movie review under the skin

Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, under the skin.

Now streaming on:

Is "Under the Skin," in which Scarlett Johansson plays a mysterious woman luring men into a fatal mating dance, a brilliant science fiction movie—more of an "experience" than a traditional story, with plenty to say about gender roles, sexism and the power of lust? Is it a pretentious gloss on a very old story about men's fear of women, and women's discomfort with their own allure? Does it contain mysteries that can only be unpacked with repeat viewings, or is it a shallow film whose assured style and eerie tone make it seem deeper than it is? Is there, in fact, something beneath the movie's skin? Why is every sentence in this paragraph a question?

I can answer that last one: "Under the Skin," Jonathan Glazer's first film since 2004's " Birth ," is special because it's hard to pin down. It doesn't move or feel like most science fiction movies—like most movies, period. It's a film out of its time. Its time, I think, is the 1970s, when directors like Alejandro Jodorowsky (" El Topo ," "The Holy Mountain") and Nicolas Roeg (" Don't Look Now ," " The Man Who Fell to Earth ") made viscerally intense features with subjective visuals and sound effects and music and dissociative editing. Certain modern filmmakers still work in this mode occasionally—for instance, the Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami , whose 1998 film "A Taste of Cherry" shares some odd similarities with "Under the Skin." As you watch any of those films, you think about what they're trying to say, or what they "mean," or on a much simpler level, what the heck is happening from one minute to the next. But at a certain point you realize that on the simplest level, such films are saying: "Here is an experience that's nothing like yours, and here are some images and sounds and situations that capture the essence of what the experience felt like; watch the movie for a couple of hours, and when it's over, go home and think about what you saw and what it did to you."

The opening of "Under the Skin" might remind you of the openings of "2001," " Blade Runner " or " Close Encounters of the Third Kind ," or certain movies by Paul Thomas Anderson : an immersive, hypnotic gambit that feels like the mental equivalent of a palate cleanser. As Mica Levi's score buzzes like an otherworldly hornet's nest, we see a black screen with a tiny white dot in the middle. The dot grows incrementally larger, or closer, before shaping itself into a pattern of rings that simultaneously suggests a birth canal dilating, the stages of a rocket separating, and a lunar eclipse as seen through a telescope's lens. What's happening? The movie doesn't exactly tell us. Maybe this is the heroine, Johansson's character, falling to earth, or landing on earth. Maybe. Then see a man on a motorcycle retrieving the body of a young woman (also Johansson) and the woman donning her body as one might don a set of clothes. Who is the motorcyclist? Is he her mate? Her procurer? Her handler? Who is she? An astronaut? The vanguard in an alien invasion? An intergalactic sex tourist visiting Earth as an American might visit Amsterdam or Bangkok? The opening is the first of many sequences in "Under the Skin" that feel more figurative than "real"—moments in which we suspect we're seeing the poetic representation of a thing, not necessarily the thing itself.

Most of the movie does, however, feel "real," particularly scenes of the woman driving around Glasgow, Scotland, enticing men to get into her white van and follow her to an abandoned flat where, it is implied, they have sex. The men (shot by hidden cameras in a series of improvisations) seem like real men. They aren't movie star handsome. They're young, alert and engaging. Some are funny and seem like they might even have a chance with an attractive young woman who was not an extraterrestrial looking for a hookup. The unnamed heroine seems genuinely intrigued by their banter, sometimes amused, never in a condescending way. She seems to be learning about this new environment and the people in it, and enjoying herself when she isn't anxious about passing for human.

But once we join the woman and her men in the vacant apartment, the film turns figurative again. The men follow the heroine through a pitch black doorway that's yet another symbolically charged portal; it's as if, by stepping through it, both she and they are being born, or reborn. Once the couples step through, we don't see any sex, just nudity plus movement, in what might be a musical number choreographed by performance artists. The frame is completely black except for the woman and her prey. They both take their clothes off, item by item. The woman always backs away from the man, slowly, confidently, but with an eerily blank expression (most of Johansson's expressions are eerily blank, except when she's unexpectedly laughing or showing confusion or fear). The man walks forward, but seems to trudge lower and lower into a black pool. The heroine, meanwhile, continues to walk backward on the pool's undisturbed surface.

The leading lady gives a performance different from any you've seen from her. It's keenly attuned to the movie's aesthetic. It's more about intuition and gesture than dialogue. Johansson has to be at once achingly specific and so general that you can hang symbols on her. She pulls it off. And somehow Johansson, Glazer and his cinematographer Daniel Landin transform how we think of this star. They've taken one of the most glamorous actresses of the modern era—a woman whose looks have been abstracted into hubba-hubba caricature in most films, and on awards shows—and ironically restored her earthliness by having her play a creature not of this earth. They've made her beautiful in a real way, with hips and blemishes and folds in her skin.

There are hints of an unspoken psychic bond between the woman driving around in the white van picking up men and the mysterious motorcyclist zipping around Glasgow, hugging the curves of hilly roads that dip and snake like the ones in the opening sequence of " The Shining "—but we never find out precisely what the connection is. There are times when the heroine is a vessel emptied of meaning. Other times she seems like a human struggling to learn the subtle everyday details of a new culture. She speaks in an English accent, the men in thick Scottish accents. The absence of subtitles adds to the feeling that she's a stranger in a strange land, and makes us empathize with her as we try to understand the men. We study their facial expressions and gestures to plug gaps in meaning.

She's the woman as Other, yet she's also "just" a woman, or "just" an alien creature. She is everything and nothing. There are times when the film seems to be too freighted with meaning, as if inviting scholars to write thesis papers analyzing its masculine and feminine symbols. At other times it seems to be deliberately mocking such impulses, giving false clues to literal-minded viewers who insist on trying to "solve" movies like equations. But the film's disturbing finale goes beyond such simplistic "this=that" analysis. First it removes all doubt as to who the heroine is—what her "secret" is. Then goes beyond such questions, so that you feel a mix of despair and wonder not unlike what you'd feel at the end of a melodrama, or a Grimm fairy tale whose ending, however dreadful, is not depressing because it feels right.

Movies like this don't find their way into commercial cinemas very often. When they do, they don't tend to star anyone you've heard of. When a film comes along that doesn't fit the usual marketplace paradigms, such as " The Tree of Life " or " Upstream Color " or " Spring Breakers ," you take notice. "Under the Skin" is a film in that vein. Right after it ended, I argued its merits with a friend who didn't care for it, and I jokingly referred to it as "what would happen if Michelangelo Antonioni directed 'Species.'" It sounds like a glib joke, but I meant it as a compliment to the movie's mix of horror film menace and intellectualized control. It seems to hard to believe today, now that the pantheon of great directors has hardened into consensus, but there was a time when people thought there was less to Antonioni than met the eye, too. On the basis of this film, "Birth" and his debut " Sexy Beast ," Glazer strikes me as a director in the same weight class as Antonioni and all the other great filmmakers I've name-dropped in this piece, including Kubrick, the artist Glazer most often evokes. (Like Kubrick, Glazer takes his time—this is only his third feature in 13 years—and like Kubrick, he becomes more formally audacious, technically innovative, and inscrutable with each new work.)

I wanted to watch "Under the Skin" more than once before I reviewed it. Life got in the way of that. No matter: I feel secure in saying that it's going to end up on my list of the year's best movies. I saw it almost a week ago and it has never been far from my mind. Is it perfect? Probably not. It might be too much of something, or too little of something else. Time will sort out the particulars. But I do know that the movie's sensibility is as distinctive as any I've seen. "Under the Skin" is hideously beautiful. Its life force is overwhelming.

Matt Zoller Seitz

Matt Zoller Seitz is the Editor at Large of RogerEbert.com, TV critic for New York Magazine and Vulture.com, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism.

Now playing

Turtles All the Way Down

Peyton robinson.

Mother of the Bride

Marya e. gates.

Monica Castillo

In the Land of Saints and Sinners

Brian tallerico.

Terrestrial Verses

Godfrey cheshire, film credits.

Under the Skin (2014)

Rated R for graphic nudity, sexual content, some violence and language

108 minutes

Scarlett Johansson as Laura

Paul Brannigan as Andrew

Robert J. Goodwin as Tea Room Customer

Kryštof Hádek as The Swimmer

Michael Moreland as The Quiet Man

Scott Dymond as The Nervous Man

Jeremy McWilliams as The Bad Man

Jonathan Glazer
Walter Campbell

Latest blog posts

Saving Film History One Frame at a Time: A Preview of Restored & Rediscovered Series at the Jacob Burns Film Center

The Beatles Were Never More Human Than in ‘Let It Be’

Dear Tim Cook: Be a Decent Human Being and Delete this Revolting Apple Ad

The Problem and the Solution: Why Palpatine from Star Wars is One of the Great Movie Villains

International edition
Australia edition
Europe edition

Under the Skin review – Jonathan Glazer's singular vision

T his bold, flawed and admirably out-there adaptation of Michel Faber's 2000 novel about an extraterrestrial stalker opens with a pinpoint of light that may be a distant twinkling star or an approaching headlight – it's impossible to tell. From here we move, via kaleidoscopic invention, to an image of an eye; a constructed gaze, human on the outside, alien on the inside – inner space from outer space. With a brilliant blend of abstraction and precision, this sequence establishes a tension between the intergalactic and the earthly that underwrites the subsequent narrative; an eerie tale of a space traveller inhabiting human form, prowling the streets of Glasgow in search of raw flesh.

As the alt/indie descendant of Natasha Henstridge in Species , Scarlett Johansson is initially predatory, her clipped English vowels and thousand-yard stare effectively suggesting an imitation of life, an act refined to lure male prey like the finely wound fly-fishing ties about which Stellan Skarsgård waxes lyrical in Lars von Trier's Nymphomaniac . But time spent inhabiting human form appears to have a price, and as alienation turns to something resembling empathy, so vulnerability rears its head, and our voracious visitor begins to lose her mission control.

Jonathan Glazer, director of Sexy Beast and Birth , spent nine years, off and on, struggling to distil the essence of Faber's novel, working through several drafts (and, indeed, writers) before arriving at a version that strips things right back to the bone. While the source takes pointedly satirical swipes at a range of human targets, from sexuality to factory farming, Glazer and co-writer Walter Campbell conjure a sparse, elliptical fable that bizarrely juxtaposes scenes of highly orchestrated fantasy with on-the-hoof realism to disorienting effect. In an audacious, if not wholly successful move, Johansson's kerb-crawling adventures were shot with hidden lenses, unwitting non-professionals being lured into conversation – and indeed into a white van – by an unrecognised icon in otherworldly surroundings (a Hollywood star on Sauchiehall Street), their natural reactions caught Candid Camera -style. In stark contrast, such rough-and-ready sequences sit alongside extraordinarily elegant and evocative FX tableaux that combine the shock factor of Philip Kaufman's Invasion of the Body Snatchers remake (bodies disintegrating from the inside) with the serenity of artist Richard Wilson's breathtaking installation 20:50 (vast pools of oil that appear solid, but threaten to engulf) as aroused men disappear into the cosmic void.

Elsewhere, the tone veers between stark horror (Johansson's blank reaction to a beach-bound family tragedy) and dawning sympathy (an encounter with a young man with neurofibromatosis challenges perceptions of beauty and ugliness), with the spectre of cosmic loneliness gnawing away at the edges of the frame.

