just knocked the wind out of me. Almodovar is one messed up genius and he pushes the boat out here with this wonderfully bizarre fairytale.
It is a fairytale in so far that it deals with real life themes but puts them in a larger than life setting. And larger than life it is. It is very difficult to write anything about this film without spoiling the plot so I won't as I feel this film is best enjoyed if you go in cold.
There is a small danger in that as I found the first half hour or so unbelievably cold and distant. And while this tone never…
Review by Sally Jane Black 49

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Still digesting this, but I can't wrap my head around this in any way that doesn't come up the same: transmisogynistic and general misogynistic garbage. Feel free to disagree in the comments if you're a trans woman, non-binary, or, for the non-trans misogyny, a cis woman.
TW: forced surgery, transmisogyny, misogyny, rape, kidnapping, suicide
* Forced feminization is at best complicated, but here it is filmed in such bright-yet-sterile care that it seems like an indulgence, like the filmmakers found it artful. It seems as though both the enforcement and the feminization are felt to be horrors. While being wrongfully altered surgically to another gender is terrifying, it's hard not to see this also as a depiction of femininity as…
Review by brat pitt 7

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

they had me in the first half with all that voyeuristic male gazing i’m not gonna lie, but the twist left me with a TON of questions in regards to the complex gender politics. feel free to discuss in the comments — i’d love to read some (respectful!!!) opinions to help me figure this film out, especially from non-cis folk!

-because of almodovar’s gay identity & strong track record of making LGBTQ works, is this a post-gender film? if so, does that excuse the (in my opinion) unnecessarily graphic rape scenes?
-what are the implications of the punishment of every single character? does it mean everyone was wrong? or does it simply mean that the film is not meant to…
Review by Lucy ★★★ 2

BOY THIS WAS FUCKED UP
Review by dylan gelula ★★★★★

this is so insanely fucked up. it also looks so gorgeous and i love the score. it is my deepest held belief that movies should make us feel horrified and bad
Review by Dyrnott ★★★★★ 2

Starts out with the images being almost hypnotic! This movie is beautifully shot! The story sneaks up on you! It is twisted on so many different levels! Give it a try!
Review by katie 3

more fucked than america? nah
Review by iana ★★★½

...that was a journey
Review by Siegel™ ★★★★ 11

I am reminded of Kim Jee-woon's I Saw the Devil and Park Chan-wook's Oldboy, as they are similar in that each film presents a character who is cruelly inhuman, and gives us reason to root for their psychopathic revenge. Robert is an unwholesome character. The feelings of others mean nothing to him. That he expresses them on the rich canvas of Almodovar lends them a convincing beauty, but he is rotten to the core. When the film ends and we finally understand the depth of his depravity, it's like a punch in the face; I can imagine absolutely hating this film, but apparently I love getting punched in the face.
Review by Ian West ★★★½ 8

Whoa... I knew nothing about this movie going in other than it existed, featured Antonio Banderas, and the poster reminded me of Eyes Without a Face—I had no idea this would be a body horror psychological Hitchcockian revenge melodrama fusion with impeccable set design, costumes, and music.

Recent reviews

Review by Kevin ★★★★★

o vicente era gostoso né
Review by Claudia ★★★★

Pedro, estás muy loco pero te quiero mucho
Review by bxtr0061 ★★★★

nice.
Review by v3nus2milo ★★★★½

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

I loved this. I absolutely loved how bizarre it was. This is a movie I will definitely be watching a second time — too many questions are left unanswered (though they probably will stay that way). This isn't about right or wrong, good or bad, man or woman : I think it's mostly about not knowing how to feel, while being defined by specific things such as the past, the social role you hold, your appearance, your occupation...
To those of you who interpreted this as some kind of commentary on transsexuality, I really don't think it has anything to do with this. It deals with the complexity of gender as a whole, and particularly with the way men can…
Review by Progatsky ★★★★★

Esta siempre ha Sido de mis películas favoritas. Me encanta la perversión y como se enamora de su propia obra
Review by abbyscho ★★★★½

Do all Spanish people need therapy? Discuss
Beautiful score, lovely art history references
Review by Tendai_art ★★★★½

This movie was soooomeething else man
Review by hazza ★★★★½

Mil pensamentos se passa na minha mente sobre esse filme até onde vai o certo e o errado.
Review by yasemin ★★★★

Bir ben vardır benden içeri ya da modern Dr. Frankenstein vücut bulmuştu :)
Review by Grilled Cheese ★★★★★

I can see why this film has attracted so many Polarising reviews. Either you wholly hate this movie or you wholly love it. There's no in between. Its provocative. And I guess there's where this film wins. IMHO this is the best revenge film I've seen after THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES (2009). Absolutely loved it. The Cinematography is amazing. It's a feast for the eyes and for the ears because of the super soundtrack. Enthralled.
Review by Balder ★★★★

I watched this without knowing anything about it and it definitely surprised me. It is a thriller that goes all the way in doing something that is so disturbing that it will not fade away from my memory. The film is told in three parts, the middle, the beginning and the end. By doing it this way it keeps the suspense up by having us guessing exactly who these characters are and what their relationships are with each other, and it works very well. Antonio Banderas has a great performance and really showcases why he is so well known. This film is pretty cool and more people should watch it for sure.
Review by agustina ★★★★★

Que locura esta película, que locura.
Pedro Almodóvar no falla en crear tramas creativas y que atrapan al espectador, y “la piel que habito” no es la excepción.
Cada minuto que pasaba estaba mas sorprendida y enganchada con la historia.
Es increíble todo lo que puede provocar en el receptor tristeza, confusión, curiosidad, bronca, incomodidad, de todo, realmente de todo.
Es un viaje a través de emociones, distintas historias que se entrelazan y que no podes creer estar viendo.
Absolutamente todo me voló la cabeza, el guion hermoso, una estética genial, un final tremendo y unas actuaciones que son todo (la de Elena Anaya mi favorita obvio)