“Haunted by his wife’s death, Dr. Robert Ledgard (Antonio Banderas) lives with a single loyal servant (Almodóvar mainstay Marisa Paredes) and a prisoner named Vera (Elena Anaya), who’s subject to his experiments as he attempts to develop burn-resistant skin. Slowly, over sumptuous visuals of his sleek, ultra-modern surroundings and a creeping score by frequent collaborator Alberto Iglesias, the story unfurls to show us how Ledgard ended up here; a provocative combination of lust, violence, grief, creation, and unsettling takes on gender and identity that manages to evoke Georges Franju’s Eyes Without a Face and the entirety of David Cronenberg’s oeuvre. Buckle in for a gorgeous, chilling, and very Almodóvar take on body horror.“ —Maija Kappler, Toronto International Film Festival
