Throughout this film i couldn't help but be reminded of American Psycho, both the book and the film. The stories share the exact same overriding theme; the complete and utter emptiness and shallowness of their social and thus emotional landscape leads the protagonist to extreme and violent depths in order to find something that makes them feel anything.
The scene that really stuck out and made this clear for me was the dinner scene. Sat with her wealthy, pretentious work peers or 'friends', discussions include such fascinating topics as 'which city in the world has the best architecture?', which leads one of the group to propose Paris, and then enter a long monologue on why; 'architecture that is so beautiful, but most importantly, consistent' (paraphrased). Just one sound byte of an entire scene of conversation that hemorrhages vapidity and blandness. Meanwhile Esther, in the midst of this, struggles to control her urge to self-harm - and begins cutting herself beneath the table.
In American Psycho, it was this same vapidity and emptiness of his world that lead Patrick Bateman to experiment with murder and extreme violence. In Dans Ma Peau, we see the exact same, but this time that same primal urge to violence that seems to be awakened in their emotionally desolate worlds, is turned inwards instead of out.
Both films seem to suggest that the combined emotional effect of vanity and superficiality creates an emotional gulf that only violence can fill, be it inwards or outwards.
The scene that really stuck out and made this clear for me was the dinner scene. Sat with her wealthy, pretentious work peers or 'friends', discussions include such fascinating topics as 'which city in the world has the best architecture?', which leads one of the group to propose Paris, and then enter a long monologue on why; 'architecture that is so beautiful, but most importantly, consistent' (paraphrased). Just one sound byte of an entire scene of conversation that hemorrhages vapidity and blandness. Meanwhile Esther, in the midst of this, struggles to control her urge to self-harm - and begins cutting herself beneath the table.
In American Psycho, it was this same vapidity and emptiness of his world that lead Patrick Bateman to experiment with murder and extreme violence. In Dans Ma Peau, we see the exact same, but this time that same primal urge to violence that seems to be awakened in their emotionally desolate worlds, is turned inwards instead of out.
Both films seem to suggest that the combined emotional effect of vanity and superficiality creates an emotional gulf that only violence can fill, be it inwards or outwards.