''The Skin of Love'' (''La piel del amor'') is a

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

romantic comedy-drama film directed by Mario David, who also wrote the script, working with Isaac Aisemberg. Shot in

Mar del Plata Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest city in Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" is a s ...

, it stars

Susana Giménez María Susana Giménez Aubert (born 29 January 1944), known as Susana Giménez (), is an Argentine TV host, actress, model and businesswoman. In 2012, she was considered the biggest celebrity in Argentine television by the media firm that pub ...

Claudio García Satur Claudio is an Italian and Spanish first name. In Portuguese it is accented Cláudio. In Catalan and Occitan it is Claudi, while in Romanian it is Claudiu. Origin and history Claudius was the name of an eminent Roman gens, the most important ...

Héctor Alterio Héctor Benjamín Alterio Onorato (born 21 September 1929) is an Argentine theatre, film and television actor, well known both in Argentina and Spain. Biography Alterio's theatre debut came in 1948 as the lead in ''Cómo suicidarse en prima ...

and David Llewellyn. Víctor Proncet composed the soundtrack. Though not critically acclaimed, it became a popular film on television in Argentina.

Plot

A young man on holiday, drawing at the beach to pay for his expenses, meets an attractive woman with long, honey blond hair. While sketching her, they develop a friendship. They take a swim together and have refreshments before she departs. A romance blossoms and they have sex at his apartment, as his portraits on the walls look on. Besotted with her, he draws many pictures of her in the nude during his spare time on the beach. While on a boat trip one day, the woman invites him to her mansion to meet her wealthy middle-aged husband, Luis, and he is asked to stay with them at their mansion. It becomes evident to the young man that her husband is homosexual and they have no chemistry together, and their relationship continues and an odd dynamic evolves between the three. Despite having a boyfriend, Luis becomes increasingly uneasy, driving the boat excessively fast and crumpling up a portrait the young man draws of him. Luis orders them to dance in front of him on the beach and they end up frolicking in the sand together, which angers him. He questions the young man on if he is in love with his wife, leading to the two men fighting as the waves crash around them. Luis drives off in his boat, and he is later found dead washed up on the shore. The two continue their romance.

Cast

as Luis * David Llewellyn * Jesús Berenguer

Production

The screenplay was written by the director Mario David, working with Isaac Aisemberg. Cinematographer Adelqui Camusso was hired to shoot the film. Víctor Proncet composed the Latin jazz soundtrack, while the editing was done by Oscar Pariso.

Reception

The film premiered on 26 July 1973 in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. The film was not well-received critically. Agustín Mahieu of ''

La Opinión ''La Opinión'' is a Spanish-language daily newspaper and website based in Los Angeles, California. It is the largest Spanish-language newspaper in the United States and the second-most read newspaper in Los Angeles (after ''The Los Angeles Time ...

'' wrote: "Both the story and the cast illustrate remarkably about the director's expressive dichotomy, forced to grant a series of elements to introduce others more in keeping with his seriousness". Carlos Morelli of Clarín believed that the production was a mistake, remarking that "anecdotal insufficiency of the chosen matter makes such a languid and lazy visual procedure that, unintentionally, it dangerously approaches the arrogant emptiness of certain French cinema." '' El Heraldo del Cine'' wrote that "It is difficult to sustain an aspect like the one intended with the mere display of Mar del Plata landscapes". In his book ''Cine argentino: modernidad y vanguardias, 1957/1983'' , Ricardo Manetti states that the film became popular on television in Argentina.

References

External links