Despite excellent camerawork and smooth continuity, some people may still find this epic, three-hour story of incestual depravity and human inertia difficult to watch with enthusiasm. Director and leading actress Vibeke Lokkeberg had two preceding hits to her credit, Kamilla and The Chieftain. She plays Vilde, a woman living on the dramatic North Sea coast of Norway in 1895. She has been sexually abused by her stepfather Sigurd (Keve Hjelm) since she was a child, and the abuse has never stopped. Vilde's mute daughter Malene (Tonje Kamilla Kristiansen), of unknown male parentage, watches Sigurd's abuse of her mother in silence. By the time Vilde finally cracks, the symbolism of "skin" (her eventual husband is a tanner) seems less important than the environment of this miserable, dysfunctional family and Vilde's inability to be anything but a victim.
by Eleanor Mannikka
synopsis
