What lies beneath: Fabric and embodiment in Almodovar’s The Skin I Live In

Abstract

This article investigates discourses about fabric and embodiment in Pedro Almodovar’s The Skin I Live In (2011). The aim of the study is to consider how the film’s narrative and mise-en-scène positions fabric as an expression of corporeal vulnerability and subjectivity. Drawing primarily on Warwick and Cavallero’s notion of ‘permeable boundaries’, in the relationship between clothing and bodies, this article argues that Almodovar has interwoven motifs of somatic integrity and dissolution in relation to skin, textiles and film. This investigation proposes that The Skin I Live In offers a compelling interplay of surfaces that is a valuable resource to reflect further on the symbiotic connections between corporeal materiality and fabric.