While the introductory sequence, with its rushing reflected lights and extreme iris close-ups, evokes the Stargate finale of Kubrick's 2001 , the primary touchstone here is, of course, Nicolas Roeg. In terms of both narrative and atmosphere, Glazer's film owes a weighty debt to The Man Who Fell to Earth , Roeg's adaptation of Walter Tevis's novel in which David Bowie played an alien who crossed the galaxy in search of a drink only to wind up an Earthbound drunk. Both Bowie's Newton and Johansson's "Laura" (she is identified as Isserley in the book but not on screen) inhabit human form by which they become somewhat seduced and weakened, with the mysteries of sex and sympathy being contributing factors to their demise. Significant, too, that with her black hair, ruby lips and panda eyes Johansson closely resembles Mick Jagger in Roeg and Donald Cammell's psychedelic masterpiece, Performance , another film in which identities (and indeed genders) blur and mutate – vice becoming versa.

Underpinning it all is Mica Levi, whose awe-inspiring work inhabits that strange musique concrète netherworld between score and sound effects. Working closely with sound designer Johnnie Burn, Levi creates percussive, scraping, buzzing accompaniments that nod toward the avant-garde strains of Penderecki and Ligeti (and arguably the film scores of Jonny Greenwood), while groaning fragments of what sound like an alien language recall the industrial soundscapes of Alan Splet. The overall effect is dazzling, lending cohesion to a film that occasionally threatens to fall apart in the director's hands, the disparate elements of the visuals locked together at a genetic level by the firm foundation of sound.

With such jarring elements clashing on screen, it's perhaps unsurprising that Under the Skin has provoked both forceful boos and cheers, the heated antipathy of some viewers and critics apparently spurring the passionate devotion of others. Yet this is neither a misunderstood masterpiece nor a wanton misstep – rather it is a striking attempt to tell an exotic story in a down-to-earth environment that deserves praise for its singularity of vision, even as it runs the risk of ridicule. Glazer has joked that in an ideal world he'd make films that would only ever be viewed by a handful of close friends, and it's to his credit that Under the Skin doesn't make compromises to court a wider audience. On the contrary, it is the work of someone who is aiming for the heavens, but is unafraid to fall to Earth.

Jonathan Glazer
Mark Kermode's film of the week
Scarlett Johansson
Science fiction and fantasy films
Under The Skin
Michel Faber

Comments (…)

‘Under the Skin’ review: Scarlett Johansson mesmerizes in this moody sci-fi thriller

One of the most astonishingly assured directorial debuts of the early 21st century was Jonathan Glazer’s “ Sexy Beast ,” a stylishly vicious crime thriller that erased any chance of Ben Kingsley being typecast as a Gandhi figure.

“Sexy Beast” was a ramped-up, hyper-verbal explosion of Britishisms and a singular, soaringly vulgar patois, which made Glazer’s sophomore effort so surprising: “ Birth ,” a lamentably under-seen drama featuring a shattering performance by Nicole Kidman, contained relatively little dialogue, instead creating an atmosphere of bizarre, creeping dread by way of stately, meticulously controlled images and pristine sound design. The film’s borderline genre between psychological horror and domestic melodrama, and Glazer’s clear commitment to rigorously austere composition and carefully centered framing, suggested he might be this generation’s most likely standard-bearer of the legacies of Roman Polanski and Stanley Kubrick.

“ Under the Skin ,” Glazer’s third film, offers new evidence of that promise, even if it doesn’t entirely deliver on it. As a speculative piece of fantasy and warily somber mood piece, this erotically charged thriller recalls Philip K. Dick, but in its finely calibrated formalism and vivid atmospherics, it’s pure Glazer.

The story of “Under the Skin” — which was adapted from a novel by Michel Faber — doesn’t amount to all that much. But, true to its title and thanks to Glazer’s superb control and a mesmerizing performance by Scarlett Johansson, this creepy-cool exercise possesses a sinuous, insinuating power to burrow into the viewer’s consciousness and make itself felt for days on end.

Felicitously enough, Johansson is already in theaters as the Marvel action heroine Black Widow ; her character in “Under the Skin” could be called the same thing, albeit of an intergalactic provenance. After a prologue involving mysterious spheres, orbs and a whispered soundtrack of Johansson apparently practicing English phonetics, the film cuts to a lonely road in Scotland, where a leather-clad motorcyclist retrieves a female body from an isolated ditch.

What this has to do with Johansson will all be made clear in “Under the Skin,” which will spend most of its time in the Scottish countryside, filmed by Glazer to maximize its inherently supernatural beauty; when Johansson’s character — let’s call her the Girl Who Fell to Earth — encounters a succession of local men in her generic-looking white van, the local accents begin to sound like their own alien tongue.

As the ultimate fembot-fatale, Johansson is deceptively good in a role that demands sparkly, seductive animation one moment and dispassionate blankness the next. Just what her character is doing, and how that will or will not change her, provides the bare bones of a narrative that, while thin, can still be exploited for maximum aesthetic and even intellectual impact.

With long, quiet takes in which he simply observes Johansson wordlessly taking in the world around her, Glazer infuses the everyday modern world with a surpassing sense of strangeness and doom. Even more fascinating is an emotional journey on the part of a heroine whose indifference to such feelings as pain, fear and empathy can be callous (witness an excruciating scene on a windswept beach) but, in another context, allows her to be non-judgmental of even the most dramatic human flaws. That encounter will propel the otherwise one-note plot of “Under the Skin” in a surprising and much more thoughtful direction.

Once “Under the Skin” reaches its surprisingly affecting conclusion, it feels less like a cinematic novel than a well-executed short story. Viewers are likely to emerge from the film thinking, “More, please,” in the best sense of that phrase. It has taken almost ten years for Glazer to get from “Birth” to “Under the Skin”; with luck, he’ll be back sooner with his next film. Here’s a director with vision, discipline and clear command of the medium who, with the right scripts, is clearly primed to do great things.

R. At area theaters. Contains graphic nudity, sexual content, some violence and profanity. 107 minutes.

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

We noticed you’re blocking ads!

Supported by

Movie Review

A Much Darker Hitchhiker’s Guide

Share full article

By Stephen Holden

April 3, 2014

Scarlett Johansson as an extraterrestrial femme fatale cruising the streets of Glasgow in Jonathan Glazer’s cerebral sci-fi horror fantasy “Under the Skin” is an indelible personification of predatory allure. Wearing a dark wig and a fake-fur jacket, her character, an alien with a sinister agenda, is as fetishized an object of desire as Marlene Dietrich admired through the lens of Josef von Sternberg. You may also think of Ava Gardner, as perfect a female specimen as Hollywood ever produced , coldly working her wiles.

Ms. Johansson’s luscious, cherry-red lips, onto which she is shown daubing deeper shades of crimson, seem to have an extra cushion of softness. In “Under the Skin,” it is as if the voice of Samantha — the operating system Ms. Johansson voiced in “Her” — has taken human form. But instead of a seemingly empathetic cyberfriend, she turns out to be a heartless humanoid temptress from outer space.

In the movie’s striking opening sequence, this otherworldly siren first appears as a speck of light that expands into a disc, which forms into an unblinking eye. Accompanying this metamorphosis is a scratchy electronic soundtrack by Mica Levi that suggests vaguely melodic static emanating from another galaxy.

That eye belongs to Ms. Johansson, whose character later appears as the driver of a white van that makes its way through the crowded streets of Glasgow. She periodically stops to ask for directions from men, then offers them a ride and beckons them to follow her as she removes her clothes and sidles backward. For her entranced victims, shown wading up to their chests in a consuming black void, the end is at hand.

In Michel Faber’s satirical novel, from which the film was adapted by Mr. Glazer (“Sexy Beast,” “Birth”) and Walter Campbell, her character, unidentified in the film, is named Isserley. Dispatched to Earth, she picks up muscular men who are fattened and turned into high-end meat delicacies for domestic consumption on her home planet. The film dispenses with the novel’s back story and plot, the better to conjure a mood of nightmarish alienation. The story is so stripped down that at a certain point its lack of clarity will frustrate viewers wanting more information.

“Under the Skin” was filmed in tones of darkness. Ms. Johansson’s expressionless character is frequently seen in shadow, out of which she emerges like a film-noir vamp. The van was equipped with tiny surveillance cameras to capture her interactions with the victims, real-life hitchhikers unaware that they were being filmed. Ms. Johansson’s husky voice, with its cultivated London accent, is as seductive as her body, which she brazenly displays. Because the men have thick Scottish brogues that render much of what they say unintelligible, they seem as alien as she does, and you begin to see these earthlings through her eyes.

In an early scene on a beach, she observes the attempted rescue of a swimmer buffeted in heavy surf as a baby at the far end of the sand cries. When the rescuer emerges from the water and collapses, she approaches him and beats him to death with a rock as the baby continues to wail. She seems utterly indifferent. One hitchhiker has a disfigured face like that of the Elephant Man, but she seems not to notice and tells him he has beautiful hands.

Late in the movie, Ms. Johansson’s character appears to become more human and vulnerable after a sexual interlude with a man she picks up. A connection has been made. Her defenses lowered, she finds herself without her fur coat on a hiking trail in the highlands, menaced by a stranger. The movie’s eerie, climactic image challenges our conventional notions of human identity and leaves us reflecting on the possibility that every being in the universe is an alien in disguise.

“Under the Skin” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian) for graphic nudity, some sexual content, mild violence and strong language.

Explore More in TV and Movies

Not sure what to watch next we can help.a.

Andy Serkis, the star of the earlier “Planet of the Apes” movies, and Owen Teague, the new lead, discuss the latest film in the franchise , “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.”

The HBO series “The Sympathizer” is not just a good story, it’s a sharp piece of criticism on Vietnam war movies, our critic writes .

In “Dark Matter,” the new Apple TV+ techno-thriller, a portal to parallel realities allows people to visit new worlds and revisit their own past decisions .

The tennis movie “Challengers” comes to an abrupt stop midmatch, so we don’t know who won. Does that matter? Our critics have thoughts .

If you are overwhelmed by the endless options, don’t despair — we put together the best offerings on Netflix , Max , Disney+ , Amazon Prime and Hulu to make choosing your next binge a little easier.

Sign up for our Watching newsletter to get recommendations on the best films and TV shows to stream and watch, delivered to your inbox.

Cookie banner

We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy . Please also read our Privacy Notice and Terms of Use , which became effective December 20, 2019.

By choosing I Accept , you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies.

Entertainment
Movie Review

'Under the Skin' review: you've never seen sci-fi like this

Scarlett johansson is from another world in jonathan glazer’s unforgettable film.

By Bryan Bishop on April 11, 2014 01:30 pm 92 Comments

We’re in the midst of a science-fiction boom at the movies, and while that’s great for fans of fighting robots and futuristic dystopias, it’s hard to shake the feeling that we’re not seeing a lot that's new . The genre has largely become a mash-up of well-known conventions and design aesthetics, warmed up and re-served on an annual basis with little originality to keeps things interesting. It’s exactly what makes the arrival of Jonathan Glazer’s brazenly original Under the Skin such a shock to the system.

Starring Scarlett Johansson as an alien creature trolling the streets for human prey, it’s a mesmerizing and haunting film that refuses to concern itself with traditional genre or even narrative conventions. The result is an unforgettable piece of art-house sci-fi that may alienate audiences used to the hyperkinetic spectacle that dominates most screens, but those that are able to slip under its spell will enjoy one of the most striking theatrical experiences this year.

