Mysterious Aliens and Inscrutable Humans in 'Under the Skin'

Most alien movies follow an invasion blueprint: they take a human point of view as humans and aliens make contact, then examine the differences and weaknesses of the extraterrestrial until it can be explained or defeated (or not). Under the Skin, directed by Jonathan Glazer and loosely based on the novel by Michel Faber, takes the opposite approach. The film sticks closely to the perspective of an alien visitor, and, in turn, it’s human behavior that’s placed under scrutiny and comes across as otherworldly.

It’s not that we know much about the extraterrestrial homeworld. Under the Skin begins with an alien (Scarlett Johansson) taking a human female form, which goes by Laura, and wandering the streets of Glasgow, Scotland. She’s followed by an equally mysterious male on a motorcycle (real-life motorcycle racer Jeremy McWilliams). There are a few impressionistic images of her origins but no explanation of her intentions. The question of why she’s there is never answered.

Instead, we follow Laura as she drives around the streets of Glasgow in a van, luring and seducing men into her orbit, often to their detriment. For these scenes, Glazer uses a series of non-actors in largely improvised environments; the van is outfitted with up to ten hidden-camera setups.

The result of these conditions—regular people having unscripted conversations in a natural setting, seemingly without cameras reminding them they’re being filmed—should be naturalistic. However, they don’t come across this way. While these scenes seem authentic, Glazer heightens the action beyond the typical found-footage-style documentary. His images are more beautiful than something you’d expect from dashboard cameras. He also sets the scenes to a discordantly beautiful score by Mica Levi. You can sense the disconnect between Laura and the rest of humanity; everything feels distant and unsettled.

This is largely to the credit of Johansson. She’s capable of telegraphing both seduction and isolation simultaneously. She sexually connects with the men she meets on the street, but there’s an emotional disconnect. While there is dialogue throughout Under the Skin, Johansson is essentially giving a silent performance. The words that pass between her and the men are of no consequence to the arc of the story; they’re merely a lure to get the men in the van. The story’s emotional core—which comes more into focus as the story progresses—is almost entirely advanced through Johansson’s face.

That it is Laura who remains emotionally distant from humans doesn’t mean that Under the Skin doesn’t pack an emotional punch for the viewer. Without giving away too many details, there’s an utterly devastating moment that clearly demonstrates her lack of attachment to children.

Glazer underlines Laura’s journey throughout Under the Skin with some show-stopping visuals. The film begins with images of circles slowly moving into alignment (and that Levi score pumped to full volume). The circles slowly resolve into a human eye, with Johansson’s disembodied voice practicing English words. It is striking; festival reviews (that were later trumpeted into the film’s trailer) wondered if Glazer was an “heir to Kubrick“. That’s an aggrandizing comparison, but it’s not entirely uncalled for. More importantly, that scene communicates everything you need to know about the premise of the film—that there’s an otherworldly presence taking the form of a human—without a word spoken.

If there’s one criticism to be found in Under the Skin, it’s that it might be too enamored of its own process. The cycle of Laura’s approaching a man, seducing him into her van, and the consequences that follow, repeats itself too often throughout the middle of the film. Eventually, the cycle changes as Laura learns more about life on Earth, but too often, the same scenario repeats itself before the changes become evident.

Under the Skin thrusts its viewers into this cycle without much explanation to give bearings, and starting off-balance adds to the film’s ambiance. If behind-the-scenes explanations are necessary, the Blu-Ray release offers plenty of supplemental material that unlocks all of the aspects of the filmmaking. There’s no commentary track, but a series of featurettes addresses the camera setups, casting (Glazer, a music-video director himself, says he wanted Johansson after seeing her in a video, presumably for “Falling Down“), editing (which explains how they dealt with more than 200 hours of that hidden camera footage), locations, music, poster design, production design, script, sound, and visual effects.

These features give an interesting insight into the unusual production of Under the Skin. However, it’s a more moving experience to first see this film unprepared and see a moody human/alien contact movie where the humans are the ones who are inscrutable.