Under the Skin: A Reflection of Humanity
Initially, most 2013 viewers of ‘Under the Skin’ didn’t know what to expect. The trailers for the film, which featured Scarlett Johansen and was described as a surreal sci fi thriller, implied that most of the film would contain scottish aliens. What was portrayed in the the film certainly involved autistic aliens, but what was portrayed was far more discomfortable than a simple invasion. The film focused on the pervasive absence of empathy, warming up the camera on its subjects.
Cinema, and Jonathan Glazer’s film in particular, expanded its definition, aiming for the unexplored. The film’s execution drives home the most pervasive yet unpleasant truth, and like most mirrors, some viewers would most disturbingly.
A Story Told in Silence
At first glance, Under the Skin appears to be about an unnamed alien, played by Scarlett Johansson, who lurks the streets of Glasgow in a white van and entices lonely men to their demise. They follow her into a black void drawn by desire, a place where they are submerged into a viscous abyss, their bodies ensnared by some unseen trap. There are no expositions, no voice-overs, and no explanations about where she came from or what she is doing there.
Glazer opts to use silence, movement, and repetition in order to convey feelings of alienation. The first half of the film feels mechanical — Johansson’s performance is robotic yet oddly hypnotic and every one of her motions is meticulously crafted. But, slowly, as she comes across human kindness, vulnerability, and some raw feelings, the cracks begin to surface. The predator becomes curious, and confusion shifts to fear.
In the end, the film becomes inward — not about an alien understanding humans, but about an outsider awakening to her own fragility. The title’s meaning is unveiled: to be human is something that exists “under the skin”, hidden beneath layers of flesh, desire, and fear.
Scarlett Johansson: Becoming the Alien
For Johansson, “Under the Skin” was a turning point. Having already established herself as one of the most recognizable faces in Hollywood with her roles in “Lost in Translation” and as Black Widow in the “Marvel” universe, she took a radical detour — a role which stripped away all the glamour, dialogue, and even the protection.
A lot of the film was shot guerrilla-style. Johansson drove a real van through the streets of Glasgow, Scotland, and approached random men who had no idea they were being filmed. Some of these interactions made it to the final cut. It was dangerous, unfiltered, and deeply immersive. Johansson wasn’t just playing an alien — she was living as one, moving through the streets where no one recognized her, and under dark wigs and drab clothes.
In interviews, she stated that the experience had her feeling emotionally raw. “There were moments I felt completely exposed,” she reflected. “I realized how invisible women can be, and how dangerous that invisibility can feel.” It is this paradox — an A-list star playing an unseen outsider — which gives the film its haunting authenticity.
Her alien manifestation’s subtle intrigue parallels Johansson’s identity exploration as a performer raised in the public eye. Each is a product of the male gaze and expectations and is trying to reclaim agency through conscious self-awareness. Under the Skin, in that sense, is more than just a performance for Scarlett Johansson; it is self-confrontation.
Jonathan Glazer’s Experiment in Fear and Empathy
Jonathan Glazer, who is known for Sexy Beast and Birth, spent almost ten years developing Under the Skin. Glazer used Faber’s novel just as a loose reference, and most of the book’s plot was ignored. Instead, Glazer concentrated on emotional textures, and in this sense, the film became an experiment in perception. With non-actors, hidden cameras, and unscripted interactions, Glazer was able to create a reality that bled into fiction.
The production was infamously difficult. Numerous potential backers withdrew, claiming it was “too abstract.” Earlier drafts of the screenplay followed the conventional outline of a sci-fi narrative with alien geopolitics and a lot of special effects. But Glazer kept on removing material until all that was left was the core of the narrative. “The less we explained,” he stated, “the more it meant.”
The black void sequences in which Johansson’s victims are consumed were filmed with a combination of innovative liquid stage techniques and digital effects. They are haunting and minimalist epics; a violently poetic representation of desire as a trap, beauty as a disguise, and vulnerability as a death sentence. Every artistic decision, from Mica Levi’s haunting score to the unflinching camera work, was intended to keep the audience trapped in the alien’s head — disoriented, watching, and detached.