The premise of Glazer's film, based on the Michel Faber novel, is sketched with the roughest of outlines. After pilfering clothes from a young dead woman, Johansson sets off in a white van to pick up random men from the streets of Scotland. Back at her place she traps them in a strange fluid, suspended like bugs in amber. They’re slowly drained — of energy? Of their organs? It’s not entirely clear — until there’s nothing left but a floating bag of skin. Johansson’s curiosity about the people she’s hunting grows, however, and after letting one victim free she ends up on the run with a mysterious motorcyclist in pursuit.

If that sounds a bit bizarre and confusing that’s because it is, but Glazer has created a film that is impossible to reduce down to plot points. It’s a true piece of experiential storytelling, conveying its thoughts and feelings not with clunky exposition and conventional story beats but with textures and mood. The film moves forward with a deliberate, almost meditative pace, lingering on single shots or the tiniest of actions so the viewer can take in the world in all its nuance. First-time composer Mica Levi sets the stage with a score that is both hypnotic and horrifying, overwhelming the audience with atmospheric crescendo at one moment and then trapping them with nothing more than an unsettling drum beat as Johansson lures a victim to his doom.

Glazer’s been directing features for a while now ( Sexy Beast , Birth ), but unlike some contemporaries who have made the jump from music videos, he’s not afraid to embrace the kind of aesthetic experimentation that permeates the best short-form work. Under the Skin opens with abstract imagery and embraces a trippy, nightmarish formalism during the sequences in Johansson’s lair. It calls to mind Stanley Kubrick and George Lucas’ THX 1138 , but those meticulously crafted visuals contrast sharply with the guerrilla immediacy of the pick-up sequences. There’s a tension between the two approaches, a humming discord that burrows its way into your brain and creates a looming unease.

Johansson is the film’s center, and she anchors it adeptly despite having a largely non-verbal role. The only time she actually speaks is when she’s picking up her victims, and there she almost seems to be playing a movie-star version of herself, all acceptance and engaging smiles. Glazer took the unusual step of shooting the pick-up scenes with hidden cameras as Johansson talked to regular people that didn’t know they were being filmed, and it adds all the jangly energy (and impenetrable accents) of real life. For the rest of the film, however, the actress is limited to body language and facial expressions alone, but is still able to realize her character’s childlike perspective even while she’s committing some horrible deeds.

In many ways, Johansson's performance here serves as a companion piece to her work in Spike Jonze's Her . In that film she was limited to just her voice as she portrayed a vibrant AI that slowly evolved past the need for traditional human interactions. Here she largely loses her ability to speak as she realizes a character that becomes absolutely desperate for person-to-person contact.

Glazer’s film asks a lot of questions, but it demonstrates an unrelenting refusal to provide any answers. Of course, that’s largely the point; this is a movie design to elicit an emotional response and spur on conversation, and after the film’s final images it’s impossible to not feel the need to talk it out with someone . Even those that hate Under the Skin will find themselves turning it over in their heads, unable to shake its unsettling air of creeping dread. Glazer has created a mesmerizing science-fiction fable about the emotional lure of humanity, but most importantly of all, he’s created something that is truly, wholly original.

Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin is now playing. Images courtesy of A24 Films.

Screen Rant

'under the skin' review.

Your changes have been saved

Email Is sent

Please verify your email address.

You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.

What Went Wrong With Ben Affleck's Roast Of Tom Brady

The fall guy's box office confirms a harsh reality after $2.4 billion phenomenon, what happened to post's version of the pop-tart: are country squares still sold today, for cinephiles that enjoy artistic debate more than concrete answers, the film allows an intriguing platform for discussion and reflection..

In Under the Skin , Scarlett Johansson ( Captain America: The Winter Soldier ) plays a mysterious extraterrestrial stalking prey (read: men) along the West Coast of Scotland. After assuming the appearance of one particularly unfortunate Scottish dame, Johansson's unnamed alien prowls the streets in a nondescript cargo van, pretending to need directions in an effort to seek out unsuspecting (and lustful) loners willing to throw caution to the wind and accept a ride from the black-haired beauty.

Overseen by a male attendant (played by former Irish motorcycle racer Jeremy McWilliams), Johansson's character is completely oblivious to the dangers and horrors of the world, a singularly focused siren, pursuing one male victim after the next, leading each to a horrifying end inside her slaughterhouse. Until an unusual encounter causes the uncaring predator to empathize with a quarry and question her own place in humanity.

Jonathan Glazer ( Sexy Beast ) directs Under the Skin - which was inspired by Michel Faber's 2001 novel of the same name. However, while the movie borrows the core premise of the book, Glazer trades out a number of key details in the interest of a significantly more subtle narrative. In the novel, Johansson's alien creature has a name and the plot provides a steady stream of exposition to help flesh out select sci-fi elements. Yet, the film does not labor over specifics and, instead, leaves a lot of interpretation to the viewer - both in terms of the central protagonist and larger world building. The result is a beautiful and haunting movie that prioritizes nuance at nearly every turn, sacrificing traditional moviemaking elements (like clear-cut exposition) to provide an opportunity for thoughtful insight into the human condition.

That said, despite its " Scarlett Johansson is a seductive alien " marketing hook, fans of the actress (or the sci-fi genre) will probably find Under the Skin is too art house for mainstream appeal. While Glazer's film succeeds as contemplative artistic expression, moviegoers who were expecting a detailed story about aliens hiding in plain sight will be left wanting. Still, for viewers who are not put-off by a philosophical glimpse at humanity through the unique, and callous, perspective of an extraterrestrial creature living (and hunting) among us, there are plenty of interesting ideas and gorgeous visuals to appreciate in Under the Skin .

Glazer, along with cinematographer Daniel Landin, not to mention a brave performance from Johansson, ensure that even the most bizarre sci-fi ideas translate into beautiful imagery onscreen. The actress is captivating in the role - a true feat considering nearly all of her stalking scenes were completely improvised. Johansson, disguised in a black wig and red lipstick, driving a van rigged with six hidden cameras, actually approached random men on the streets of Scotland, striking up flirtatious conversations in character - so that her Under the Skin director could capture authentic reactions from male targets. Beyond the improvisation work, Johansson is charged with a number of tough scripted scenes, selling a vicious as well as manipulative predator one minute, only to see the apathetic visage unravel to make room for curiosity and sheer terror.

Under the Skin is nuanced and will not appeal to everyone, but that doesn't mean there isn't room for legitimate criticism either. Regardless of an evocative tone and stirring leading lady, Glazer retreads story material and thematic ideas that audiences will have seen before. Scenes inside the alien kill room provide an interesting variation on similar seductive siren tales but the larger journey of Johansson's character isn't as original as other aspects of the production.

Additionally, Glazer fails to find the right balance between the character's journey and heavy-handed commentary - resulting in setups that beat audiences over the head with thematic messaging while key plot beats are rushed and underdeveloped. This isn't to say the film should have provided answers to its sci-fi mythology; but, once the creature steps outside of its comfort zone and into the world of genuine human relationships, the interactions needed to be as impactful as any thematic parallels that Glazer is attempting to highlight. Unfortunately, they are not.

Nevertheless, Under the Skin is a provocative movie experience - one that can truly be defined as an auteur effort. Given drastic subduing of the source text in the interest of a more interpretative film, Glazer manages to take a sharp sci-fi idea and wrap it with smart rumination on what makes us (and only us) human - both the good and the bad. Through Glazer's alien microscope we are not just one thing: we are brave, we are scared, we are monsters, and we are food. For cinephiles that enjoy artistic debate more than concrete answers, the film allows an intriguing platform for discussion and reflection - albeit one where the moment to moment seduction proves to be significantly more enticing than what is literally "under the skin."

If you’re still on the fence about Under the Skin , check out the trailer below:

[poll id="790"]

_____________________________________________________________

Under the Skin runs 108 minutes and is Rated R for graphic nudity, sexual content, some violence and language. Now playing in theaters.

Let us know what you thought of the film in the comment section below.

Follow me on Twitter @ benkendrick for future reviews, as well as movie, TV, and gaming news.

Our Rating:

Movie Reviews
3.5 star movies

Den of Geek

Under the Skin Review

Scarlett Johansson's turn in Under the Skin is a truly alien experience, lulling certain susceptible audiences into seductive annihilation.

Share on Facebook (opens in a new tab)
Share on Twitter (opens in a new tab)
Share on Linkedin (opens in a new tab)
Share on email (opens in a new tab)

The subject of invasion and visitors from beyond the stars is a theme as common in cinema as romance and lone altruism. Yet, even the most avid sci-fi aficionado would be hard pressed to uncover something more alien and otherworldly than Jonathan Glazer’s cryptic signal, Under the Skin . Flickering between images like a veiled threat of extraterrestrial assimilation, this is a truly foreign world presented to unsuspecting viewers.

Obviously a passion project for the director of Sexy Beast and Birth , and even moreso for star Scarlett Johansson who goes out on a flying saucer to stratospheric limits never before traveled, Under the Skin aims to do exactly what the title implies. It crawls inside audiences’ expectations and stimulations, lulling the most susceptible into a world of seductive annihilation, not unlike its onscreen marks. And yet, it feels strangely like a space voyage that many may dither about approaching.

A relatively simple conceit, Johansson is Laura, a posh English-speaking predator who prowls Scotland in her jalopy like a carnivore at a butcher shop. The choice meat is easy to spot: loners, introverts, and any male walking alone. There is a certain type she might take a special pleasure in ensnaring, if in fact she takes pleasure in anything. As ultimately an alien succubus from another world who has come to ours in the tantalizing form of Scarlett Johansson, men don’t stand a chance at avoiding a kiss from this demon lover. What exactly that demon loves to do with her victims is unclear, save for that there are more than one of her kind (though she appears to be the only female) and that humanity’s titular skin goes a long way for a purpose that seems less than peaceful.

A juicy premise that sounds far, far more commercial than it is, Under the Skin takes bountifully from its influences of The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) and the more exploitative Species (1995). Yet, despite the latter’s influences, and the much ballyhooed rumors that Ms. Johansson fully disrobes in this picture (true), this is not a movie for sci-fi fetish enthusiasts. Johansson’s fleeting skin baring is firstly eclipsed by the many men she lures to a truly indescribable fate, and the movie tends to provoke and confound in preference over titillating or seducing.

Ad – content continues below

Barely disqualified from the category of silent films, Under the Skin quietly observes like a secondary, voyeuristic species of alien during Laura’s nightly and sometimes daily rituals. Her driving through industrial and urban Scotland is accompanied by a pulsating score from Mica Levi that takes on a hypnotic quality with each passing street and every wayward lamb for the slaughter. The movie eventually morphs into a nightmarish funhouse, where every surface reflects a distortion that’s even more deceptive than Laura’s comely form. The room in which she finalizes her ceremonial temptations is little more than an empty void of blackness as nebulous as the movie’s hushed ambiance. Nevertheless, Johansson’s presence is so alluring that no man notices that the only other item in their room is their naked reflection staring back at them from a glassy slate floor. Nor do they take into account that the floor literally turns into a pool that swallows them whole.

