Beneath the Skin (film)
| Beneath the Skin | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Cecelia Condit |
| Written by | Cecelia Condit |
| Starring | Jill Sands Jennifer Dunegan Marian Condit Mary Jo Toles Stephen Vogel Robert Biederman Lisa Kohn Judith Allston |
| Music by | Karen Skladany, Alice Malloy |
Release date |
|
Running time | 11:30 |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Beneath the Skin is a 1981 short film created by Cecelia Condit. It follows a woman's thoughts and musings towards a recent incident in which she discovered that her boyfriend was hiding the body of his ex-girlfriend in his closet.
Background
[edit]Skin is based on a real-life incident that occurred in Condit's life when she dated Ira Einhorn, also known as the Unicorn Killer. Ira had murdered his ex-girlfriend, Holly Maddux, and hidden her corpse in his closet.[1] Condit, who began dating Einhorn, never found Maddux's corpse due to being on medication that hindered her sense of smell.[2]
Condit considers it to be part of the "Jill Sands trilogy", which refers to three of her films which star the actress Jill Sands; Beneath the Skin, Possibly in Michigan, and Not a Jealous Bone.[citation needed]
Plot
[edit]The movie follows the narration an unnamed woman recounting a series of events surrounding her four-year relationship with an unnamed man, and how the corpse of his ex-girlfriend was discovered in his apartment after other tenants began to complain of a pungent smell.
Reception
[edit]The film was noted for its humorous play with the macabre.[3][4][5] Its feminist approach was also commented on.[6][7][8][9]
Some people have made connections between Skin and Possibly in Michigan, another film created by Condit. A popular theory is that Michigan is a subtle retelling of Skin where Condit imagines a scenario where she avoids a dangerous, cannibalistic man and kills him to avenge his female victims.
References
[edit]- ^ "Who Was the 'Unicorn Killer'? How a 1960s Activist-Turned-Murderer Evaded Extradition for 23 Years". Inside Edition. 2020-04-09.
- ^ Breda, Alix (2017-11-29). "Cecelia Condit's Body of Becoming: Women and the Dark Forest of Dreams". Another Gaze: A Feminist Film Journal. Retrieved 2023-09-19.
- ^ Intermix (Organization), Electronic Arts (1991). Artists' Video: An International Guide. Cross River Press. ISBN 978-1-55859-357-2.
- ^ Renov, Michael; Suderburg, Erika (1996). Resolutions: Contemporary Video Practices. U of Minnesota Press. ISBN 978-0-8166-2330-3.
- ^ Higgins, Steven; N.Y.), Museum of Modern Art (New York (2006). Still Moving: The Film and Media Collections of The Museum of Modern Art. The Museum of Modern Art. ISBN 978-0-87070-326-3.
- ^ Ravenal, John B. (2002). Outer & Inner Space: Pipilotti Rist, Shirin Neshat, Jane & Louise Wilson, and the History of Video Art. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. ISBN 978-0-917046-61-2.
- ^ The Independent. Foundation for Independent Video and Film. 1985.
- ^ Woman's Art Journal. Woman's Art. 1982.
- ^ Straayer, Arny Christine (1990). Sexual Subjects: Signification, Viewership. and Pleasure in Film and Video.
External links
[edit]- Beneath the Skin on the artist's official Vimeo channel
- IMDb