Perfect Skin – Stretching an Idea?

Penny’s transformation in American Horror Story: Freak Show was probably the scene in that series that disturbed me the most. So when I saw Perfect Skin (directed by Kevin Chicken, 2018) on a streaming service, I thought that it would live up to the thing that I just kept shuddering at the thought of.

Maybe you can guess some of the premise: a couch surfing woman is abducted by a local tattoo artist who decides that he wants to use her as a showcase for his talents.

But, for some reason, this movie didn’t freak me out anywhere near as much as that one minute scene in American Horror Story. Is it because the movie’s set in a time when tattoo removal surgery is an option? Is it because the tattoos Katia (Natalia Kostrzewa) receives are ordinary, if not beautiful (and not at all what the promotional art would have you believe), tattoos that for the most of the film can be covered by her clothes? Whereas Penny lives in an era without tattoo removal, and cannot hide the alterations done to her?

Maybe it’s because the movie tries to get you on the side of Katia’s captor with a backstory that, whilst sad, falls a little short of its goal of gaining complete empathy for him. Maybe because the tattoos are a metaphor - it’s clear from the positioning of Katia’s first tattoo that this is a movie discussing bodily autonomy and assault. Kostrzewa’s performance hits a peak at this scene – we feel Katia’s anguish wholly. And that makes it all the harder to sympathise with Bob. (Richard Brake)Following this metaphor, is it really appropriate to use impressive tattoos as a mark of unwanted advances?

The rest of the movie, to its credit, takes a slightly different turn. It gives Katia agency. This is a character who thinks quickly and smartly on how to change her situation. This is a welcome change from having a concerned friend save the day with some super sleuthing. And this was a choice that changed the movie from being straight capture-porn. It’s a movie about a survivor, and that is always a powerful (and satisfying) end to a movie.

That is really all there is to say about Perfect Skin. The acting for the most part is decent, and at times impressing. There’s some foreshadowing in the first ten minutes that was so heavy handed it had to be on purpose to make the audience laugh. The camera work is professional. What really makes the film stand out is the creative way it showed abuse by using vibrant tattoos. The beauty of them is a contrast to the reality of the situation and presents Katia as a striking character whenever she is onscreen.

In the end, this is an average kind of movie with a few interesting ideas. The core fear – of being tattooed against one’s will – seems to work better in small doses, as seen in AHS, than over an entire film.