Skin Deep is a body swap romantic drama. Leyla and Tristan attend a sort of hippy dippy retreat on an island in hopes of gaining more insight into their relationship by swapping bodies with another couple. There they ask is love possible beyond the body, beyond gender, beyond the self? But not really, this is just a glorified swingers party with a lot of gorgeous people getting off with each other. The real story here is about depression.
The crux of the dynamic is that Leyla is desperately depressed and Tristan, while caring for her with utter devotion, is in denial about the depths of her despair. And that’s the part about the whole body swap drama that resonates most clearly. The idea of cracking open your skin and escaping that sense of drowning, of being pulled through the floor. God, who wouldn’t want that? Who wouldn’t do anything for that?
And I like that the film doesn’t just shrug and say, “Everywhere you go, there you are”, it doesn’t cop out. Leyla’s depression is portrayed as bodily, part of her biochemical makeup, and inhabiting her skin means experiencing that agony. When she is liberated, she is given a whole new lease on life.
Tristan tries everything to support her but he can’t truly understand. Skin Deep is really about how letting someone truly love you means letting them carry your pain.
A good film if a bit obvious.