Indeed, it is in that blackness and its binary inverse where Under the Skin most appropriately exists. Being the only two colors of choice for Laura’s habitation away from the highland streets, they represent her initially absolutist viewpoint about her strange mission of finding and retrieving. Despite fleshy overtures, the most memorable sequence in the film centers on Laura’s dispassionate observance of a couple drowning in the Irish Sea (she did not facilitate their demise) and her absent-minded ignorance of their small wailing child on the crusty coast. Not meeting her obvious specimen requirements, she leaves the babe for many of the other predators that were likely scouting the impending tide.

Unfortunately, the movie’s unrelenting atmosphere must give way to a form of perceived growth in its protagonist, if only to reach the necessary 100-plus minutes to qualify as a feature. The result is the very Man Who Fell to Earth self-awareness and character arc that begins with Laura meeting a human so pitiable that even she can no longer ignore our appeal. Falling in love with her skin as much as many of her male viewers from The Avengers and other Marvel movies, Johansson’s Laura becomes something of a stoic reveler in the human experience, ultimately opting to go renegade from her fellow travelers and get lost in the Scottish wilds. This third act evolution for the character feels obligatory and causes the movie’s spell to break as it stumbles along wooded paths to an abrupt and not particularly satisfying conclusion.

Nonetheless, the project is obviously meant to be a performing coup for its star. As an actress who has spent much of her career avoiding roles that embrace her blond bombshell image, as well as suffering from a few miscastings that have left the more snarky and smug to write off her talents, Johansson has never allowed herself to be more visibly vulnerable onscreen than in Glazer’s aberrant hands. The result is clearly not exploitative, but it isn’t quite the triumph that either may have been hoping for. To be sure, Johansson turns in an excellent performance that proves many naysayers wrong with its ability to mesmerize despite lacking much in the way of dialogue (or, in the end, plotting). Ironically, her disembodied performance in Spike Jonze’s Her from last year was the far more substantial victory that she was looking for: a metaphysical turn that haunted and moved millions of moviegoers without even a pair of eyes to reflect the undoubted soul found in shapeless Samantha.

Something of a companion piece to that movie, Under the Skin is the complete reversal of Her with the way it relies not at all on her voice and instead seeks to use the human form to demystify that body in the guise of something wholly biological and devoid of the divine spark that Laura so desperately seeks by the movie’s final scenes. It evades her as much as the film, yet is still too enticing to look away from. In that sense, Johansson makes it impossible to resist the movie’s tractor beam.

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for all news updates related to the world of geek. And Google+ , if that’s your thing!

David Crow | @DCrowsNest

David Crow is the movies editor at Den of Geek. He has long been proud of his geek credentials. Raised on cinema classics that ranged from…

an image, when javascript is unavailable

Under the Skin

By Peter Travers

Peter Travers

Visionary inventiveness is such a lost art in contemporary cinema that impatient audiences may bolt for the exits at Under the Skin . Those who stick it out and let Jonathan Glazer’s film flood their senses are in for something extraordinary.

Plot? Here’s what you need to know: An unnamed woman, played by Scarlett Johansson with unshakably alluring menace, cruises the streets of Scotland in a cargo van looking for men. She’s not the usual femme fatale . She’s an alien, and what she does to these guys, well, that’s for you to find out.

Glazer, a music-video director credited with two provocative features ( Sexy Beast, Birth ), has joined with writer Walter Campbell to adapt Michael Faber’s 2000 novel into a story Faber himself might not quite recognize. As adaptations go, this one’s a highwire act. Using hidden digital cameras, Glazer shows us real Scots reacting to this sexy beast behind the wheel. The effect is eerie and electrifying. Glazer attempts to let us see the human world through the eyes of a nonhuman, evocatively reflected in Mica Levi’s score.

By the time this alien begins to see humans as more than specimens, Under the Skin has allowed us to view ourselves with fresh eyes. Johansson is phenomenal in every sense of the word. She joins Glazer in creating a brave experiment in cinema that richly rewards the demands it makes. The result is an amazement, a film of beauty and shocking gravity.

Andy Cohen Cleared in Bravo Investigation, 'Watch What Happens Live' Renewed

Watch What Happens
By Ethan Millman

Harvey Weinstein Will Stay in a New York Jail as Court Considers California Extradition Before Retrial

Weinstein Retrial
By Jon Blistein

Carmy Gets His Knives Out in Release Date-Revealing 'The Bear' Season Three Teaser

By Larisha Paul

Jon Stewart Will Bring His 'Razor-Sharp Wit' to New 'Weekly Show' Podcast

Funny for Your Ears
By Tomás Mier

'Gasoline Rainbow' Is a Postcard From Teenage Wasteland, USA

MOVIE REVIEW
By David Fear

Most Popular

Emily blunt says she's 'absolutely' wanted to throw up after kissing certain actors during filming: 'i've definitely not enjoyed some of it.', peter jackson working on new 'lord of the rings' films for warner bros., targeting 2026 debut, serena williams' ethereal white swimsuit photoshoot shows the way she’s exercising after baby no. 2, no a’s in attendance: oakland trails a whopping 553 u.s. teams, you might also like, tom hiddleston, willem dafoe to star in biopic of famed everest mountaineer tenzing norgay for see-saw films, rocket science, outstanding mother awards honor debbi hartley-triesch, nyakio grieco, dendy engelman and more in new york, the best yoga mats for any practice, according to instructors, the real-life martha who inspired ‘baby reindeer’ speaks out against the ‘defamatory’ netflix show: ‘i’m not a stalker’, wnba taps delta airlines as charter flights this season.

Verify it's you

Please log in.

Common Sense Media

Movie & TV reviews for parents

For Parents
For Educators
Our Work and Impact

Or browse by category:

Get the app
Movie Reviews
Best Movie Lists
Best Movies on Netflix, Disney+, and More

Common Sense Selections for Movies

50 Modern Movies All Kids Should Watch Before They're 12

Best TV Lists
Best TV Shows on Netflix, Disney+, and More
Common Sense Selections for TV
Video Reviews of TV Shows

Best Kids' Shows on Disney+

Best Kids' TV Shows on Netflix

Book Reviews
Best Book Lists
Common Sense Selections for Books

8 Tips for Getting Kids Hooked on Books

50 Books All Kids Should Read Before They're 12

Game Reviews
Best Game Lists

Common Sense Selections for Games

Video Reviews of Games

Nintendo Switch Games for Family Fun

Podcast Reviews
Best Podcast Lists

Common Sense Selections for Podcasts

Parents' Guide to Podcasts

App Reviews
Best App Lists

Social Networking for Teens

Gun-Free Action Game Apps

Reviews for AI Apps and Tools

YouTube Channel Reviews
YouTube Kids Channels by Topic

Parents' Ultimate Guide to YouTube Kids

Explaining the News to Our Kids

Family Tech Planners
Digital Skills
All Articles
Latino Culture
Black Voices
Asian Stories
Native Narratives
LGBTQ+ Pride
Best of Diverse Representation List

Celebrating Black History Month

Movies and TV Shows with Arab Leads

Celebrate Hip-Hop's 50th Anniversary

Under the skin, common sense media reviewers.

Tense, slick thriller is creepy, with full nudity.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

The movie is set in a grim world of anonymous sex

Some of the men seem innocent bystanders. One is d

The plot centers on a woman who picks up men on th

Lots of full-frontal nudity, including men's genit

One instance of the word "s--t."

Some labels seen, including stores in a mall like

Some social drinking at a nightclub.

Positive Messages

The movie is set in a grim world of anonymous sex and danger.

Positive Role Models

Some of the men seem innocent bystanders. One is downright kind and caring.

Violence & Scariness

The plot centers on a woman who picks up men on the street for what seems like sex, but turns into something more nefarious. Little to no gore, but the imagery is disturbing, especially when naked men are shown being absorbed by a strange body of water. The soundtrack and sound effects pile on, enveloping most scenes in a very charged, tense feeling. A woman is shown being chased in the woods by a would-be rapist. He slaps her and manhandles and tries to rip her clothes off.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Lots of full-frontal nudity, including men's genitalia and a hint of a woman's pubic region. The central female character's breasts and backside are visible, too. In one scene, a man and a woman start to have sex, and his naked backside is visible as they get into a sexual position.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Some labels seen, including stores in a mall like Clare's, Boots, Foot Locker, Marks & Spencer and Next; Tesco, the supermarket, is name-dropped. In a store, bags of Doritos are glimpsed.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Under the Skin is a creepy, atmospheric thriller about a woman who reaps men from the streets of Glasgow, ostensibly for sex, but actually to kill and feed on. It's disturbing, no question, even though there's little dialog and not a lot of gore. There's only one swear word, but plenty of nudity, including male full-frontal, and a few scenes showing couples engaged in sex, though we don't see it in explicit detail. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Community Reviews

Parents say (8)
Kids say (8)

Based on 8 parent reviews

Goes to the extreme in depicting male nudity - somewhat offensive.

A sci-fi film about patriarchy and what it means to be human...fascinating, what's the story.

This futuristic film, based on a novel of the same name, features a nameless woman ( Scarlett Johansson ) pillaging the clothing of a dead woman and driving the streets of Scotland in search of men to lure into her van. She seduces them with small talk and lures them to a house where they disrobe, seemingly to have intercourse, but end up meeting a much strange fate. Who is she? What is she all about?

Is It Any Good?

Jonathan Glazer, who co-wrote and directed UNDER THE SKIN, has found in Scarlett Johansson the perfect otherworldly woman to fill the main role. Her beauty, despite a frumpy wig and ill-fitting clothing here, is supernatural and Johansson is expressive and kinetic even as she seems removed and devoid of feeling. She does an excellent job bringing the role to life. The film is a stylized, ambitious production that deserves respect for trying to skirt the usual conventions of the thriller-horror genre while still telling a thrilling and horrific story.

Nonetheless, it's lacking in character development and background. Who is this woman? Why does she do what she does? Who is the man on the motorcycle? It's not a sin to have mysteries remain a mystery in a film like this, but here the omissions feel like they are the consequences of superficiality, of style over substance, rather than a revolutionary form of storytelling. The film's mid-section is paunchy, and adds to the listlessness of the whole affair. But the score and the sound effects pick up the slack. Mostly it works, leaving audiences with jangled nerves. But when the music overrides everything else, and sometimes overwhelms, you know it's a problem that's bound to get under the audience's skin.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the techniques used in the movie. How does the film use dialogue, music, and imagery to tell the story?

The film has a lot of nudity, but lacks passion or even lewdness. Does the nudity serve the story? What would it have been like without any nudity?

Movie Details

In theaters : April 4, 2014
On DVD or streaming : July 15, 2014
Cast : Scarlett Johansson
Director : Jonathan Glazer
Inclusion Information : Female actors
Studio : A24
Genre : Thriller
Run time : 108 minutes
MPAA rating : R
MPAA explanation : graphic nudity, sexual content, some violence and language.
Last updated : October 13, 2022

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

Our editors recommend.

V for Vendetta

Want personalized picks for your kids' age and interests?

Sci-Fi Movies

Thriller movies.

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

Entertainment
REVIEW: Scarlett Johansson Is an Alien Seductress in <i>Under the Skin</i>

REVIEW: Scarlett Johansson Is an Alien Seductress in Under the Skin

D arkness, underscored by violins imitating a busy beehive. A flash of circular light that clarifies into a blinking eye. Fragments of familiar words in a woman’s voice, as if she were learning a new language. One female figure stripping another of her clothes and putting them on. An alien entity has come to Earth (Scotland, to be exact), called herself Laura and assumed the most beguiling of human forms: Scarlett Johansson’s.

