The Reflecting Skin (1990)

Director:

Philip Ridley

Writer:

Philip Ridley (written by)

Release Date:

9 November 1990 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Sometimes terrible things happen quite naturally

Plot:

A young boy tries to cope with rural life circa 1950s and his fantasies become a way to interpret events...

Plot Keywords:

Vampire | Boy | Child Molestation | Dead Children | Death Of Parent

Awards:

6 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Viggo Mortensen	...	Cameron Dove
Lindsay Duncan	...	Dolphin Blue
Jeremy Cooper	...	Seth Dove
Sheila Moore	...	Ruth Dove
Duncan Fraser	...	Luke Dove
David Longworth	...	Joshua
Robert Koons	...	Sheriff Ticker
David Bloom	...	Deputy
Evan Hall	...	Kim
Codie Lucas Wilbee	...	Eben
Sherry Bie	...	Cassie
Jason Wolff	...	Cadillac Driver (as Jason Wolfe)
Dean Hass	...	Passenger
Guy Buller	...	Passenger
Jason Brownlow	...	Passenger
Jeff Walker	...	Adam Blue
Joyce Robbins	...	Twin (as Joyce)
Jacqueline Robbins	...	Twin
Debi Greenawdt	...	First Woman
Sandra Redmond	...	Second Woman
Walt Healy	...	Old Man

Directed by
Philip Ridley

Writing credits
Philip Ridley		(written by)

Produced by
Dominic Anciano	....	producer
Jim Beach	....	executive producer
Ray Burdis	....	producer
Les Kimber	....	line producer: Canada
Diane Roberts	....	co-producer (as Di Roberts)

Original Music by
Nick Bicât

Cinematography by
Dick Pope		(photographed by)

Film Editing by
Scott Thomas

Casting by
Therese Reinsch		(as Therese Reinsch)
Victoria Thomas		(as Vickie Thomas)

Art Direction by
Rick Roberts

Set Decoration by
Andrea French

Costume Design by
Joanne Hansen		(uncredited)

Makeup Department
Iloe Flewelling	....	hair stylist
Al Magallon	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Les Kimber	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Douglas Berquist	....	second assistant director
Don French	....	first assistant director
Andrew Price	....	third assistant director

Art Department
Alfred A. Arndt	....	construction coordinator (as Alf Arndt)
Robert Barry	....	carpenter
Janice Blackie-Goodine	....	assistant set decorator (as Janice Blackie)
Calvin Boze	....	assistant art director
Robert Everett	....	carpenter
George Griffiths	....	painter
Bruce Hosick	....	property master
J.A. Johnson	....	painter (as J. A. Johnson)
Ken Merrelle	....	assistant property master (as Ken Merrells)
Ken Wills	....	set dresser
David Trainor	....	prop builder (uncredited)

Sound Department
Arabella Hutter	....	assistant sound editor
Alan Knight	....	sound editor
George Tarrant	....	sound recordist
Aad Wirtz	....	dubbing mixer
Kelly Zombor	....	boom operator (as Kelly Zombar)
Garry Fiferman	....	sound re-recordist (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Lee Routly	....	special effects

Stunts
Bill Ferguson	....	fight arranger

Camera and Electrical Department
Thomas Best	....	camera department trainee
Gary Buffie	....	electrician
Douglas Curran	....	stills (as Doug Curran)
Theo Eglseder	....	first assistant camera
Jim Gregor	....	gaffer
Chris Hassen	....	second assistant camera
Wayne MacConnell	....	camera operator (as Wayne Macconnell)
Chris Merrells	....	grip
Frank Merrells	....	key grip
T. Dean Merrells	....	best boy
Dick Pope	....	camera operator
Carey Toner	....	dolly grip

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Carol Case	....	cutter
B.J. Elliott	....	assistant wardrobe (as B. J. Elliott)
Joanne Hansen	....	wardrobe mistress
Stephanie Woods	....	seamstress

Editorial Department
Larry Becker	....	second assistant editor
Richard Benwick	....	assistant editor (as Rick Benwick)
Patrick O'Neill	....	assistant editor (as Pat O'Neill)

