I'm sorry you feel that way Sara. The film has always polarised people, you either love it or hate it. Yes, everything in The Reflecting Skin seems random and unconnected, and the characters are all larger than life and grotesque, but I assure you there is a point, even if it seems very vague at first glance.
Ridley is trying to show us a film from a child's point of view (hence why everything is built up larger than life, from the music to the performances to the scenery) where Seth is bombarded with so much disturbing information and no-one to guide him through it (as they are all too busy trying to escape their own inner hell).
The film is a metaphor for, among many other things, what Freud called "the violence of childhood" - or "the nightmare of childhood" as Dolphin puts it here - i.e. how a child is literally assaulted with information everyday its poor mind can't handle, and so they put up defences to try to cope with it. In The Reflecting Skin, the most obvious example is Seth's believing Dolphin to be a vampire; she isn't really, but it's the only way he can process the very alienness about her, her femininity for starters.
And I'm sure someone can follow this up with a completely different point, and therein lies the appeal to the film. Its refusal to offer a pat explanation for everything offers an infinite realm of possibilties for us fans to discuss the film and numerous ideas connected to it. I just wrote my university dissertation (for Americans: college thesis) on the film, and I know for a fact I'm by far not the first to do so.
Sorry for the long post, but I genuinely hope this helps you see the film in a new light. It's a hard film, and I don't blame you for being confused by it. But please try to understand we don't simply like it because it's "hemerhoid fetish porn", hehe!
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bpach86
17 years ago
Wow! I liked reading your post...and to think you wrote your dissertation on this movie. For some reason this film popped into my head this morning. I saw it way before Google, etc. So I decided to find out what I could about the movie and your post was the most helpful. I remember at times during the movie there were these women dressed in religious garb walking I think with doves. And what I could make of this was that this was symbolic for something, but that is as far as I got. And could you tell me more about the angel. I remember Seth and his buddy taking care of it in the barn and hiding it in the hay. Was this also a symbol for something? I guess those are the 2 things that stood out most. Also the very last scene when Seth is on his knees in the field and screaming as he grasps at the ground and throws his hands in the air from the utter destruction of his life....I thought this was a very powerful scene and captured the moment.
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animal062
17 years ago
just saw this film first time tonight. buddy (whom i have a movie affinity with) has long claimed it as one of his favorites. aside from the obvious 'loss of innocence'/'child abuse'/'nightmare of childhood' themes it also occurred to me that there seemed to be a strong thread of the loss of american innocence (e.g., atom bomb, decay of values, etc.) don't know if i was reading more into it than i should be, but i think it is a film i will revisit many times because i sense that each time you watch it some other interpretations will make themselves evident. might also highly depend on your mood when watching as to how you will interpret it at a given moment. all the characters scared the crap out of me...
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djsmokingjam
17 years ago
Animal, I definitely agree with you about it about the film referencing the "loss of American innocence". Remember the United States is to this very day the only country that has used the atomic bomb, and that happened around the time the film is set. (Though the timeframe is left ambiguous, but it's roughly intended to be the early-1950s.)
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mc7791
17 years ago
well this thread has clarified some of the film for me but even if it is the loss of innocence after watching it years back I still dont understand it and felt that I had wasted my time watching it.
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save_alf
14 years ago
the usa isn't the only one to use an 'atomic' bomb. the french, the russians, the english(?) have all tested nuclear weapons.
i would agree that it is about the loss of american innocence too, interesting scene with seth when he meets his brother, he is running through the field with the american flag. next time we see it is when kim is getting kidnapped (and later his corpse wrapped in the flag, which is very vietnam). maybe a bit obvious but still very effective.
Cameron's illness is also a good metaphor for the loss of american innocence.
i read a post i these forums from someone saying that the director didn't want to show any blood on the bodies, it got me thinking of scenes which did have blood in them, (cameron's hands, the frog) and was wondering if there is any significance to these particular moments given the director was so selective about showing blood. thoughts?
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tucoify
10 years ago
"the usa isn't the only one to use an 'atomic' bomb. the french, the russians, the english(?) have all tested nuclear weapons."
Of course only the usa used it. "Using" here clearly referred to the genuine purpose it was made for, being dropped at a city full of people.
Use of A-Bombs lies not in detonating in vacant deserts.
The nations testing and developing this weapon, aiming at the ABILITY to use it, if necessary.
Hard to understand it wasnt self-explaining what was ment here.
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