Under the Skin (1997 film)

Under the Skin
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Carine Adler
Written by	Carine Adler
Starring	Samantha Morton Claire Rushbrook Matthew Delamere Rita Tushingham Stuart Townsend
Cinematography	Barry Ackroyd
Edited by	Ewa J. Lind
Music by	Ilona Sekacz
Distributed by	British Film Institute
Release dates	21 August 1997 (1997-08-21) (EIFF) 28 November 1997 (1997-11-28) (United Kingdom)
Running time	79 minutes[1]
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	$1 million (estimated)[2]
Box office	$140,254[3]

Under the Skin is a 1997 British drama film written and directed by Carine Adler and starring Samantha Morton and Claire Rushbrook. It tells the story of two sisters coping with the sudden death of their mother. While one sister, Rose, manages to get on with her life, younger sister Iris goes down a self-destructive path in which she loses herself in one-night-stands and anonymous sexual encounters.

Adler based her ideas for the script on forensic psychiatrist Estela V. Welldon's book Mother, Madonna, Whore, which argues that whereas men tend to externalize their grieving processes through anger, women internalize them via paths which can incorporate such extreme reactions as self-harm and promiscuity.^[4]

Morton was widely praised for her performance and the film won top critics’ prizes at various film festivals, including the award for Best British Film at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.