Music Department
The Chamber Orchestra of London	....	music performers (as London Chamber Orchestra)
Keith Grant	....	music recordist
Christopher Warren-Green	....	music director (as Christopher Warren Green)

Transportation Department
Cy Barry	....	transportation coordinator
Diana Brockhurst	....	driver
Jack Cundy	....	driver
Rick Garbutt	....	driver: camera truck (as A. Richard Garbutt)
Blake Patterson	....	driver

Other crew
Mike Ashwell	....	executive: for Jim Beach (as Michael Ashwell)
Karen Bédard	....	script supervisor (as Karen Bedard)
Gwen Cundy	....	production receptionist
Kaye Grieve	....	unit publicity
Nancy Gullett	....	production coordinator
Laurie Hawes	....	production accountant
Mary Hosick	....	unit nurse
Kim Kennedy	....	production assistant
Michael Larkins	....	production accountant
Glenn Miller	....	security
Brenda Terning	....	production assistant
Joe Thornton	....	location manager
Abel Urbina	....	production assistant
Emma Ward	....	assistant to the producers
Bob Waugh	....	security: Exclusive Security
Richard Morrison	....	title designer (uncredited)

Production Companies

• British Screen Productions (present) (as British Screen)
• BBC Films (present)
• Zenith Entertainment (present) (as Zenith)
• Fugitive Features (production)
• Bialystock & Bloom Limited (produced in association with)
• Téléfilm Canada (produced with the participation of) (as Telefilm Canada)
• Ontario Film Development Corporation (produced with the participation of)
• National Film Trustee Company

Distributors

• Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm (1991) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Forum Distribution (1990) (France) (theatrical)
• Kulturföreningen Kedjan (1991) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Miramax Films (1991) (USA) (theatrical)
• Virgin Vision (1990) (UK) (theatrical)
• atlas Film (1991) (Germany) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2009) (Germany) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Alliance Atlantis Video (1992) (Canada) (video)
• Echo Bridge Home Entertainment (2011) (USA) (DVD)
• Live Home Video (1992) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Triangelfilm (1996) (Sweden) (VHS)
• Virgin Vision (1992) (UK) (VHS)
• Vídeo Arte (199?) (Brazil) (VHS)
• atlas Film (1991) (Germany) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Premiere Catering  catering
• Exclusive Security  security
• Twickenham Film Studios  music mixed at (as Twickenham Studios)
• Ladbroke Films Dubbing  sound post production (as Ladbroke Films)
• De Lane Lea  sound post production
• Prominent Studios  cutting rooms
• Plume Partners  titles
• PPI Camera Corporation  camera equipment (as PPI Vancouver)
• M.T.M Equipment  lighting equipment (as MTM)
• Samfreight  freight
• Point to Point  travel
• Sapex Scripts  post-production script services (uncredited)

Also Known As:

MPAA:

Rated R for intense violent behavior, and for sensuality

Runtime:

96 min | Canada:115 min (Ontario)

Country:

UK | Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Australia:M | Canada:14+ (Ontario) | Portugal:M/12 | Finland:K-16 | Germany:16 (f) | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Alberta, Canada

Company:

British Screen Productions

Quotes:

Cameron Dove:Why don't you go play with your friends?
Seth Dove:They're all dead.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Ancient Evil 2: Guardian of the Underworld (2005) (V)

A masterpiece from the 90's

British author and writer Philip Ridley has done very little in the field of cinema, but what there is, is more than interesting and great, especially in the case of this debut of his, Reflecting Skin (1990). The film stars Jeremy Cooper as a some 10 year old boy named Seth Dove, who lives in the rural areas of America in the 1950's, when the WWII is still very freshly in minds. Seth has friends whom he plays with like boys normally do, but it seems like they are always very cold and wicked towards each other, and that something isn't quite right. Seth's father and mother are also more than ominous and weird. Soon Seth's older brother arrives in home from WWII in which he served during the bombing of Japan. Brother Cameron is played by Viggo Mortensen, and first he and Seth seem to be very close with each other, but not for long. Also, a weird lady lives near Seth's house and the lady - despite being very attractive - is also very bizarre and threatening, and almost like a vampire in a fairy tales, which Seth's father happens to read all the time. There's no need to tell more about the plot, you've got it by this point that this film isn't going to be any optimistic and positive pack of 90 minutes entertainment. This is nearly as disturbing as possible, and has characters and settings which would make (and hopefully have made or will make) David Lynch give a huge hug to Philip.