The first minutes of Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin raise the promise of an artful thriller, of science fiction with a psychological undertone: psy-fi. Glazer’s and Walter Campbell’s script, loosely based on the Michael Faber novel, focuses on an extraterrestrial whose mission is to kill male humans and harvest their meat, a culinary delicacy on her planet. Glazer, a director of commercials and music videos who made his feature debut in 2003 with the rambunctious crime saga Sexy Beast , proved with his second film, Birth , that he can hook moviegoers with an opening scene of mysterious wonder; it displays a man’s death and possible rebirth in one complex shot. His opening for Under the Skin , nine years later, reveals another alien takeover: instead of a boy occupying a man’s body, the vandal is a creature in a woman’s skin — a seductress with a Scarlett litter and a homicidal intent. And she’s naked.

(READ: Scarlett Johansson on Having It All )

Yep. The lurid wish of many a fanboy, not to mention the fiction of Internet photoshopping, comes true, as one of the world’s most desirable women gets nude. Who wants to see Under the Skin ?

In fairness, ScarJo deserves credit for entrusting herself to a risky project, in a role that couldn’t be further from the one she plays in her other movie this weekend: Natasha Romanoff, the pert Avenger in Captain America: The Winter Soldier . Johansson’s Laura character is actually closer to that of the sexual adventuress in the third of the week’s new releases, Lars von Trier’s Nymph()maniac Vol. 2 ; both women run through countless male partners, devouring them in one fashion or another, without noticeable pleasure. Laura also has a screen sister in the Operating System to which Johansson lent her sultry voice in Spike Jonze’s her . Again, she seems too perfect to be human. The difference: this time, Her is an It — a serial killer. (Or Siri, a killer.)

(READ: How Scarlett Johansson vamps Captain America )

Images of Laura undressing, to lure her victims into a fatal pool of ooze, are murky and torpid. She’s a beast but not sexy, more a robot with a pale, flesh-like exoskeleton. There’s nothing wrong with that: Johansson and the movie needn’t feed any viewer’s lurid fantasies. But the alien’s lack of affect spreads to the rest of the film. If Siri was a personality without a body, Laura is just the reverse: dead alien walking.

She drives a van through the dismal Scots highlands, offering rides to men. Most of them — including one whose face is mottled by neurofibromatosis (the Elephant Man disease) — seem friendly enough to be spared, but not personable enough to hold the viewer’s attention. And though the noncommittal tone can heighten certain shocks, as on a beach where most members of a family die violently, Under the Skin falls in love with its bleak monotony. It is a melodrama with all the thrills surgically excised.

(READ: Scarlett Johansson says she’s no role model )

The movie proves its avant-garde bona fides in two ways. One is the score by Mica Levi, of the band Micachu & The Shapes. At first the music mesmerizes, as its drone accompanies the alien’s first words (which Johansson recorded before filming, as she practiced the English accent she employs here). But it soon turns repetitious: three ascending notes, familiar from old sci-fi movies, and played on an instrument that sounds like a theremin with a chest cold.

The other is Glazer’s decision to film on the fly, with natural lighting and hidden cameras, in the fashion of von Trier’s Dogme precepts. Johansson went more or less incognito, deglamorized to the max, and the men she picked up were not actors but ordinary blokes who learned only later that they were in a movie. They signed releases after consenting to what they had to perform. (“I hereby agree to get naked with Scarlett Johansson…”)

(READ: Why Steven Spielberg wanted to make a film Dogme-style )

If Glazer hoped that his choice of restrictions would create a sense of dangerous spontaneity, he was mistaken. Under the Skin is handsome, in a dour way, but inert — a cunning experiment that died in the shooting or on the editing table. You’ll want to get the DVD, though, and not just for its study of Scarlett. Odds are that the Making-Of documentary will be far stranger and more fascinating than the movie that was made.

More Must-Reads From TIME

What Student Photojournalists Saw at the Campus Protests
How Far Trump Would Go
Why Maternity Care Is Underpaid
Saving Seconds Is Better Than Hours
Welcome to the Golden Age of Ryan Gosling
Scientists Are Finding Out Just How Toxic Your Stuff Is
The 100 Most Influential People of 2024
Want Weekly Recs on What to Watch, Read, and More? Sign Up for Worth Your Time

The Definitive Voice of Entertainment News

Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter

site categories

Under the skin: film review.

Scarlett Johansson stars in director Jonathan Glazer's adaptation of Michel Faber's psychosexual novel about an alien woman who falls to Earth in Scotland.

By Todd McCarthy

Todd McCarthy

Share this article on Facebook
Share this article on Twitter
Share this article on Flipboard
Share this article on Email
Show additional share options
Share this article on Linkedin
Share this article on Pinit
Share this article on Reddit
Share this article on Tumblr
Share this article on Whatsapp
Share this article on Print
Share this article on Comment

After waiting 13 years since Sexy Beast and nine years since Birth , Jonathan Glazer ‘s striking two previous features, it’s no pleasure feeling the sense of anticipation and excitement steadily and surely slipping away throughout Under the Skin , in which the filmmaker makes a left turn into a very dark dead-end alley. Eliminating the meat, among many other things, from Michel Faber ‘s noted and twisted 2000 novel, the legendary music video director uses the predatory pursuits of a mysterious young woman to explore disturbingly subterranean male-female issues — or perhaps just male-female alien issues — with results more pictorially arresting than intellectually coherent.

THR Newsletters

More from The Hollywood Reporter

Chris pine says ‘poolman’ was the “best thing to ever happen to me” despite negative reviews, ‘fantastic four’ casts ralph ineson as galactus (exclusive), ‘fantastic four’ casts john malkovich, john leguizamo says he turned down ‘mr. and mrs. smith’ because he “felt dissed”, a fan already made warners’ new ‘lord of the rings’ movie ‘the hunt for gollum’, ‘kingdom of the planet of the apes’ director wes ball on the franchise’s future and what he’s directing next.

Notice: All forms on this website are temporarily down for maintenance. You will not be able to complete a form to request information or a resource. We apologize for any inconvenience and will reactivate the forms as soon as possible.

DVD & Streaming

Under the Skin

Drama , Horror , Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Content Caution

In Theaters

April 4, 2014
Scarlett Johansson

Home Release Date

July 15, 2014
Jonathan Glazer

Distributor

Movie review.

When she’s alone, she seems to be staring blankly ahead, but she’s scanning the streets for the likely sort. They shouldn’t have anyone with them or look like they’re going any place in a hurry. Often, as she cruises slowly by in her nondescript white van, she can catch a glint in his eye that tells her that this one might be a prime candidate. It’s an empty glaze, of sorts. A randomness.

That’s when she pulls to the curb.

That’s also when she seems to come fully to life. She knows her job. The pretty human girl with dark hair, a full figure and a ready smile. She rolls down the window and leans over. And the lonely guy always draws near.

She needs directions, she says, or she’s having car trouble, or she just got turned around in this big strange Scottish town. Are you alone? Going someplace? Is anyone waiting for you? Perhaps you could hop in the van and show me the way?

His face lights up. He thinks he’s hit it lucky. She’s a knock-out, after all. Wait till he tells his friends about this later!

Later, of course, never comes. She knows her job.

My, you’re a cutie. What strong hands you have. Look at those eyes. Do you have a girlfriend? Do you fancy a drink? Thank you so much for your help. My place is just up there if you want to step in for a spell.

It’s pretty dark inside. She walks slowly in front of him. Just enough light for him to see that this beautiful woman is piece-by-piece shedding her clothes.

He’s hers now.

She dresses and goes back to the van. Staring vacantly ahead. Doing this job that she knows so well.

Lately, however, she’s been … feeling something. It’s a niggling little emotion that she can’t quite define. She’ll catch her own blank stare in the van’s mirror. And she’ll stop to look at her strange human face for just a moment.

Positive Elements

As that undefined and never spoken-about feeling continues to grow in this unnamed alien, we see it shift her actions in subtle ways. The most obvious veer from her normal routine happens when she encounters a young man deformed by neurofibromatosis. She shows him a kindness—letting him touch a woman’s face for what is apparently the first time in his life. She even sets him free later, unlike all those other men.

After that, this woman who’s not a woman walks away from her assigned job and wanders aimlessly—repeatedly impacted by the random acts of kindness shown her as different humans offer her help or express concern for her. A man takes her in, giving her a coat, shelter and food.

We also witness a man running to the aid of a couple being pulled out to sea by a strong riptide.

Sexual Content

Somewhat shrouded by deep shadows, we see several people fully nude in a number of scenes. The naked alien removes the clothes from a female corpse and dresses herself. She examines her naked form in front of a full-length mirror. We see the interplanetary interloper kissing and caressing a man; neither are wearing clothes on their lower bodies. (His explicit sexual act is halted by her alien incomprehension of what he’s doing.)

A man runs naked through a field at night. (He’s seen from the front and back.) Several men are drawn into the aliens’ dark lair, where she draws them into a deep, glossy pool of sorts. Walking backwards, either in panties and a bra or completely nude, she leads the men into her trap, and we watch them sink into the black “floor” until they disappear. (The men have removed every stitch of clothing by this point.)

Violent Content

The camera eventually shows us what happens inside that pool, or under that floor, whichever way you want to look at it: Submerged in some strange liquid, we see all the internal substance of a man being sucked away leaving only an empty skin. A stream of what appears to be blood and ground-up organs are sucked through a small slot.

The aforementioned husband and wife who are struggling in the strong ocean undertow drown, while the swimmer who tries to save them is thumped on the head with a large rock by the alien predator and dragged away. The couples’ infant is left screaming, alone on the beach.

The alien woman is attacked by a human rapist. He throws her down and tears off pieces of her clothing. In the process he rips open her skin—revealing onyx-colored alien epidermis beneath. Startled, he runs away—then returns to douse her with fuel and set her aflame.

A man carries a female corpse up from a ravine.

Crude or Profane Language

None. (At least not that will be immediately obvious to American ears.)

Drug and Alcohol Content

Several people smoke cigarettes.

Other Negative Elements

When the alien tries to eat human food, she gags and spits it back out on the plate.

Scarlett Johansson is the bait. In oh so many ways.

In Under the Skin’ s deliberately opaque and expressionistically filmed storyline (loosely based on Michel Faber’s 2000 novel) the actress plays an alien who dons a human persona. In black wig and blood-red lipstick this pretty cosmic spinner lures unsuspecting men on the streets of Glasgow. The lonelier souls end up in her deadly pool where they’re harvested for their potential as food stuffs.

Reports also circulated, however, that in the course of filming, Johansson drew a number of unwitting non-actors into her movie web. The thick-accented and unsuspecting Jacks stepped into her van after she fed them a few ad-libbed lines in a British brogue. Some even then agreed to strip off their clothes to walk into that glossy pool.

Now that the film’s finished and available for viewing, Johansson is surely still the main enticement that will draw the lion’s share of moviegoers to see this odd sci-fi abstraction. And most will likely leave an hour and a half later feeling just as glazed-over and lost as those naked Scotsmen look onscreen.

So I will only say this once for all you Scarlett fans: This is not a Captain America movie.

