Movie Review – La piel que habito (Can external changes change identity?)

The film La piel que habito explores how external changes can alter the essence of a person, emphasizing the importance of finding one’s true identity in a superficial society. This reflection takes a closer look at the film’s message and analyzes the relationship between appearance and identity in the modern world.

 

There are many things that define a person. Outward appearance can be one of them, as it is the most influential factor in our intuitive perception of a person. But it’s not the only one. This is also what I realized through La piel que habito. You can change everything about a person – their appearance, their voice, their gender – but the one thing you don’t lose is their identity. I think the movie has a message to say about modern society, which is obsessed with decorating and external symbols.
An important theme of the movie is how external changes affect the essence of a person. As the main character’s face and gender change, we are reminded of the limits of how superficial things cannot completely change a person’s identity. This can be read as a warning about the over-reliance on appearance in modern society. In a society that emphasizes appearance, it’s easy to prioritize the outside over the inside, and the inherent value of the inside becomes increasingly marginalized. So where should we look for our true selves? The movie offers a variety of suggestions on this question.

 

 

Most of the emotions I felt while watching the movie were unpleasant. Or maybe it was the only movie that made me feel uncomfortable. The atmosphere of mystery created by the unkind explanation at the beginning, the art effects that accompany it, the inhumanity of kidnapping and gender-swapping humans, the grotesqueness of elements such as burns and skin grafts, I don’t know which had the most impact, but whatever it was, I think the director wanted the audience to fully feel the unpleasantness of these elements. There are two main reasons why a movie might intentionally offend the audience. One is to emphasize the seriousness of the questions they’re trying to raise, and the other is as a genre to cater to the tastes of those who enjoy the purely bizarre. Examples of the latter include the Human Centipede series, Tusk, and the movie La piel que habito, which I believe is an example of the former.
There are many movies that intentionally make the audience feel afraid or rejected. The Farm, for example, is a grotesquely over-the-top movie that shows humans being raised by beings in animal masks in order to make a socially critical point about animal cruelty. The movie is supposedly meant to emphasize the central message of animal protection by highlighting human violence, but many critics found it disturbing. I don’t think La piel que habito will be any different. I feel that this movie has less grotesque elements compared to the aforementioned ‘The Human Centipede’ and ‘Tusk’, so I don’t think it’s a movie that’s only aimed at a hardcore audience. Like ‘The Farm’, I feel that it has a clear message.
People today invest in their appearance. And increasingly, it’s becoming more and more important among the many criteria by which people are judged. In the modern world, external beauty is seen as an individual’s ability, and it’s not just today. Throughout human history, those with superior looks have always had an advantage in gaining more, so why is it that this emphasis on appearance has become a social problem today? With the development of media, the world has become smaller and people have access to a wider variety of people and information. We are exposed to beautiful celebrities through the media, idolizing them and feeling deprived at the same time. As advertisements for products that target this psychology spread through the media, people’s standards for beauty consumption have changed. The image of people with superior appearance and the products that can improve their appearance, both of which are spreading through the media, may have changed people’s psychology about beauty. Of course, taking care of one’s appearance is not a negative thing as it is an act of increasing one’s competitiveness in the modern society. However, this social atmosphere shouldn’t be the cause of purposeful displacement. The psychology of people who want to look as close as possible to their idols instead of cultivating their inner selves, and the subconscious illusion that if they look similar, they can become similar people. Isn’t this what the movie is trying to criticize?

 

 

What makes this movie particularly interesting is that it offers a complex look at human adaptability and agency in the process of the protagonist’s transformation. Vicente’s face and gender change, as well as his long imprisonment, make him seem to gradually come to terms with his appearance and accept his imprisonment, but later in the movie he sees his old self and reclaims his agency. This shows that it’s not just about conforming to the changes in one’s appearance, but also about remembering who one is despite the changes, and ultimately reclaiming that essence. The movie ends with Vicente killing his captors, leaving the space, returning to his original existence, and saying his original name, Vicente, which clearly shows how we should feel about our appearance and identity. This is the core message of the movie: to break free from the social framework that defines our identity based on our appearance and find and protect our own essence.
Through this message, the movie makes us think twice about the social phenomenon of being obsessed with our appearance. A simple physical change cannot completely change the essence of a human being, and identity exists beyond the outward appearance. It is the beginning of true self-discovery when we stop obsessing over our appearance and find our inner value.