The Skin I Live In (La piel que habito)

THE SKIN I LIVE IN

Help me with the dumbwaiter.

Open it.

Take this.

Marilia, are you there?

Yes.

Send up more sackcloth and double-sided tape.

I can't get it until tomorrow.

OK.

I also wanted a needle, thread and scissors.

You're joking, right?

Yeah.

Our face identifies us.

For burn victims, saving their lives is not enough.

They need to have a face even if it's from a corpse.

A face with features...

so they can gesticulate.

I have participated in

three out of the nine face transplants

carried out in the world...

and they were the most moving experiences of my life.

Good...

For a shapeless mass to acquire the features that will give it expression...

we have to mold the muscles...

articulating the facial musculature with the corresponding nerve endings.

MATERNITY HOSPITAL

Vera, I've brought you some opium.

OPERATING THEATER

Can you breathe more gently?

If you want me to stop breathing, kill me.

Don't talk rubbish.

How long will all this last?

Your skin is softer than I tohught.

If you don't end it, I will.

If you'd wanted to kill yourself...

you'd have tried to cut your jugular.

In any case...

I didn't know your skin was so soft.

Here it is...

taken from the animal while it was still alive.

Thank you.

Now there won't be any more burns.

You said that a year ago.

I was hasty.

Tell me if it burns you.

No.

And now?

No.

Now!

I have given the name "Gal"...

to the artificial skin I've been working on...

in recent years.

Tell me if the mosquito bites you.

This skin is resistant to every insect bite...

No.

...which means a natural barrier to

...malaria, for example.

Naturally, I've carried out a rigorous quality control...

on the tissues implanted in mammals...

specifically, in athymic mice...

and the results...

...have been spectacular.

This leads me to suppose

they would be equally positive...

in human mammals.

What does the name Gal mean? Are they initials?

That was my wife's name.

She was burned to death in a car crash.

In you presentation you stated...

that the skin is resistant to insect bites and could prevent malaria.

What makes you think that?

The artificial skin is much harder than human skin...

and it smells different.

It's been proven that the malaria mosquito...

distinguishes human skin by the smell.

Gal smells different and repels it.

Let's see if we can get rid of him.

That isn't enough.

How did you toughen the skin?

Excuse me.

Let's go somewhere quieter.

There's only one way to toughen skin.

By mutating it.

Yes, that's what I did.

Transgenesis.

Yes. I transferred genetic information...

from a pig's cell to a human cell.

A pig's cell?

It's much stronger than ours.

You're insane!

You know the application of transgenetic therepy...

in humans is completely forbidden!

Yes, I do.

And, forgive me, but it seems the ultimate paradox.

We intervene in everything around us...

meat, clothes, vegetables, fruit, everything!

Why not use scientific advances to improve our species?

You know how many diseases...

we could cure with transgenesis?

Or the genetic malformations that could be avoided?

Don't go on!

I know the list by heart...

and I think of it every day.

But even so...

I must forbid you from investigating further...

or I'll be forced to report you...

to the scientific community.

Over and above what you or I may think...

the bioethics are absolutely clear about this.

Don't worry. Gal was a personal adventure.

I did it in memory of my wife...

and solely to extend my knowledge.

I remember...

the first time you told me about this experiment.

It seemed like a dream then.

And it still is.

The president has ordered me to give it up, indefinitely.

Shit, and it'll be the business of the century.

It will be, but we won't benefit from it.

If you give up research, will you go back to surgery?

Your patients will be delighted.

I don't know.

We've got a waiting list for operations in "El Cigarral".

- I'm leaving. - Wait, so am I.

Do you like what you see?

What do you mean?

Is there anything you want to improve?

No.

I don't want to improve anything.

Can I take it I'm finished?

Yes...

and you can boast of having the best skin in the world.

And now what?

Now I'm going to light this opium pipe...

and smoke it.

I mean us.

Me.

What are you going to do with me?

I don't know. I'll think about it.

When?

If you keep on, I'm leaving!

Couldn't we just live?

Live together.

Live together?

- How? - Like everyone.

You and I aren't like everyone.

Look on it as another of your experiments.

Living together as equals.

That's it!

Here.

I could set fire to the house with this.

I'm yours.

I'm made to measure for you.

And you've just told me that you like me.

Did I say that?

I know you look at me.

Since you brought me here,

we practically live in the same room.

In this pocket.

Carnival celebrations are being held on the Gran Via.

You shouldn't have used her face.

If I'd been here, I'd have warned you of the danger.

There's a resemblance, but she isn't the same.

The resemblance is too strong.

Have you thought what to do with her?

No.

You'll have to kill her or keep her hidden here forever.

Why all the hurry to get rid of her?

If you don't kill her, she'll kill herself.

Stories repeat themselves.

No! Not this one!

Vera is stronger, a born survivor.

You're sick.

If you don't get rid of her...

what you feel now will end up devouring you, like a cancer.

When you realize, it'll be too late.

How are you so sure of what I feel if even I don't know?

Because I know you as if I'd borne you.

Fire the servants and don't hire anyone.

What do you want?

To see my mother. I haven't seen her for ten years.

If she was a servant...

they've just left and won't be back.

I saw them, but she wasn't one of them.

My mother is prettier.

Go away or I'll call the police.

Zeca!

I'm your son, Zeca.

How dare you come here!

Open the door!

It's Carnival. We're both far from Bahia and I'm homesick.

Look! Like the costume I wore when I was little. Remember?

Little tiger!

I just want to see you for a minute.

Very well, but then you leave.

Whatever you say.

Follow the path and keep going through the second gate.

How did you find us?

I've been in Spain a while. I saw Robert in the paper.

He was giving a...