This is a slow, surreal dreamscape composed of abstract visuals, long, unmoving close-ups and intrusive images of shadow-shrouded nakedness. It’s the kind of project that hard-core film critics and jaded English Lit majors seem to love because they can assign nearly any meaning they want to what they’ve seen onscreen.

_Is it a metaphorical meditation on loneliness?

A portrait of outcasts and alienation?

A study of the human condition as contrasted with an alien foil?

A violent gender reversal of the modern rape culture?

A cautionary examination of woman as both sexual predator and prey?_

Yes. Maybe.

But it’s definitely all about the bait.

After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.

Latest Reviews

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

The Fall Guy

Wicked Little Letters

Weekly Reviews Straight to your Inbox!

Under the Skin (United Kingdom/United States, 2013)

Let me begin by stating that I cannot recommend Under the Skin to audiences in search of a mainstream movie experience. This film, a cryptic adaptation of Michel Faber's novel, is all about mood and setting. It's as existential as a sci-fi/horror film can possibly be. It requires that the viewer slip into a meditative mood and remain there for more than 90 minutes. The film has the capacity to hypnotize but only for those willing to go where director Jonathan Glazer ( Sexy Beast ) wants to take them. It's slow moving and contemplative. The horror elements are slight. There are no "boo!" moments. The special effects are limited and rather primitive. Those who fall under Glazer's spell will applaud Under the Skin as visionary. Those who don't will find it dull, opaque, and largely a waste of time. It's easy for me to see both viewpoints although my personal perspective is closer to the former than the latter.

On the surface, Under the Skin would seem to be yet another movie about covert aliens on Earth hunting people. We're never explicitly told why the aliens are here, although it's clear they're using the siren's song of sex to entice men to their doom. There are hints but the narrative prefers to maintain a sense of mystery. (The book is more explicit when it comes to backstory.) At times, viewers may note superficial similarities to the likes of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Lifeforce , Species , and a bunch of Doctor Who stories. But the way in which the story unfolds is unlike any of those. Glazer demands the audience's patience and provides hints that need to be connected in the mind of the viewer.

The alien, portrayed by Scarlett Johansson, doesn't have a name and she rarely speaks. She spends most of the movie wandering around the bleak, open wilds of Scotland, seeking unattached men she can seduce then entomb. She's selective about her choices, picking individuals who are unlikely to be missed, at least in the near-term. She has a male helper who provides assistance and cleans up after her. The longer the alien remains within her human shell, however, the more the compulsions and sensations of her body begin to infect her. Initially a coldly calculating killer - there's a wrenching scene in which she leaves a wailing, unattended child alone on a rocky beach after both of its parents have died - she begins to feel compassion. She lets one victim escape. She begins to revel in the way her body feels. It all proves to be too much for her and her helper, sensing she has lost her sense of purpose, begins hunting her.

Glazer favors long, lingering shots. There are many scenes in which he plants a tripod and continues to film after the action has moved on. This approach, so antithetical to the quick-cut format favored in current cinema, establishes the mood. It forces patience. Glazer gets a strong performance from his leading lady who throws herself into the role with abandon. With only occasional snippets of dialogue, she has to build a character largely out of facial expressions and body language. The scene in which she examines her nude form in front of a mirror is both strangely erotic and haunting. This is an alien beginning to come to grips with the capabilities of the body she in which she is hiding.

The setting, so desolate and oddly beautiful, is the perfect place to set a film of this sort. Scotland is at least as important a character as the alien, with none of men who make brief appearances rating more than a passing mention. A cynic could summarize Under the Skin as "Scarlett Johansson wanders around Scotland picking up men and occasionally taking her clothing off" and it wouldn't be far wrong, but it would also miss the mark completely. Under the Skin is the kind of film that gets to you in ways you don't necessarily expect or understand. It's not easily digested and the ending, while not a cliffhanger, doesn't provide a satisfying sense of closure. Those intrigued by the possibilities of "existential science fiction/horror" will find something special in these 107 minutes. Others would be advised to spend their $10 elsewhere.

Comments Add Comment

Alien (1979)
Quiet Place, A (2018)
Morgan (2016)
Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)
Alien 3 (1992)
Fourth Kind, The (2009)
Lost in Translation (2003)
Manny & Lo (1969)
Horse Whisperer, The (1998)
Perfect Score, The (2004)
Black Dahlia, The (2006)
Scoop (2006)

Under The Skin Review

14 Mar 2014

108 minutes

Under The Skin

There’s a sexy, brooding, thrilling film to be made out of Michel Faber’s compelling novel of lust and death. This isn’t it. But, as frustrating and bewildering as Under The Skin is, it swims with moments of beauty and horror, and few films make you think so much. You can debate whether this is a recommendation.

Jonathan Glazer’s previous two features — Sexy Beast and Birth — grew upon being rewatched. The imponderable question, for now, is whether his third will reward repeat viewing or simply require it, as it feels in places impenetrable. Those who haven’t read the novel — or any reviews — may take most of the running time to discover just what the hell is going on, and even then the conclusion is unclear. If you crave certainty in your cinema then you are unlikely to enjoy it. Allow yourself to settle beside Scarlett Johansson’s malleable lead, though, and to ask questions with (rather than of) her, and it’s likely to be a more invigorating experience.

Under The Skin is — broadly — about an awakening, as a coldly efficient worker comes to wonder if there’s more to her life and that of those around her. It is — more specifically, spoiler-ifically — about an alien who adopts the body of a twentysomething hottie and stalks a cold, grey Scotland for men to pick up. It’s like inverted curb-crawling, as she drives around seeking strangers for apparent seduction, the blokes generally feeling they’ve won the lottery when a little small talk — establishing, usually, that they won’t be missed — leads to a lift from, well, Scarlett Johansson. It’s only when they’re alone with her that they realise their luck is actually bad and — in a startling visual space it’s impossible to effectively convey — this will be their final one-night stand. It’s like Species directed by Gus Van Sant.

Johansson is quietly brilliant. As the girl who fell to Earth, she is confused, repulsed and fascinated by what she finds — eyes searching for clues, as her face seeks the right expression, trying to become comfortable in her skin. It’s hard to imagine anyone being as appropriate for the part — and as brave — as her, blending innocence and inquisitiveness with a sexuality that’s both irresistible and monstrous. And though her much-vaunted sensuality is essential, there’s more here than natural huskiness or a body beautiful — the exposure is psychological as much as physical, for she has to portray someone — something, really — growing a soul.

The extent of the character’s transformation — the question of how much empathy is truly universal — is to be debated. Does Under The Skin stretch past its initial view of humans (reminiscent of the old nihilist tattoo: “Meat”) to something more comforting — and should it? Perhaps the film simply reflects yourself, how you feel about our journey from dust to dust, ashes to ashes. It perpetually feels like it’s threatening to develop a more accessible story, pregnant with expectation that doesn’t deliver, at least not in any conventional sense. But as infuriating or anticlimactic as you may find the ending, it floats in the memory, this feeling that we’re all at sea, tossed by the waves, reaching out for someone — anyone — to help. Save us.

Movies | 10 02 2021

Movies | 01 12 2014

Movies | 19 12 2014

Movies | 13 12 2014

Movies | 11 02 2014

Movies | 30 01 2014

Movies | 11 11 2013

Movies | 23 09 2013

'Mind Body Spirit' Review: A Horror Movie That Puts a Yoga Twist on 'Hereditary'

The most terrifying thing of all in this horror movie? The dreaded wellness influencer.

The Big Picture

Mind Body Spirit is a found footage horror that pokes fun at wellness influencers.
The film captures isolation and the descent into darkness well, though some other elements don't quite land.
Mind Body Spirit is best when pushing boundaries, with Bartholomew's performance never wavering.

Mind Body Spirit , the feature horror debut by filmmakers Alex Henes and Matthew Merenda , is not the first film this year to feel like it’s tapping into similar things as Ari Aster ’s Hereditary . However, it is the only one thus far to involve so much yoga alongside its story about familial trauma and how it gets passed down . This could easily sound like a joke, but Mind Body Spirit is a found footage horror that plays things mostly straight beyond a few gags about influencers. This is both a blessing and a curse. The curse is that it never takes things quite far enough to be as sly a reflection of our modern digital lives as something like the recent The Influencer . Instead, its blessings come in the more supernatural dark delights, operating in the vein of something like Rob Savage ’s Host with a slight hint of the livestream horror Deadstream .

Mind Body Spirit (2023)

Mind Body Spirit follows Anya, an aspiring yoga influencer, as she embarks on a ritual practice left behind by her estranged grandmother. What starts as a spiritual self-help guide quickly evolves into something much more sinister. As Anya becomes obsessed with the mysterious power of the practice, she unwittingly unleashes an otherworldly entity that begins to take control of her life -- and her videos. Now Anya must race to unlock the truth, before her descent into madness threatens to consume her mind, body and spirit.

These are all promising points of comparison and fans of those other movies will likely be tickled by much of Mind Body Spirit . What must then also be said is that it isn’t quite as good as any of its predecessors that it draws from in both theme and form. While many found footage movies operate in confined spaces, this frequently feels restricting rather than fully claustrophobic here. There is still some smashing fun to be had the longer it goes on, but its persistent limitations dampen the dread. Where something like We’re All Going to the World’s Fair captured the loneliness and liberation of the Internet , this only skims along the surface. This might be an unfair comparison to make, as Mind Body Spirit is more interested in the eerie than the existential, though it still can’t quite hit as hard as it could have .

What Is 'Mind Body Spirit' About?

This all begins with a computer sitting on a table. It has a playlist of videos that seem to have been archived that we will spend the film watching. The one making these videos is Anya, played by a wonderfully sincere and sinister Sarah J. Bartholomew , who is attempting to become a yoga influencer. Through early scenes of her speaking directly to the camera, we learn that her life has recently changed quite significantly as she moved to the home of her late grandmother to get a fresh start. It is there that she begins making videos that initially are awkward before becoming more unsettling. Anya is desperately trying to create an online presence for herself and is willing to do whatever it takes to do it.

This leads her to overlook some major warning signs that something is amiss in the house. The thing that consumes her day-to-day is making videos that are genuine and more sincere, though she is struggling to figure out how to do it. When she discovers her grandmother’s diary, she decides this will be her way of expressing herself and finding out who she really is . Little does she know that the text she is diving into is not about mindfulness and is a menacing ritual that she is unwittingly taking part in.

'The Coffee Table' Review: 'Hereditary's Head Trauma Has Nothing On This Horror Film

The film is then about isolation and the descent of Anya into darkness. We observe her becoming more and more emaciated as something seems to be taking control of her body. Some visual effects take you out of key scenes , including one surrounding a string being swallowed, but Bartholomew’s performance helps to smooth over some of the flaws. You may find yourself questioning why we are seeing some things, such as occasional video calls with her mother Lenka ( Anna Knigge ) or moments where she is laying in her bed that don’t seem to be being recorded, but the bigger issue is how some of the scenes are shot.

One scene where her influencer friend Kenzi ( Madi Bready ) comes over to make a video with Anya is understandably shot in a wide so that viewers can see the exercise they do, but it still feels a little distancing. Where something like Steven Soderbergh ’s upcoming Presence was able to find a greater variety of perspectives in a single house, Mind Body Spirit often falls back on the same tricks . The camera will occasionally rotate around to show us what is lurking in a room or go mobile as we discover hidden parts of the house, though much of it remains static.

