On Sunday 24 October the Institute of group analysis launched their new Film Society/ Discussion Group at the Tricycle Cinema in Kilburn, in the presence of a glittering audience of shrinks and actors. The startling and powerful Under the Skin marked the start of an excellent programme.
Under the Skin is a low budget film which was first shown in 1997 to great critical acclaim (including receiving an award at the Edinburgh film festival). It has not however, been widely distributed in UK, although it is due to be shown on Channel 4 next year. Based on Estela Welldon’s Mother, Madonna, Whore , it explores bereavement and the disturbing effects of the loss of a mother on her daughter. The film-maker, Carine Adler worked closely with Dr. Weldon in her exploration of the characters and their ways of coping. The films emotional authenticity is testament to the success of this collaboration between film-maker and therapist.
The film follows the responses of two sisters; Iris and Rose following their mother’s sudden death from cancer. Both young women adopt different strategies for dealing with their loss. Iris (played powerfully by Samantha Morton) is unable to express her despair verbally. In her mute, frozen grief she engages in a desperate series of sexual encounters with men, which initially seemed to promise sensual pleasure, human contact and excitement but leave her abused, abandoned and utterly alone. Rose, by contrast, has a husband, a home and feels sufficiently safe in this environment to grieve more openly for her mother. Yet she feels barely up to the task of coping in her pregnant state, without the support of her mother.
Both daughters seem to need to hold on to their mother in quite concrete ways. Iris’ dresses in her mothers wig and fur coat, looking part whore, part little girl dressed up in mummy's clothes. There is something terribly poignant about Iris’ fragile and borrowed femininity. Rose, more subtly takes her mothers ring for herself. Whilst alive, the two girls greedy competitiveness over their mothers love took the form of petulant bickering. In the aftermath of her death, the sisters are each locked in their own desperate grief, unable to recognise or support each other.
We are forced to witness Iris’ downward spiral as she offers herself up to a series of men, for their own opportunistic, careless or cruel use. Through this we gain some insight into the nature of sexual promiscuity. Her first sexual encounter begins with Iris having fallen asleep in a film, and being approached by a stranger in the now empty cinema. Clutching her popcorn, Iris looks like a startled child emerging from the state of sleep. The two strangers approach each other with looks and moves and Iris asks the stranger if he wants to talk to her. However, talk is not a feature of any of Iris’ contacts with others (indeed, throughout the film we witness a series of failed attempts by Iris to make phone contact or meet with people who are not there for her). The couple’s passionate sexual encounter is narrated in thick tones by Iris. This image of Iris as both a vulnerable child and a sexy woman is an enduring template in the film and seems to express Iris’ need to be cared for and her defensive inability to find or accept help. Iris attempts to use sex to fill the void created by her loss; her promiscuity simultaneously expresses and denies her neediness.
The pulsating music shapes the atmosphere of the film. Iris’ sexual trysts are filmed to a rhythm which echoes her excited and depressed state. Visually, the film is also powerfully intense, with a hand-held camera lurching in the dark towards intimate close-up images of Iris. Yet remarkably, for a film dealing with sexual promiscuity Under the Skin avoids voyeurism, since we are not just looking at, but rather are engaged with Iris. The raw powerful portrayal enables us to empathise with her cut off, manic, panic ridden state. Yet we also recognise and can understand the responses of those people surround Iris, who she teases, manipulates and pushes away.
I do not wish to spoil the ending by saying what happens, save to say that the film eschews clichés and shows something of the desire and despair which underlie ‘promiscuous’ sex. Under the Skin offers a simple but gripping narrative of loss and survival, relating and non-relating.
The film was followed by a short discussion, where audience quizzed the director, Carine Adler, consultant, Dr. Weldon and producer Kate Ogborn about the nature of their collaboration. Interestingly Adler said of her work with Dr. Weldon that she could not remember who suggested what. Such evident generosity in the acknowledgments made of each other and a genuine curiosity on the part of the director about motivation and defenses ensured what Steven Berkoff described as a beautifully directed and emotionally authentic film, which he said was rare in British cinema. Berkoff likened the film to Fassbinder. Discussion examined womanliness, loss, communication, denial, rivalry, splitting, projection and ultimately hope. If discussion is anything to go by, we have an exciting IGA Film season ahead.
Under the Skin will be shown on Channel 4 next year. Further information regarding IGA Film Society can be obtained from the IGA office, 1 Daleham Gardens, NW3 5BY (0171 431-2693).