Project Detail

Under the Skin

Synopsis

Nineteen year old Iris thinks she can handle her mother's untimely death. She doesn't understand why her older sister Rose is so upset. Surely life goes on, and in order to prove this Iris leaves her boyfriend Gary and moves into a bedsit.
In her new home, she begins to transform herself by dressing up in her mother's wig, fur coat and sunglasses. A new sexually confident Iris emerges and she begins to haunt the streets and clubs of Liverpool, picking up men. Iris thinks that she is in control, that she is having fun. However, her increasingly manic behaviour is exacerbated by her combative relationship with her older sister Rose. The two sisters have always competed for their mother's attentions and her sudden death brings to the surface their feelings of jealousy and rivalry. Iris becomes increasingly estranged from her sister, her friends and her ex-boyfriend, who is trying to win her back.

Details

Year: 1998
Type of project: Features
Running time: 83 mins
Format: 35mm Kodak
Director: Carine Adler 1st Feature
Producer: Kate Ogborn
Executive Producer: Ben Gibson
Editor: Ewa J. Lind
Screenwriter: Carine Adler
Director of Photography: Barry Ackroyd
Production Designer: John Paul Kelly
Composer: Ilona Sekacz
Principal cast: Samantha Morton, Claire Rushbrook, Rita Tushingham, Christine Tremarco, Stuart Townsend, Matthew Delamere

Genre

Woman Director Drama

Production Status

Complete

Production Company

A BFI, Channel Four Television, Strange Dog Productions film in association with Rouge Films, Merseyside Film Production Fund

Strange Dog

29 Rathbone Street
London
W1P 1AG

+44 (0)20 7636 5587

Sales Company

HanWay Films

24 Hanway Street
London
W1T 1UH

Visit Website

Page updates

This page was last updated on 12th May 2025. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.

Suggest amendments