MORE DE VAN

Since IN MY SKIN, De Van has worked on television projects and directed her second feature film DON'T LOOK BACK (2009).  The film marks a major development in De Van's career.  First, rather than appearing before the camera, De Van casts two highly commercial and internationally known actresses:  Monica Bellucci and Sophie Marceau.  Second, the film debuted on a massive international stage:  the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.  The film deals with many similar issues as IN MY SKIN:  identity, perception, and alienation.  De Van is currently working on a television film.

"DON'T LOOK BACK begins promisingly. Seemingly obsessed with surfaces, the camera restlessly searches for hints and clues among the fragments we see, even before we know there's a mystery."
-Peter Brunette, HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

The film made it abroad through IFC's On Demand in a special section called Midnight Movies.  It is currently available on Netflix Instant Streaming.

Jeanne a writer, married, with two children - starts to see unsettling changes in her home. Her body is beginning to change. No one around her seems to notice. Her family dismisses these fears as the result of the stress of having to finish her next book, but Jeanne realizes that something far deeper, far more disturbing is taking place. A photograph at her mother's house sends her in search of a woman in Italy. Here, transformed into another woman, RosaMaria, she will discover the strange secret of her true identity.

IN MY SKIN SCREENING

"Inescapably gripping... a harrowing portrait.  A remarkable debut film."
-Stephen Holden, THE NEW YORK TIMES

"Riveting.  Chilling.  Draws from the body horror of David Cronenberg and the feminine paranoia of Roman Polanski's REPULSION."
-Scott Tobias, THE ONION

"A body horror tour-de-force.  Witty.  Beautiful, Terrifying."
-Dennis Lim, VILLAGE VOICE

"A gorgeous, uncommonly assured and provocative debut unsettling.  Arresting."
-Mike D'Angelo, TIME OUT NEW YORK

IN MY SKIN ranks as one of the most powerful directorial debuts in recent years.  Previously the cypher Tatiana of REGARDE LA MER, Marina De Van, director and star of IN MY SKIN, delves deep into the mind of Esther, a corporate analyst.  After suffering a deep gash to her leg during an accident, Esther becomes fascinated with her own skin.  What begins as caresses, tugs, and pinches soon unravels into cuts, slices, and ruptures.  Esther transgresses her own skin and begins to experiment with self-cannibalism and auto-eroticism.  Despite its graphic and sometimes disgusting imagery, IN MY SKIN is a fascinating film that has a quiet beauty and touches on the connection between transgression and transcendence. 

Suggested Supplemental Screenings:  REPULSION (Roman Polanski, 1965), CRASH (David Cronenberg, 1996), and MARTYRS (Pascal Laugier, 2008)

REGARDE LA MER SCREENING

"Profoundly unsettling!  An impressive new filmmaker with a flair for implicit mayhem... owes strong debts to Chabrol and Polanski."
-Janet Maslin, NEW YORK TIMES

"Ozon may be a new master!... Think Rohmer meets Hitchcock!"
-Armond White, NEW YORK PRESS

"A menacing masterpiece!"
-Dennis Dermody, PAPER MAGAZINE

As James Quandt sees it, REGARDE LA MER is part of Francois Ozon's 'immature' period.  Despite this dismissive assessment, the film brought a new attention to Ozon's work as he transitioned from a short to feature filmmaker.  The film's disturbing story and infamous images should not overshadow Ozon as a true cinematic talent that communicates volumes through is frames and use of montage.  REGARDE LA MER centers around a young mother living with her infant daughter in relative isolation and the mysterious backpacker that interrupts their idyllic surrounding.  The film touches on Kristeva's notion of the abject as a disruption of system, identity, and order.  What unfolds during this terse 52-minute film is a violent exchange of identity that leaves the spectator restless, breathless, and disrupted.

Suggested Supplemental Screenings:  PERSONA (Ingmar Bergman, 1966) and BLACK SWAN (Darren Aronofsky, 2010)