Pedro Almodovar has often been called the greatest Spanish director since Luis Brunel; and like his celebrated predecessor he works with extremely controversial material that completely divides audiences. His newest film La Piel que Habito (The Skin I Live In) is certainly no exception, with an insane Greek tragedy style story line that would make Sophocles proud. Adapted from Thierry Jonoquet’s novel Tarantula, the story sees damaged surgeon Robert Ledgard (Antonio Banderas) holding a beautiful woman Vera (Elena Anaya) in his home. Vera spends her time in a protective body suit, and is unable to leave her room under any circumstances. Banderas, specialising in face transplants, treats Vera as his project, and we later discover he has given her the same face as his dead wife.

The introduction of Robert’s sadistic, criminal brother ‘The Tiger’ (Roberto Alamo), begins the insane chain of events that makes the film so fucking twisted. After he rapes Vera, mistaking her for Robert’s wife, we begin to receive an insight into Robert’s twisted past, given by his house maid Marilia (Marisa Paredes). Banderas is brilliant at playing the mentally disturbed surgeon, and I always love seeing international actors who’ve made it in Hollywood returning to their roots. Elena Anaya, whilst playing the role fantastically steals the show with her entrancing beauty. Similarly to his last film, Broken Embraces, I found that Almodovar sometimes took characters a little too far, beyond the realms of believability. Alamo plays the disturbing Tiger grippingly, although he is only on screen for about 10 minutes. I wasn’t a fan of Paredes acting, or her character in general, but I’m sure that is more to do with Almodovar’s direction than her abilities.

All in all the film is fantastic. There were moments where it was on the brink of a complete catastrophe, but as usual Almodovar pulls it back into the realms of cinematic genius, and this is probably his best film to date. The cinematography is perfect, absolutely astounding, the acting is fantastic, the storyline is beautifully contrived and I love any film that has you constantly thinking ‘what the fuck?’, the whole way through. I adore the Spanish language, and like any woman enjoy seeing Antonio Banderas on the big screen, but this film just transcended any expectation I had of a boring or typical plotline. As if often said Almodovar is a master of modern cinema and watching any of his work is a pleasure.

I’d definitely recomend this film, though it’s not for the faint hearted; and it has an absolutely killer twist

8.5/10