'Mind Body Spirit' Is a Horror Film Trying to Get Under Your Skin

Sometimes, this can cut a bit deeper, like when Anya speaks directly to us while sitting at a desk about her insecurities just as her door begins to open behind her. This is often undercut by ads, some with Kenzi and one with a random guy talking about a nonsense drink he’s trying to sell, sacrificing scares for silliness. The ads do a fine job of mimicking the type of empty influencers Anya doesn’t want to be, but this light skewering still comes with a cost. Scenes that felt like they were building to something disturbing are cut short, lacking the patience to let them get under our skin. Even one disquieting moment where Anya speaks in a room of candles with a wild look in her eyes ends abruptly. It’s as if there was more to the scene that was ripped away, so we could go back to scenes where we are again at a distance. It doesn’t doom the film entirely, but it does hold it back from its full potential .

Much like Anya speaks about hollowing out herself for something else to move on in, the best parts of the film come once this process starts to take hold. Once we get past the more clunky string scene, Mind Body Spirit starts to find more chilling territory. From a nighttime excursion where the camera drifts around the house to a confessional scene the next morning where we hear the creeping fear turning to obsession in Anya’s voice, these escalations kick the experience up a notch. A lot of this comes down to Bartholomew’s performance, which never wavers even when the film frequently does. She gives us insights into her character more naturally than some of the occasionally forced dialogue, showing us glimpses of her increasingly fractured mind through an embodied performance. Even when the film doesn’t fully capture the spirit, the spell she casts gets awfully close .

Mind Body Spirit is a fine found footage horror film that still can't hit as hard as it could have.

Even as the film wavers a bit, Sarah J. Bartholomew never does as she gives a performance that casts a strong spell.
Once we get closer to the end, the film gets more chilling and leaves behind some of the more clunky elements.
The film does a fine job of mimicking the ads of influencers, lightly skewering them here and there.
The film occasionally sacrifices scares for silliness.
Some of the way the film is shot, shaky effects, and forced dialogue hold things back.

Mind Body Spirit is now available to stream on VOD in the U.S.

WATCH ON VOD

Scarlett Johansson

IMDbPro Starmeter Top 500 28

Contact info
71 wins & 234 nominations total

Scarlett Johansson Through the Years

Photos 1673

Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum in Fly Me to the Moon (2024)

Samantha (voice)

Scarlett Johansson in Lost in Translation (2003)

Natasha Romanoff
Black Widow

Scarlett Johansson in Under the Skin (2013)

Kelly Jones
Post-production
Elita -1 (voice)
Pre-production
Carol Blevins

Katie Britt
Ivanka Trump
Lexie (segment "Porcelain Fountains") (uncredited)

Scarlett Johansson, Sienna Miller, and Emily Beecham in North Star (2023)

Midge Campbell

Ash (voice)

Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Bono, Scarlett Johansson, Nick Kroll, Tori Kelly, and Taron Egerton in Sing 2 (2021)

Nicole Barber

Don Cheadle, Robert Downey Jr., Josh Brolin, Bradley Cooper, Chris Evans, Sean Gunn, Scarlett Johansson, Brie Larson, Jeremy Renner, Paul Rudd, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Danai Gurira, and Karen Gillan in Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Natasha Romanoff (uncredited)

Don Cheadle, Robert Downey Jr., Josh Brolin, Vin Diesel, Paul Bettany, Bradley Cooper, Chris Evans, Sean Gunn, Scarlett Johansson, Elizabeth Olsen, Chris Pratt, Mark Ruffalo, Zoe Saldana, Benedict Wong, Terry Notary, Anthony Mackie, Chris Hemsworth, Dave Bautista, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chadwick Boseman, Sebastian Stan, Danai Gurira, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Letitia Wright, and Tom Holland in Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Nutmeg (voice)
executive producer, producer
executive producer

In Production

Ellie Goulding in American Express Unstaged: Ellie Goulding (2015)

Director (attached)

Kevin Bacon and Scarlett Johansson in These Vagabond Shoes (2009)

In-development projects at IMDbPro

Personal details

Scarlett Johanssen
5′ 3″ (1.60 m)
November 22 , 1984
Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
Spouses Colin Jost October 2020 - present (1 child)
Children Rose Dauriac
Parents Melanie Sloan
Relatives Vanessa Johansson (Sibling)
Other works Her professional acting debut was alongside Ethan Hawke in "Sophistry", an off Broadway play
10 Interviews
59 Articles
28 Pictorials
688 Magazine Cover Photos

Did you know

Trivia She was cast as Natasha Romanoff in Iron Man 2 (2010) after Emily Blunt dropped out due to other commitments.
Quotes I'm so tired of hearing casting directors ask if I have a sore throat. The people who have told me that my voice is distinctive, it's unusual... those people have always been close to my heart.
Trademarks Often plays characters who look and act older than their age
Salaries Black Widow ( 2021 ) $20,000,000 +back end
How old is Scarlett Johansson?
When was Scarlett Johansson born?
Where was Scarlett Johansson born?

More to explore

Add demo reel with IMDbPro

How much have you seen?

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

Upcoming Movies and TV shows
Trivia & Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

Movies / TV

No results found.

What's the Tomatometer®?
Login/signup

Movies in theaters

Opening this week
Top box office
Coming soon to theaters
Certified fresh movies

Movies at home

Fandango at Home
Netflix streaming
Prime Video
Most popular streaming movies
What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes Link to Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
The Fall Guy Link to The Fall Guy
I Saw the TV Glow Link to I Saw the TV Glow

New TV Tonight

Doctor Who: Season 1
Dark Matter: Season 1
Black Twitter: A People's History: Season 1
Bodkin: Season 1
Pretty Little Liars: Summer School: Season 2
The Chi: Season 6
Reginald the Vampire: Season 2
Blood of Zeus: Season 2
Hollywood Con Queen: Season 1
Love Undercover: Season 1

Under the Skin Reviews

Written and directed by Carine Adler, this rather underrated British film offers a searing examination of grief.

Full Review | May 10, 2021

Under the Skin's experiential aesthetic and narrative centred around a bereavement bears uncanny resemblance to that other Samantha Morton-starring film, Morvern Callar.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 29, 2020

Full Review | Original Score: A | Sep 7, 2011

Full Review | Original Score: 0/5 | Mar 20, 2008

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 6, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 29, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 25, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 8, 2002

... a raw and occasionally depressing first film with moments of chilling recognition and a remarkable young star.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Aug 8, 2002

Reminds us what it's like to see an actress go to work when she has a juicy role to play.

Full Review | Jan 28, 2002

In her feature debut, Adler shapes her film gracefully and elicits a scorching no-holds-barred, totally selfless portrayal from Morton.

Full Review | Feb 14, 2001

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.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jan 1, 2000

Morton's Iris keeps going in circles... It's a spooky, movie-dominating performance.

Full Review | Jan 1, 2000

Adler does a remarkable job of conveying the kind of anguished soul sickness that is at a loss for words or conventional expression.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Jan 1, 2000

It is buoyed by an unflinching performance from newcomer Samantha Morton, a young British actress who is willing to expose not only her body but her inner being as well.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jan 1, 2000

Adler's screenplay is excellent; it isn't often that a film takes an insightful look at how people can become unraveled.

After a promising beginning ... the crux of the story ... is taken for granted and any established empathy for Iris' sad plight dwindles fast.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jan 1, 2000

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.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 1, 2000

Delightfully freighted with heavy sensuality, some deadpan comedy, and a character whose loneliness should strike a chord in all of us.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Jan 1, 2000

What makes it watchable is the performance from Samantha Morton, who is riveting.

When is Amazon Prime Day 2024?

What is amazon prime day.

What should I buy?
How long do deals last?
Do you need to be a Prime member?
Do other stores participate?

Is Prime Day an international event?

Amazon prime day 2024: here's what to expect, tips, and tricks.

When you buy through our links, Business Insider may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more

Amazon Prime Day has grown into one of the biggest sales events of the year, with discounts rivaling those of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. With so many retailers selling on Amazon, Prime members can save on just about anything, from viral beauty products to new unlocked smartphones.

The best Prime Day deals we saw last year included all-time lows on brands like Apple, Vitamix, iRobot, Dyson, Crocs, and, of course, Amazon-owned products like the Fire TV , Kindle e-reader , and Echo smart speakers . We expect to see more of the same this year as well.

It'll be the first major deal holiday of the year, so it's an awesome chance to score summer discounts on big-ticket items and household staples. The retailer's 10th Prime Day event has officially been announced to arrive in July, but the actual days are still unknown. In the meantime, we're keeping tabs on all of the latest Prime Day news, and we'll keep you updated with our findings here.

Shop the latest deals at Amazon

Amazon Prime Day is officially coming this July, though the exact days have not yet been announced. In past years, it kicked off on the second Tuesday of the month. If Amazon follows the same trend, it will take place on July 9 and 10. We'll keep this story updated as more details are announced.

Amazon Prime Day is the retailer's annual mega sale and one of the major benefits of Prime membership. It's a two-day sales event, usually during the summer, that features products from every category, from fashion staples to hot new tech.

Though it used to be a deal holiday of a much smaller scale, Prime Day has grown exponentially since the first one in 2015. Now, you can find almost everything on sale for all-time low prices, matching discounts we see during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

What should I buy during Amazon Prime Day?

Everything is fair game to buy during Amazon Prime Day. Whether you've been holding out on a pricey new TV or just need to stock up on toiletries, Prime Day is a good time to make your move.

Last year, we saw incredible prices on tech, including 4K TVs , Fire TV streaming devices , Apple products, Kindle e-readers , PC gaming accessories, Echo smart speakers , and top headphones picks. Prime Day tech deals featured brands like Logitech, Bose, Jabra, Sony, Roku, Samsung, TCL, and more.

If you're looking for style and beauty deals during Prime Day, last year, brands like Tommy Hilfiger, Tatcha, Laneige, Levi's, Carhartt, Anastasia Beverly Hills, Adidas, and Marc Jacobs all featured products at rare low prices. That means skincare, makeup, shoes, men's clothing, women's fashion, and accessories will all be available for less.

Home and kitchen products saw no shortage of Prime Day deals either, with big names like Dyson, Shark, iRobot, Philips, KitchenAid, Nespresso, Casper, Leesa, and OXO down to all-time lows for the event. So, whether you need an air fryer , robot vacuum , mattress , or just some sturdy mixing bowls, Prime Day is a good time to buy.

You don't need to be focused on fancy new gadgets or treatments to shop smart during Amazon Prime Day either. We also catch tons of affordable household essentials available for even less every year, like toilet paper, dish soap, doggy bags, and makeup wipes. These deals are sweet, since they save you money on stuff you needed to buy anyway.

How long do Prime Day deals last?

How long a Prime Day deal lasts differs between items, but in general, the best discounts will start during the event and end before the 48-hour holiday is over. Some will last the whole two days while others will only last one, so it's always wise to act on a good sale when you see it. Lightning deals especially go fast, the most popular of which dwindle away in less than an hour.

I always recommend buying a product you've had your eye on as soon as it's highlighted as a Prime Day deal. Regardless of how long it's set to last, oftentimes the best sales run out of stock, resulting in shipping dates being pushed out, or the deal no longer being offered at all. We'll be providing all of the deal context you need to shop confidently and quickly, so be sure to check our roundups of the best discounts when the event rolls around.

Do you need to be a Prime member to shop Amazon Prime Day?

