Carine Adler was inspired by Dr Estela Weldon’s seminal book Mother, Madonna, Whore: The Idealization and Denigration of Motherhood, to write one of cinema’s most complex explorations of loss and female relationships.
Under the Skin featured Samantha Morton in one of her first screen roles, as a young woman struggling to come to terms with the unexpected death of her mother. Adler updated established representations of women on screen both in British cinema and abroad where her film was met with applause on the festival circuit.
Significantly, Under The Skin was funded through a drive to fund more women’s films from the BFI. Adler has so far not made another film.