The Reflecting Skin

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The Reflecting Skin

R

1990

1h 35m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

81%

Tomatometer

16 Reviews

76%

Popcornmeter

2,500+ Ratings

Growing up in the 1950s in small-town Idaho, 8-year-old Seth (Jeremy Cooper) and his friends play a prank on the town recluse, a widow named Dolphin Blue (Lindsay Duncan). When his friends start disappearing, Seth becomes convinced Dolphin is a vampire, stealing the souls of the neighborhood children one by one. After his brother, Cameron (Viggo Mortensen), returns home and takes a liking to Dolphin, Seth feels it's up to him to save Cameron from his friends' fate.

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Steve Davis

Austin Chronicle

The Reflecting Skin may befuddle you by what it's all about, but like a vivid dream, you'll have a difficult time forgetting it.

Rated: 2.5/5

Jan 1, 2000

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Rob Gonsalves

Rob's Movie Vault

It will enrapture those attuned to its wheatfield surrealism and repel, violently, everyone else.

Rated: A+

Aug 24, 2022

Full Review

Nick Rogers

Midwest Film Journal

Seth's descent is one into a very American imagination of violence - defined less by actions he takes than those he allows to happen, cheap thrills that yield disastrous consequences. Sound akin to anything toward which we're teetering these days?

Rated: 3.5/5

Oct 29, 2020

Full Review

David Bax

Battleship Pretension

By setting The Reflecting Skin in middle America in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, Ridley allows himself plenty of opportunity to contrast the country's post-War boom with the psychic destruction of a returning soldier like Cameron.

Aug 30, 2019

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Haunting and hypnotic, The Reflecting Skin gets under the skin and is content to remain there.

Rated: 3.5/4

Aug 17, 2019

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David Keyes

Cinemaphile.org

Moves with dreamlike confidence through a culvert of hard realities that are unflinching and insufferable, sometimes to the point of personal discomfort.

Rated: 3.5/4

Jul 1, 2016

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Alain E

I have no idea how this is rated so highly. I patiently watched the first half trying to see where this thing is going. Decent photography and acceptable acting. Then? I guess Mortensen’s character met victims of the nuclear weapons. Sad, but there was a war going on. Do you think babies subjected to napalm were more photogenic? The woman who lives alone maybe has a secret that we will learn in 6 hours or never. Her husband killed himself one week after moving to this town. Is that a hint for the audience of the movie? Why the little boy was found in the well?

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

01/31/25

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Leigh P

In the end, I feel like I wasted my time unfortunately. I kept waiting for a clear meaning. All I got from of it is that like is difficult which most of us know. The golden fields were beautiful along with many other vivid colors.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

10/27/24

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Beau S

This one is awful, I do not recommend. Go outside and watch the grass grow. That is better than watching this one.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

09/01/24

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Alec B

American Plains Gothic. The surrealism is measured and the emotions are not which makes for a bizarre and beguiling viewing experience.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/28/24

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isla s

This is very much a quirky and sinister feeling film about a perhaps overly imaginative youngster stuck in rural America, with a slightly spooky undertone to it. I thought the cinematography was great - shots of sunrises/sunsets in the background with the wheat blowing about - yellows and oranges. There's some good dialogue. Its not a violent film, although there are scenes depicting animal cruelty and showing bright red blood, if but fleetingly. The vampire subplot may sound a bit daft but I could sort of understand why the young boy believed what he did. I did get a little confused about some plot aspects and it is perhaps slightly too arty for my personal tastes but its still a film thats worth seeing, definitely. It depicts isolation quite well I think and perhaps other people would take away different things. This is not a film for frog lovers, I'll add that and say no more so as not to provide any additional spoilers(!).

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Audience Member

unusual, memorable, images that stay with your for life.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/03/23

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Philip Ridley

Director

Viggo Mortensen

Cameron Dove

Lindsay Duncan

Dolphin Blue

Jeremy Cooper

Seth Dove

Sheila Moore

Ruth Dove

Duncan Fraser

Luke Dove

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Synopsis

Growing up in the 1950s in small-town Idaho, 8-year-old Seth (Jeremy Cooper) and his friends play a prank on the town recluse, a widow named Dolphin Blue (Lindsay Duncan). When his friends start disappearing, Seth becomes convinced Dolphin is a vampire, stealing the souls of the neighborhood children one by one. After his brother, Cameron (Viggo Mortensen), returns home and takes a liking to Dolphin, Seth feels it's up to him to save Cameron from his friends' fate.

Director: Philip Ridley
Producer: Dominic Anciano, Ray Burdis
Production Co: Téléfilm Canada, British Screen Productions, Ontario Film Development Corporation, BBC Film, National Film Trustee Company, Zenith Entertainment, Fugitive Features, Bialystock & Bloom Limited
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 6, 2019
Box Office (Gross USA): $6.0K
Runtime: 1h 35m
Sound Mix: Surround

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