Under the Skin

Under the Skin is a 1997 British drama film written and directed by Carine Adler and starring Samantha Morton and Claire Rushbrook. It tells the story of two sisters coping with the sudden death of their mother. While one sister, Rose, manages to get on with her life, younger sister Iris goes down a self-destructive path in which she loses herself in one-night-stands and anonymous sexual encounters. Adler based her ideas for the script on forensic psychiatrist Estela V. Welldon's book Mother, Madonna, Whore, which argues that whereas men tend to externalize their grieving processes through anger, women internalize them via paths which can incorporate such extreme reactions as self-harm and promiscuity. Morton was widely praised for her performance and the film won top critics’ prizes at various film festivals, including the award for Best British Film at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. Plot Iris and her older sister Rose are left parentless when their mother dies from a brain tumor. Their father lives in Australia, which he left for ten years ago. 24-year-old Rose, who is married and pregnant, manages to cope with the situation, but 19-year-old Iris dumps her boyfriend Gary and spirals out of control, engaging in risky behaviors. Iris quits her job and moves out of the flat she shared with Gary and into a run-down apartment that she decorates with flowers. The tension is compounded by the siblings’ dynamics, as Iris has always thought Rose to be her mother's "favorite." Among Iris’ behaviors are picking up anonymous men for a string of sexual encounters.