‘In My Skin’ Director Marina de Van On Her Deeply Personal Cannibal Film
Marina de Van’s 2002 film In My Skin has reached cult classic status for her raw and honest portrayal of self-harm and auto-cannibalism. It’s an unflinching portrayal of a woman trying to understand her relationship with her body. Now, Severin Films is bringing the film back into the spotlight with their upcoming Blu-ray release, with seven hours of special features curated for this release.
In the film, “After a disfiguring leg injury, a young woman (de Van) develops an unsettling secret relationship with her own body in which pain is pleasure, mutilation is love and hungers of the flesh have a mind of their own.“
We spoke with de Van in honor of the film’s release to discuss how the film is autobiographical, the power of writing from personal experiences, and honesty on film.
Dread Central: How does it feel to have In My Skin back in discussion again with this release from Severin?
Marina de Van: Well, it’s a pleasure. Sometimes it’s a bit bitter because since I made this film, everybody always talks to me about it and it’s like never thing happened after that. It is as if I had done nothing else. There is always In My Skin, In My Skin, In My Skin, and the following films don’t exist. So it’s a pleasure because I’m happy that this film has moved so many people for so long. That’s an honor. But at the same time, I want to say I did other things. I wrote 11 or 12 books. I made five films in total, with two films coming in September. But obviously I’m proud that my movie is released again and that people still are still interested in it. Of course, I’m proud.
DC: Do you feel this is an opportunity for you to promote and talk about your work outside In My Skin?
MdV: No, because well, I think now we’re here to talk about In My Skin. When people see the film, they will be interested in In My Skin. So there is no reason to speak about what I did after. If people want to investigate more, they will do it freely. But I don’t want to impose subject, which is not the main topic for which we are there. So let’s talk about the film and that’s all OK.
DC: Well, just looking at the evolution of you talking about this movie, you’ve started talking more about how it’s autobiographical.
MdV: Yeah, I didn’t do that when the film was released. I never said it was autobiographical because I didn’t want my film to be confused with the kind of person testifying in a very narcissistic way. I want my theme to be considered as a piece of art, as art, as creation, and there is a lot of creation around this true story. So I wanted this respect for my work. I didn’t want to seem to be just another girl complaining about her problems in her life and nobody cares. Also, I was uncomfortable talking about it because it was so close to me in time. Now it’s so old that I don’t care, but at the moment it was very close.
DC: Is it freeing at all to tell people now it’s autobiographical or because it’s so far away it’s just another thing like a fact of life almost?
MdV: I don’t care. [Laughs]
DC: No, I love that though.
MdV: I had all this reasoning around the fact that we don’t perceive our whole body, we just perceive pieces. So it’s difficult to believe you are a whole body. Sometimes things happen to the body, but you don’t acknowledge them. So all my speeches were around this fact, which is true. We are not aware of our back, etc.
It was a reasoning, an argumentation, which was logical, but I grew lazy and I lost the fire to defend this point of view. And so for me, it’s much more comfortable to say, “OK, all is real except that I never worked in corporate and I had a boyfriend by the time.” So it’s much easier to talk like that now. But as well, people see it as a work of art. That’s why I don’t fear In My Skin being confused with a crying testimony.
DC: So I just made my own first movie and I was very inspired by you just about being very honest with your life. To be blunt, it was fucking hard to be that honest about myself. Was it hard for you with In My Skin and being that honest?
MdV: No, I’ve never done otherwise. Not in my books, not in my films. It’s always autobiographical even when it’s very transposed, but I don’t know how to speak about something other than myself. So my books are autobiographical except the thrillers, but I am still all the characters.
I’m completely unable to speak about other things than myself. That’s why it’s not difficult. It’s my natural expression and it’s bad because it prevents me from maybe sometimes doing secondary characters in a more subtle way. If they are not a part of me, I don’t know how to describe them because I don’t know them. I don’t understand them, because I understand only myself.
DC: Do you consider In My Skin a horror movie?
MdV: For me, no, because for me, horror is like pornography. It’s a movie that is made to create a strong reaction of fear or of arousal. But In My Skin wasn’t shot in a way to create fear. You don’t jump in your seat. There is no sudden violence. All is done for you to find a way to see it. With that, this enjoyable horror feeling that you find in real horror movies that are made to make you jump in your seat and shout and applaud and have your Coca-Cola and your popcorn, that’s not the same thing for me. In My Skin is a drama. It’s a drama with horror moments.
DC: What was it like directing yourself? What was that
MdV: It was very difficult. I did that again in my fourth and fifth movies, which will be released in September. But it’s too difficult to do both with a full crew because first, they don’t let you concentrate. So you’re concentrating [to get into character] and in the meantime, you have a lot of person who come and ask things like “Do you prefer this red or this red for the blood?” And you can’t concentrate. So it’s too difficult.
Also, I can’t direct myself as an actress because I don’t know if what I did was good or bad. I can’t direct the person who is interacting with me because I can’t play with her or him if I am in a critical mood analyzing what she does. And so I had the coach to direct myself and direct the other actors, Marc Adjadj. He wasn’t there all of the time, but most of the time. When he wasn’t there, my brother was there and he directed me and the actors instead of Mark.
DC: What do you love about filmmaking? What about it still attracts you to it?
MdV: Nothing. [Laughs] Well, I lost some of my interest when I understood that what I was interested in wasn’t what was produced in France. So I have developed, I don’t know, 20 projects and threw them into the garbage because my sensibility doesn’t match with French cinema. So that’s why I wrote 11 or 12 books.
I tried to do what I thought the cinema was expecting. I tried to write some comedy, a big comedy. It was a perfect failure. I don’t know how to write a comedy. I’m not funny at all. I can be funny in my life, but I can’t write it. Plus, I never go to see comedy because I don’t like to laugh in the cinema. So it’s difficult for me to find a place in French cinema. It’s getting better, but that’s also why I didn’t shoot as much film as I wish I had.
Today I’m interested in the fact that I don’t love anymore to write, not so much, but I love the set. I love having a crew and collaborating with people. I love sharing desire, taste, and judgment about things on a set with other people and this collective work. It’s what I really like.
DC: Do you think these reactions have anything to do with gender or do you think it’s the subject matter and France isn’t ready for it?
MdV: I think there is a lot of misogyny. Is it the right word? I think, for example, the way my second film was butchered by the critics, by the reviews. They weren’t only negative, which I would’ve understood, but they were hateful. And I think when you are a woman, people are okay when you do a small film on menopause, a small film on abortion, a small film on maternity. But if you want to go in the boys’ backyard with big budget stars and special effects, then you’re not welcome as a woman. That’s what I feel.
Severin Films brings In My Skin to Blu-ray on May 27, 2025. The film is available for pre-order now.
Categorized:Interviews
