DANS MA PEAU [IN MY SKIN]

WEDNESDAY 29 OCTOBER AT 7:30PM UGC SHAFTESBURY AVE SCREEN 1

Country France Running Time 93 mins Format 35mm Director/S'play Marina de Van Producer Laurence Farenc DoP Pierre Barougier Cast Marina de Van, Laurent Lucas, L»a Drucker, Thibault de Montalembert Print Source Tartan Films E cbarwick@metro-tartan.co.uk

Esther's life is coming together beautifully. She's just been promoted at the public relations firm where she previously freelanced and her handsome and successful boyfriend is talking about settling down. At a company party Esther stumbles in the garden, gashing her leg. Though she thinks nothing of her injury at the time, in following days Esther becomes increasingly aware, infatuated, and finally, obsessed with her body. Hiding her disturbing behaviour from all who are close to her she mutilates and makes love to her own flesh saving small bits as relics of her animalistic indulgences. Torn between her inexplicable cravings and promise of a perfect life, Esther lies to her lover and shuns the demands of co-workers in her compulsion to satiate her bloody addiction. Pierre Barougier's camerawork caresses and frames the body in a wholly sensual albeit nonsexual way while chilling music from The Esbjorn Svensson Trio complements the film's burning intensity as much as the breathless spells of silence. Through grisly yet tastefully rendered scenes writer/director/star Marina de Van quietly derides the emptiness of modern success and frankly asserts a unique reaction to such discontent in her first feature film. DS

Marina de Van has earned festival accolades with shorts including Psy Show (1999), Alias (1998), Retention (1997), and Bien Sous Tous Rapports (1996). A graduate of the Sorbonne and FEMIS, de Van has collaboated with fellow graduate Francois Ozon to co-write shorts 8 Femmes (2002) and Under The Sand (2001). This is her first feature.