Amazon Prime Day is locked to Prime members only. It's one of the major benefits of subscribing to the service, in addition to other perks like free two-day shipping and Prime Video streaming.

If you have yet to become a member, you can sign up for a free 30-day trial to test it out. Once the official Prime Day dates have been announced, you can even time your free period to overlap with the sale, but it's not a guarantee since sometimes retailers will lock out free members from shopping the best deals.

Do other stores participate in Prime Day?

Although Prime Day is an Amazon-specific event, it's grown so large that other major retailers have started kicking off competing sales to overlap with it. No one has announced a competing Prime Day sale just yet, but if past years are any indication, Walmart, Target, and Best Buy will likely be holding their own events.

These are definitely worth checking out; they often match the best deals on popular items you can find from Prime Day. We'll also be rounding these deals up so you can shop from the retailer that best suits you, whether you're a Target Circle cardholder, My Best Buy Plus member, or Walmart Plus subscriber.

Prime Day occurs in several other countries, but not all of them. Here's a list of countries where Prime Day will be available to shop:

Netherlands
Saudi Arabia
The United Arab Emirates
The United States
The United Kingdom

Want to see what Amazon has on sale right now? We've spotted some hefty price cuts on electronics, fashion, home, kitchen, laptops, and more on its main deals page .

Main content

IMAGES

REVIEW: Scarlett Johansson Is an Alien Seductress in Under the Skin
See more of Scarlett Johansson as a seductive alien in 'Under The Skin
Under the Skin Movie Review
Under the Skin
Under the Skin (2013) movie review
Under the Skin (2013) Filmkritik

VIDEO

Giant Glass Shields Falls from the Sky Part 2 #viral #trending #shorts #fyp
Many rich people fake their deaths, this mystery movie leaves you baffled
Was the movie WOKE?
The Flash
Why Paramount was Hiding Under the Boardwalk

COMMENTS

Under the Skin movie review & film summary (2014)
Most of the movie does, however, feel "real," particularly scenes of the woman driving around Glasgow, Scotland, enticing men to get into her white van and follow her to an abandoned flat where, it is implied, they have sex. The men (shot by hidden cameras in a series of improvisations) seem like real men. They aren't movie star handsome.
Under the Skin
Rated: 2/5 • Jan 18, 2024. Oct 20, 2023. Jan 25, 2023. Disguising herself as a human female, an extraterrestrial (Scarlett Johansson) drives around Scotland and tries to lure unsuspecting men ...
Under the Skin review
Scarlett Johansson in Under the Skin: 'a striking attempt to tell an exotic story in a down-to-earth environment'. Mark Kermode's film of the week Jonathan Glazer This article is more than 10 ...
'Under the Skin' review: Scarlett Johansson mesmerizes in this moody
"Under the Skin," Glazer's third film, offers new evidence of that promise, even if it doesn't entirely deliver on it. As a speculative piece of fantasy and warily somber mood piece, this ...
Scarlett Johansson as a Deadly Alien in 'Under the Skin'
In "Under the Skin," Scarlett Johansson is an extraterrestrial femme fatale picking up, and disposing of, unsuspecting men in Glasgow. ... Movie Review. A Much Darker Hitchhiker's Guide ...
'Under the Skin' review: you've never seen sci-fi like this
Movie Review 'Under the Skin' review: you've never seen sci-fi like this. Scarlett Johansson is from another world in Jonathan Glazer's unforgettable film. By Bryan Bishop on April 11, ...
Under the Skin
Trailesque. Feb 18, 2021. A genuinely weird and haunting little SF/horror/art flick that does get under one's skin. It stars Scarlett Johansson as an alluring but deadly creature of some kind. She roams around dull sections of urban Scotland in a plain van, picking up solitary men and doing something very strange to them.
Under the Skin Review
Based on Michael Faber's 2000 novel of the same name, Under the Skin fuses the road movie with the science fiction film, and kicks off in unsettling fashion as a beautiful woman is laid to rest ...
'Under the Skin' Review
Under the Skin runs 108 minutes and is Rated R for graphic nudity, sexual content, some violence and language. Now playing in theaters. Let us know what you thought of the film in the comment section below. Follow me on Twitter @ benkendrick for future reviews, as well as movie, TV, and gaming news.
Under the Skin Review
Under the Skin Review Scarlett Johansson's turn in Under the Skin is a truly alien experience, lulling certain susceptible audiences into seductive annihilation. By David Crow | April 2, 2014 |
'Under the Skin' Movie Review
Johansson is phenomenal in every sense of the word. She joins Glazer in creating a brave experiment in cinema that richly rewards the demands it makes. The result is an amazement, a film of beauty ...
Under the Skin
Under the Skin brilliantly captures a young woman's emotional collapse -- and marks its star and director as fresh talents worth keeping an eye on. A young woman (Samantha Morton) embarks upon a ...
Under the Skin
Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Aug 15, 2022. Director Jonathan Glazer's intentionally vague and aloof adaptation of Michael Faber's novel devotes its a torturous 108 minutes on the efforts of ...
Under the Skin Movie Review
By S. Jhoanna Robledo, Common Sense Media Reviewer. age 18+. Tense, slick thriller is creepy, with full nudity. Movie R 2014 108 minutes. Rate movie. Parents Say: age 17+ 8 reviews.
Under the Skin (2013)
Under the Skin: Directed by Jonathan Glazer. With Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy McWilliams, Lynsey Taylor Mackay, Dougie McConnell. A mysterious young woman seduces lonely men in the evening hours in Scotland. However, events lead her to begin a process of self-discovery.
Under the Skin Movie Review: Scarlett Johansson Gets Naked, A Lot
Under the Skin is handsome, in a dour way, but inert — a cunning experiment that died in the shooting or on the editing table. You'll want to get the DVD, though, and not just for its study of ...
Under the Skin: Film Review
Under the Skin: Film Review. Scarlett Johansson stars in director Jonathan Glazer's adaptation of Michel Faber's psychosexual novel about an alien woman who falls to Earth in Scotland.
'Under the Skin' Ending Explained: What Happens to the Alien?
Under the Skin is a challenging film that may require multiple viewings to fully understand its metaphorical implications. The film explores themes of xenophobia, toxic masculinity, and cultural ...
Under the Skin (2013 film)
Under the Skin is a 2013 science fiction film directed by Jonathan Glazer and written by Glazer and Walter Campbell, loosely based on the 2000 novel by Michel Faber.It stars Scarlett Johansson as an otherworldly woman who preys on men in Scotland. The film premiered at Telluride Film Festival on 29 August 2013. It was released in the United Kingdom on 14 March 2014, and in other territories ...
Under the Skin
Conclusion. Scarlett Johansson is the bait. In oh so many ways. In Under the Skin's deliberately opaque and expressionistically filmed storyline (loosely based on Michel Faber's 2000 novel) the actress plays an alien who dons a human persona.In black wig and blood-red lipstick this pretty cosmic spinner lures unsuspecting men on the streets of Glasgow.
Under the Skin
This film, a cryptic adaptation of Michel Faber's novel, is all about mood and setting. It's as existential as a sci-fi/horror film can possibly be. It requires that the viewer slip into a meditative mood and remain there for more than 90 minutes. The film has the capacity to hypnotize but only for those willing to go where director Jonathan ...
Under The Skin Review
15. Original Title: Under The Skin. There's a sexy, brooding, thrilling film to be made out of Michel Faber's compelling novel of lust and death. This isn't it. But, as frustrating and ...
'Mind Body Spirit' Review
'Mind Body Spirit' Is a Horror Film Trying to Get Under Your Skin Sometimes, this can cut a bit deeper, like when Anya speaks directly to us while sitting at a desk about her insecurities just as ...
Scarlett Johansson
Scarlett Johansson. Actress: Her. Scarlett Ingrid Johansson was born on November 22, 1984 in Manhattan, New York City, New York. Her mother, Melanie Sloan is from a Jewish family from the Bronx and her father, Karsten Johansson is a Danish-born architect from Copenhagen. She has a sister, Vanessa Johansson, who is also an actress, a brother, Adrian, a twin brother, Hunter Johansson, born three ...
Under the Skin
Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jan 1, 2000. 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 ...
Amazon Prime Day 2024: Here's what to expect, tips, and tricks
The best Prime Day deals always go fast. Amazon; Insider How long a Prime Day deal lasts differs between items, but in general, the best discounts will start during the event and end before the 48 ...

Movie Reviews

Matt Zoller Seitz

Now playing

Turtles All the Way Down

Mother of the Bride

Monica Castillo

In the Land of Saints and Sinners

Terrestrial Verses

Under the Skin (2014)

Latest blog posts

Saving Film History One Frame at a Time: A Preview of Restored & Rediscovered Series at the Jacob Burns Film Center

The Beatles Were Never More Human Than in ‘Let It Be’

Dear Tim Cook: Be a Decent Human Being and Delete this Revolting Apple Ad

The Problem and the Solution: Why Palpatine from Star Wars is One of the Great Movie Villains

Under the Skin review – Jonathan Glazer's singular vision

Comments (…)

‘Under the Skin’ review: Scarlett Johansson mesmerizes in this moody sci-fi thriller

We noticed you’re blocking ads!

A Much Darker Hitchhiker’s Guide

Explore More in TV and Movies

Cookie banner

'Under the Skin' review: you've never seen sci-fi like this

Screen Rant

What Went Wrong With Ben Affleck's Roast Of Tom Brady

Our Rating:

Under the Skin Review

Under the Skin

Peter Travers

Andy Cohen Cleared in Bravo Investigation, 'Watch What Happens Live' Renewed

Harvey Weinstein Will Stay in a New York Jail as Court Considers California Extradition Before Retrial

Carmy Gets His Knives Out in Release Date-Revealing 'The Bear' Season Three Teaser

Jon Stewart Will Bring His 'Razor-Sharp Wit' to New 'Weekly Show' Podcast

'Gasoline Rainbow' Is a Postcard From Teenage Wasteland, USA

Most Popular

Verify it's you

Or browse by category:

Common Sense Selections for Movies

50 Modern Movies All Kids Should Watch Before They're 12

Best Kids' Shows on Disney+

Best Kids' TV Shows on Netflix

8 Tips for Getting Kids Hooked on Books

50 Books All Kids Should Read Before They're 12

Common Sense Selections for Games

Nintendo Switch Games for Family Fun

Common Sense Selections for Podcasts

Parents' Guide to Podcasts

Social Networking for Teens

Gun-Free Action Game Apps

Reviews for AI Apps and Tools

Parents' Ultimate Guide to YouTube Kids

YouTube Kids Channels for Gamers

Explaining the News to Our Kids

Celebrating Black History Month

Movies and TV Shows with Arab Leads

Celebrate Hip-Hop's 50th Anniversary

A Lot or a Little?

Positive Messages

Positive Role Models

Violence & Scariness

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Products & Purchases

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Parents Need to Know

Where to Watch

Community Reviews

Goes to the extreme in depicting male nudity - somewhat offensive.

Is It Any Good?

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Movie Details

Did we miss something on diversity?

Suggest an Update

V for Vendetta

Sci-Fi Movies

REVIEW: Scarlett Johansson Is an Alien Seductress in Under the Skin

More Must-Reads From TIME

The Definitive Voice of Entertainment News

site categories

Todd McCarthy

Related Stories

THR Newsletters