La Piel Que Habito - The Skin I Live In is a Spanish language thriller directed by Pedro Almodóvar. The film, adapted from the novel 'Mygale' by Thierry Jonquet, tells the story of a surgeon who is pioneering a new type of plastic surgery, and who has a very complicated personal and family life.
Classification Issues
- Sexual Violence
- There are scenes of sexual violence, including one in which a man continues to thrust into a woman after she has withdrawn her consent, noting that the sex is painful. There is also a scene in which a man acts violently towards a woman, hitting her over the head, after she withdraws her consent during intercourse.
- Violence
- There are bloody shootings and a scene in which a character cuts their own throat, resulting in a brief bloody spray.
- Language
- There are uses of very strong language ('c**t') and strong language ('f**k').
- Sex
- There are scenes of sex, depicted in a variety of positions, which feature breast and buttock nudity.
- Additional issues
- There are detailed references to gender reassignment surgery.
Cinema classification
La Piel Que Habito - The Skin I Live In was submitted to the BBFC in June 2011 with a 15 category request.
It was seen by two separate BBFC examining teams, plus the BBFC Director and Presidents. This is because the film was considered to be on the 15/18 borderline, primarily for the issue of sexual violence.
The film contains a scene in which a man forces himself on a woman who then appears to consent to sexual activity. The scene is deliberately ambiguous and complex in its presentation of what is happening.
Elsewhere in the film, it is suggested that another character has been raped. However, when the assault is later shown in flashback, the viewer gets greater detail, learning for example that she is on a lot of prescription medication, and the male character she is talking to and kissing has not clearly understood the situation. During sex the woman suddenly becomes agitated and upset – it is not entirely clear if she is having a physical reaction, or becoming alarmed. As she becomes more vocal the male character desists.
At the time of classification, the BBFC’s Classification Guidelines at 15 stated that “Any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and have a strong contextual justification”. Both scenes are relatively discreet in terms of visual detail, and are crucially important in narrative terms. Neither scene eroticises or endorses sexual violence. Accordingly, they were considered to be suitable for classification at 15.
Other category-defining issues include strong sex scenes and two subtitled uses of very strong language (‘c**t’). There is also fleeting gore and some moments of violence, including shootings and a throat cutting.
The film was classified 15 for strong sex, sexual violence, brief gore and very strong language.
