Film
Dans ma peau (2002)
Marina de Van, a frequent collaborator of director François Ozon’s makes her feature directorial debut with In My Skin, which she also wrote. De Van stars in the film as Esther, a self-conscious young woman who works for a public relations firm.
Her life seems to be going well. Her boyfriend, Vincent, wants to live with her. At work, she’s in line for a promotion and the opportunity to run a prestigious campaign for a jewelry company. One night at a party with her friend, Sandrine, Esther wanders into the backyard and stumbles, scratching her leg on a piece of scrap metal.
She goes back to the party and later realizes that her injury is much more severe than she had thought. There’s a huge, ugly gouge all the way up her shin, and she’s bleeding profusely. She goes to a doctor, who patches her up and tells her she might need a skin graft.
But Esther becomes obsessed with the wound. She won’t let it heal, sneaking away during work to cut herself. As her leg becomes an ugly scarred mass, she begins to notice a problem with her arm. Before long, she’s alienated Vincent and jeopardized her job with her compulsive, self-destructive behavior.
But she continues on her grotesque downward spiral. In My Skin was shown at Lincoln Center in New York as part of their 2003 Rendez-vous with French Cinema.
MPAA Rating
NR
Genres – Drama, Horror
