Product Details

• Actors: Samantha Morton, Claire Rushbrook, Rita Tushingham, Christine Tremarco, Stuart Townsend
• Format: Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Arrow Entertainment
• VHS Release Date: December 4, 2001
• Run Time: 85 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305604193
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #442,110 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

From The New Yorker

Written and directed by Carine Adler, this British film suggests that girls can use sex as a way of avoiding their feelings as much as boys can. Nineteen-year-old Iris (well played by Samantha Morton) regards twenty-four-year-old Rose (Claire Rushbrook), married and pregnant, as the favored daughter. When their mum (Rita Tushingham, in a brief but effective appearance) suddenly dies, Iris leaves her boyfriend, moves into a shabby room, and starts picking up male strangers for anonymous sex. It's her form of scummy solace, and yet it's never clear whether she does so out of some primitive longing or as an act of self-annihilation. Like a lot of movies with interestingly female sensibilities, this one is inchoate-mysteriously bashful about its characters' motivations and emotionally overwrought. It's worth seeing for the performances, though, including Rushbrook's subtle portrait of Iris's more quietly grief-stricken sibling. -Daphne Merkin
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping "Under the Skin" gets Under your Skin, September 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Under the Skin [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Samantha Morton (Woody Allen's "Sweet and Lowdown" with Sean Penn) gives and mesmerizing performance about a woman who, unable to handle her mother's death, goes on a promiscuious sexual tirade with many anyonomous partners. Great Movie! Also stars Rita Tushingham, Claire Rushbrook and Stuart Townsend. A must see!

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A remarkeable debut from Samantha Morton, July 1, 2001

By 

Gordon Skene - See all my reviews

This review is from: Under the Skin [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Emotionally wrenching, gripping, highly charged, yet thoroughly engaging film featuring the debut performance of Samantha Morton. Credit must also go to Carine Adler, the director who displayed a wonderful sense of restraint and pacing and was able to fully explore the complexities of Morton's character (as well as everyone else) without having to lapse into ... or broad-strokes. This film is everything a film such as "Girl Interrupted" wasn't. Quite simply, everyone is laid out in three dimensions and it's up to the audience to decide who is right or not. I was completely gripped by this film and left it feeling a sense of release and satisfaction to having witnessed it. Clearly, if directors like Adler continue their fine work, and actors like Samantha Morton (as likewise, the rest of the cast) continue doing projects like this, we're in for a very rewarding period of film making. Rita Tushingham is, as always, a pleasure to see work - although she has a small part, it is by no means wasted. Hers is a riveting presence and she sets the tone for the action to follow. This movie fairly bursts with energy while at the same time showing incredible restraint. In short, it is brilliant.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A remarkeable debut from Samantha Morton, July 2, 2001

By 

Gordon Skene - See all my reviews

This review is from: Under the Skin [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Emotionally wrenching, gripping, highly charged, yet thoroughly engaging film featuring the debut performance of Samantha Morton. Credit must also go to Carine Adler, the director who displayed a wonderful sense of restraint and pacing and was able to fully explore the complexities of Morton's character (as well as everyone else) without having to lapse into stereotype or broad-strokes. This film is everything a film such as "Girl Interrupted" wasn't. Quite simply, everyone is laid out in three dimensions and it's up to the audience to decide who is right or not. I was completely gripped by this film and left it feeling a sense of release and satisfaction to having witnessed it. Clearly, if directors like Adler continue their fine work, and actors like Samantha Morton (as likewise, the rest of the cast) continue doing projects like this, we're in for a very rewarding period of film making. Rita Tushingham is, as always, a pleasure to see work - although she has a small part, it is by no means wasted. Hers is a riveting presence and she sets the tone for the action to follow. This movie fairly bursts with energy while at the same time showing incredible restraint. In short, it is brilliant.