Division of Languages and Literature Events

Professor Paul Julian Smith

This lecture begins by placing Almodóvar's eighteenth feature in the context of the audiovisual scene in Spain on its release, calling attention to Almodóvar's exceptionalism in his own country. It goes on to offer a close formal analysis of the film and to identify its connections with the rest of the director's corpus. These echoes persist in spite of the fact The Skin I Live In is new for the director in its overt identification with the horror genre and in its status as adaptation of a pre-existing novel. Finally the talk suggests that The Skin I Live In constitutes a series of metaphors for the filmmaking process, not the least of which are the sewing of fabric and the suturing of skin, analogous to the editing of the celluloid that Almodóvar employs here for the last time.


Paul Julian Smith is Distinguished Professor of Spanish at The Graduate Center, CUNY. He is an internationally recognized critic in Hispanic cultural studies. Author of Desire Unlimited: The Cinema of Pedro Almodóvar (Verso, 1994 and 2000), and Laws of Desire: Questions of Homosexuality in Spanish Writing and Film 1960-1990 (Oxford University Press, 1992). Smith's research also focuses on Mexico, including a book on the groundbreaking film Amores Perros (BFI, 2003). He was a juror at the Morelia Film Festival in Mexico in 2009, and is a regular contributor to Film Quarterly and Sight and Sound. 

Please note:
- The lecture location has changde to Olin 102.  
- There is a special screening of the film on May 8th at 7pm in Preston Theater (110).

Please join us and encourage students to attend!