Reflecting Skin is the kind of film a director manages to do perhaps just once during his career. It tries to reach the top which is so high, it is almost impossible to succeed or at least succeed more than once in subsequent films. Reflecting Skin - I have really come to this conclusion - really succeeds and how fantastically it does! I knew this film will be a tough and challenging one, but it was more, when I finally FINALLY managed to find it and watch it.

The film has absolutely zero likable characters or characters who can be described as good or good willing. They are all bad, others more and others less. Others may have had an opportunity not to become that way due to their young age, while others are so corrupted and rotten, they should have been 'saved' when they were still vulnerable kids themselves. This film shows the kind of things about childhood and growing up many parents wouldn't probably even dare to thing about, but still I think this should be seen by every parent who is going to have or already has had a child who is waiting to be raised as a decent and undisturbed human being.

But what about Seth, since he is also very mean and selfish at many points? I think it is among the points and things which make this film so powerful and merciless, because there's absolutely no hope for the characters of the film, they're gone/destroyed for ever and others just can't take it and go completely insane and self destuctive. But there's hope for us, the viewers, who accept the film's challenging subjects and things from our everyday life. This film teaches, shows, enlightens and horrifies us as powerfully as it makes us wonder the visual beauty and settings of the film.

The visual eye of Ridley's is great and wonderful, and Reflecting Skin proved it for the first time in big screen. The collaboration of Ridley and cinematographer Dick Pope (The Way of the Gun) is among the greatest I've seen for long time. The fields and rural settings are so gorgeous and the colors in which they bathe really fill this film with cinematic magic, which is also present in Ridley's The Passion of Darkly Noon (1995) which was photographed by John de Borman. Darkly Noon fails a little as it hasn't got characters as deep as they should, but visually Reflecting Skin and Darkly Noon are equally brilliant and stunning. Due to the much stronger and disturbing emotional content and elements of Reflecting Skin, the visual beauty naturally gives a huge contrast to the experience, and also a goal which should be reached by the film's characters, unless it wasn't already too late for them.

Music is very important element in Cinema, and Reflecting Skin shines on that level, too. Nick Bicât composed both Darkly Noon and Reflecting Skin, but the soundtrack in the latter really stayed into my mind after the first viewing. It is very close to Clint Mansell's unique power in Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream's (2000) soundtrack. Aronofsky's film would not be as powerful without Mansell's heart stopping and breaking music, and that is also the case with Reflecting Skin. The final image and last 2 minutes of Reflecting Skin would be extremely intense without the music, but now they are perfectly harrowing and powerful, thanks to the talent and gift of Nick Bicât.

These ultra powerful and harrowing films usually have at least one element in common: the final scene, sequence or image, which usually takes the viewer as far as possible and truly tests the tolerance, without never being gratuitous or exploitative. Reflecting Skin's ending is heart breakingly harrowing, mostly because of the fact that Seth has never given clues of something like this during the film, and thus it comes pretty unexpectedly, but still very understandably, as it all tightens the film's message and theme for the last time. The ending is very powerful and so is the artist behind this film.

Ridley has also written the screenplay for Peter Medak's The Krays on same year (1990), but that film has different themes and is not as important and personal as Reflecting Skin, but still The Krays is recommended for those interested in Ridley. It is very sad and weird that Ridley hasn't done anything in the field of cinema for many years (as far as I know, Darkly Noon is so far the last film he has done), because it would be so great if there was some future projects and cinema plans for the director. I really hope Ridley would continue making films one day, because world needs his kind of film makers.

I can't say anything which would give Reflecting Skin less than 10/10 because it lacks all the things - mostly little too shallow characters - which make The Krays and Darkly Noon a little less effective and striking works. Reflecting Skin is a true masterpiece but only for those who can accept and stand extremely depressing and harrowing images, situations, human destinies and over all atmosphere, and most importantly, honest and uncompromising cinema.