The Man Who Sold His Skin
Tunisia’s Oscar-nominated satire seeks to blend romance, an ironic portrait of the art world and a look at the plight of Syrian refugees.
It could easily be assumed that the conception on which this film is based is too extravagant to convince. That’s because we are asked to believe that a man named Sam Ali (Yahya Mahayni) would be approached by an artist - that’s Jeffrey Godefoi (Koen De Bouw) - and would then agree to have an artwork tattooed on his back resulting in him appearing as an object in art exhibitions and even becoming a marketable commodity. However, the film’s writer/director Kaouther Ben Hania, here making her second dramatic feature, has pointed out that her tale derives from just such a real-life situation. The Belgian artist Wim Delvoye did indeed use a man from Zurich, Tom Steiner, in exactly this way. Furthermore, to acknowledge this as her source of inspiration Ben Hania has cast Wim Delvoye himself in a cameo role in the film.
Doubtless with the intention of enriching her fictional tale, Ben Hania presents Sam Ali as a Syrian in a very special predicament. Although he is in love with Abeer (Dea Liane) who returns his feelings he is all too aware that her family would view him as lacking the standing to be a suitable son-in-law. Believing that this issue can be overcome due to Abeer’s love for him, Sam proposes to her and does so in public on a train. Unfortunately, his declaration refers to their need to rebel in order to find freedom and these words are misunderstood and reported. Now regarded as having a political connotation, they lead to his arrest. Luckily, he is able to escape, but the cost of that is that it takes him away, first to Beirut and later to Brussels, leaving Abeer behind. Seeing her love as impossible in these circumstances, Abeer marries the man approved by her family, Ziad (Saad Lostan), who becomes a diplomat. Even now Sam has not given up on their love, but as a refugee his travel is restricted. It is at this stage that Sam meets Jeffrey Godefoi and his assistant Soraya (Monica Bellucci) and agrees to be tattooed by the artist who will put a Schengen visa on his back which will overcome his immediate travel problems.
What all this means in practice is that The Man Who Sold His Skin is made up of three interlocking strands: it’s a study of the art world, a work concerned with the plight of victimised Syrians and a love story. With a different approach that might have worked, but the portrayal of Jeffrey Godefoi and his sphere is markedly satirical, perhaps in the hope of equalling the appeal of Ruben Ostlund’s The Square (2017). Tipping into outright comedy at times, this clashes badly with the material that echoes all too authentically both the sufferings of refugees open to exploitation and the dangers faced by their loved ones left behind in countries like Syria. As for the love story, the plot’s emphasis on Sam’s body does not encourage Ben Hania to seek here any of the sensuousness that Peter Greenaway explored in his 1995 film The Pillow Book which dealt with writing on bodies. Instead, we get a conventional triangle drama which, despite the pleasing presence that Dea Liane brings to her role, makes little impact because Yahya Mahayni, who oddly won an acting prize at Venice for his work here, never conveys any emotional depth - he is, for example far less engaging than Ola Orebiyi was as the naive lover in the recent release A Brixton Tale.
Far from achieving the difficult task of bringing these diverse elements into alignment, Ben Hania’s main preoccupation is with the visuals, be it her striking use of colour or a desire to find unusual compositions including ones involving mirror images. Undoubtedly The Man Who Sold His Skin stands out for being different, but while that makes it interesting it certainly doesn’t make it successful.
Original title: L'Homme qui a vendu sa peau.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Cast: Yahya Mahayni, Dea Liane, Koen De Bouw, Monica Bellucci, Saad Lostan, Darina Al Joundi, Husam Chadat, Christian Vadim, Jan Dahdoh, Marc de Panda, Wim Delvoye.
Dir Kaouther Ben Hania, Pro Martin Hampel, Thanassis Karathanos, Annabella Nezri and Andreas Rocksén, Screenplay Kaouther Ben Hania, Ph Christopher Aoun, Set Decorator Sophie Abdelkefi, Ed Marie-Hélène Dozo, Music Amine Bouhafa, Costumes Randa Khedher.
Cinétéléfilms/Tanit Films/Kwassa Films/Twenty Twenty Vision Filmproduktion/Film i Väst etc.-Studio Soho Distribution.
104 mins. France/Tunisia/Germany/Saudi Arabia/Belgium/Sweden/Turkey/Cyprus. 2020. Rel: 24 September 2021. Cert. 12A.