Themes Hiding Beneath Flesh
Under the Skin is more than a work of science fiction. It is an allegory of empathy, gender, and existential awakening. The alien’s initial indifference and coldness reflects how society objectifies women: she is a collector of male desire, her body a weapon, and her power a mystery. But when she starts to feel, see her prey as humans, and her strength begins to disintegrate.
Tension has often been interpreted as a metaphor for Johansson’s own cinema journey: the Hollywood “bombshell” performing to richer, more complex roles. The film, in some ways, became a meditation on performance itself — on how a person’s identity can be a costume or the truth.
The story has more profound cultural dimensions. For many Indian viewers and critics who later came to the film via streaming, Under the Skin was about the loneliness of contemporary urban life. The story was also about the numbing of empathy in the busy, capitalist grind of urban centers. The alien’s solitary, aimless urban night wandering in the streets of Glasgow was a reflection of the many women who move about in isolation, invisible and exposed to danger, and, in a metaphor, the real world of Glasgow.
The Buzz, the Fear, and the Aftermath
The division in the audience was evident when the trailer was released. It was a soothing, horror, art cinema mix offering. Detached face of Johansson and the pulsating sound design of the trailer created a sense of dread. Fans were on the lookout for an enthralling thriller and were offered a philosophical puzzle instead.
During the Venice Film Festival, critics had contrasting opinions — some applauded the film, while others left the show early. A British tabloid described it as “pretentious nonsense,” while The Guardian called it “a masterpiece of alien empathy.” The polarized reviews only fueled curiosity — was the film Under the Skin a masterpiece, or was it a failed experiment?
Fan theories exploded online. Some viewers claimed the film was a representation of the evolution of empathy, while others claimed the final scene, where the alien burns its human disguise, illustrated a powerful statement on self-liberation. A few viewers even claimed the film was about sexual trauma, particularly the alien’s body being used and violated as a metaphor for the woman in violation.
When she discussed the readings, Johansson offered, “I think the film is about what you bring to it.” “It’s not about answers. It’s about seeing.”
A Production Like No Other
For Glazer, authenticity and realism meant filming under natural conditions, and, to Johansson’s emotional and logistical challenges, filming in the middle of busy, unpredictable weather, and minimal crew. Glazer’s crew, in the middle of filming, for the busy street scene, worked under the assumption of a surveillance scene, and, for the entire street scene, Johansson’s van, with crew hidden in the back, filmed street pedestrian reactions. Many of the men in the street scenes captured, and photographed, in the film, were tracked and legally photographed for the street scene, as were many of the men from the scene for the street scene.
Mica Levi’s score, her first for a feature film, became a phenomenon on her own. Composed of distorted string instruments and irregular rhythmic compositions, it encapsulated and emulated the sound of a composition attempting to imitate a human piece, but falling short. Levi described the score as “a heartbeat learning how to beat.”
And, with it all, the first U.S. audience test screenings for the film, described by many, were pure controversy. These screenings, with the film’s nudity and violence, were described as “discomfort”. Most audience members were shocked by Scarlett Johansson’s emotional and physical vulnerability, and her portrayal in the film, which, characters, was a stark contrast to the polished “studio roles” she was used to. Instead of scandal, the film earned her, and the role, critical acclaim for her “fearlessness.”
The Alien Who Became Human
The passage of time does little to fade the curious discussions that the film Under the Skin continues to evoke after 10 years. These discussions have to do with how and when one defines cinema and the more elusive concept of identity. The film was a milestone that contributed to Johansson’s career development, aiding her transition from a Hollywood starlet, to a more serious artist. For Director Glazer, it was the consolidation of his reputation as a filmmaker who perceives and portrays emotion differently; he does so not through the spoken word, but through the silences. For the audience, and especially those who, years after the film’s initial release, quietly and surreptitiously encountered it, Under the Skin, with all its peculiar strangeness, was a revelation of the very intimate and human reality that we deal with as a society. From all the alien-like coldness, all the strangeness, we feel the one reality: the beginning of feeling and suffering is the beginning of living.
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