Trainspotting:Key scene analysis

Under the Skin: Character analysis, 'the female' 

Under the Skin explores many themes such as gender, identity, morality and sexuality. Even though this film is a science fiction film all of these themes are, and continue to remain relevant to today's society. Although there a quite a few characters in this film, the main way in which these themes are present is through the main character-the female. Jonathan Glazer creates this character in a way that not only portrays the story line, but also the message that he is trying to get across.

It could be argued that the way in which Jonathan Glazer presents the female at the start is very different, if not unrecognizable from how she is presented towards the end of the film. At the beginning she is presented as a predictor, which could either come from Glazer's opinion of how woman are, or as a way playing on societies viewpoint of how woman are. 

In the earlier scenes Glazer's uses mise-en scene and Scarlette Johansson's performance as a way of conveying the female. In the scene were she takes her first victim the scene is darkly lit, almost to the stage that it his hard to so. With this being said it, the scene is still lit enough so that we are able to see the expression on the females face. This close up allows us to see how evil and yet so lifeless she looks. The way that she is starring into the direction of the camera creates a sense of tension and also a sense of fear. At this stage we are unaware of what she is going to do to the man and so it makes us as an audience both fascinated and fearful. 

It could be said, the scenes involving The Female taking the men into a dark space could either be the directors views on what women are in relation to men, or it could be the directors comment of how men in society perceive women. In the film, particularly at the beginning of the film The female is portrayed as a predator. This can be supported by the fact that all the men that are her victims seem quite vulnerable, whether that be due to the fact that they are young and single. 

During the middle of the film The female changes in the way that she is perceived by the audience. This shift happens when she meets the third victim, the one who has facial disfigurements. Although in this encounter she still comes across as quite predatory, she starts to show more signs of genuine human communication. After he tells her about him never having a girlfriend she lets it go silent for a while and then she says 'you have beautiful hands'. Although this is something that seems on the surface quite a simple comment this is something that clearly shows how she's starting to develop as a character. Following this she still proceeds onto take him into the dark place. However, unlike her other victims she goes on to let him go. From this it can be inferred that through this one counter with this man she has managed to acquire some form of human compassion.  

The last scene is used by the doctor has a way of portraying vulnerability. The Female is presented in this way through performance and mis-en-scene. Her vulnerability is mainly displayed through the fact that she is the one being chased. This could be directly be linked to the beginning of the film when the men are chasing her but she has full control. The lack of control that she has is displayed through her frantic running and her facial. From this it could be said that how different she is at the end of the film is a complete antithesis to how she is at the beginning.