Under the Skin, 2013

Jonathan Glazer’s very loose adaptation of the novel by Michel Faber is one of the most haunting science fiction films ever made. It’s also a film that defies appreciation-by-blurb, demanding closer attention and deeper exploration of what it’s doing than I have the time or space for here. In short, it stars Scarlett Johansson as an alien who assumes the appearance of a human woman and seduces men, luring them back to a place where they meet their demise in the most stunning and unsettling way imaginable.

Very short on dialogue, the film never explains what the larger purpose is behind these seductions, but through the visual language it cultivates, we see the protagonist develop a kind of connection with this species she’s come here to harvest. All too soon, as the skin she’s wearing makes her, for all appearances, a human woman, she finds herself suffering as so many human women do. It’s a profound exploration of the nature of identity, and of what it is to inhabit a body and all the baggage that comes with it. One of the best films of the 2010s in any genre, Under the Skin is another masterpiece from the maker of Birth and The Zone of Interest. – Carolyn Petit