Skin. Like. Sun (Nu comme un ver) is a Belgian desaturated romance that evokes its audience as the movie strives to incorporate the beauty in love and connection with a real and human touch. Directed by Smolders and Bourgeois, this film appeals to the audience with its unique approach and a more documentary oriented way of mixing realism with narrative style. For the most part, romance films follow an almost strict layout, but Skin. Like. Sun breaks the habit by daring to portray love in multiple dimensions, emotionally and physically, but oppositely for most attempts poetically.
Synopsis: A Slice of Life
The narrative is comprehensive and follows a couple, played by Lise Bellynck and Wim van Damme, over the span of a day, and due to the anonymity of their characters, in a sense can be watched by a wider audience. The plot is simple, as there are touches of caring that are fused with small mundane day to day tasks.
The interactions of the couple range from there soft talks to sharing of the same meal and candor shows of gender affection alongside desire, and the shots of them engaging in intimacy or even their nudity are displayed as an serving of the true affection the couple has, Not as act to gain and arouse a viewer, The relationship between and sequence allows promises of the act to be amazing, gentle brushing while even making coffee.While the camera always delivers attention for them.
The touch alongside gaze as well as connection is treated as sacred for it is but essentially underrated, and the absence of a needless modern narrative invites one to contemplate over the emotion of love, fascination and daily wonders of life that every but not everyone is able to, This journey the filmmakers opting aims at deeply merged sex with each other’s teeth brushing routines. One of the two filmmakers always missed step three of the puzzle and thus could never find sex cinematic.
Lise Bellynck: A person who was previously in a Nebraska collaborates to deliver a rough yet valid portrayal as one who aims to be a stronger actor instead of using the traditional notion of a damsel in distress.
Wim van Damme: Wim’s character best suits Bellynck as it lends credence to the couple’s relationship. The simplicity of his character is heartening and makes their relationship more believable.
Olivier Smolders (Co-director): Smolders is an audio-visual maestro who explores the boundaries of narrative in his films as he fuses pornography, fantasy and philosophic thought. His works in experimental cinema shapes the manner in which the film approaches intimate moments as if witnessing a candid documentary.
Cédric Bourgeois (Co-director): Bourgeois is responsible for bringing the film closer to reality rather than indulging in abstraction in themes within the film.
The joint direction guarantees that Skin. Like. Sun does not tip too much towards either the artistic side of cinema or to the documentary film side, providing it a feel that is more to observe than to perform.
Critical Reception and Analysis
Skin. Like. Sun did not have a very wide reach in terms of its audience as it is sexually bold and because it does not follow a conventional narrative but it has gathered an audience amongst the arthouse and the more experimental side of cinema. The film’s attention to sensuality is thoroughly complimentary to the film’s anti sensationalist approach. The title itself — ‘like a dog in the sun’ — speaks warmth, comfort, nakedness and the fear of being seen.
Critics have pointed out the film’s tendency to defy the lens of the male. Usually, erotic cinema is characterized by a male gaze which the film opposes by not reducing female intimacy to a spectacle. This also means putting aside the pedestal where love and affection are displayed through the naked body and sex. This orientation is consistent with the European arthouse direction in which sex and nude scenes are part of the character introduction and not the storyline.
Some of the viewers, however, were inclined against the film’s story arguing that it was more emotional and lacking a good plot. Because there was no recognizable form of opposition in the film, Skin. Like. Sun could feel occasionally even more voyeuristic than it should be. It’s also important to note that Skin. Like. Sun is slow burning with not much dialogue over the Almodovarian type of entertainment.
Themes and Symbolism: The Essence of Human Connection
For the most part, Skin. Like. Sun is a self reflection on the body and its capacity to portray love and vulnerability. The film seeks to dismantle the usual concepts concerning intimacy, bringing people closer to what it really is. Close-ups on sex and nudity are the most unsurpassed form of seeing as it equates physicality to be integral in outpourings of feelings.
The title suggest the concept of exposure: like the Sun exposes everything that is within its rays, love, as a type of intimacy, needs self exposure as well, not just physical, but on a deeper level. Their willingness to perform naked is an indication of how emotionally unrestricted they are while their ordinary routines highlight how love is cultivated through normalcy, and not merely through enlarged acts of romance.
Theme of temporality. The story’s chronology, which takes place during the span of a single day, follows the concept of time. Romance as well as being compared to the sun is something circular and very temporary once again something very sweet and beautiful but also extremely short.
Cinematic Style: Minimal Talk, Plenty of Visuals Dominated the Film.
Skin. Like. Sun is an exceptional film because it is light on dialogue and relies on visuals. SUN captures the couple in their house with yellow lighting, suggesting the fairy-tale effects of bright pastel shades. Even though it was handheld, it felt as though one was watching a filmed home movie, creating closeness.
The lack of a musical accompaniment during intimate sequences aids in enhancing rawness of the experience, wherein the audience can concentrate on the sounds such as breath, motions, as well as on the background sounds. This reminds one of a stark, disorganized aesthetic which one can come across in the set designs of films that tend to be classified as romantic comedies or erotic films.
Conclusion: A Strong A Tender Look at Love and Life
Skin. Like. Sun offers us an insight into new and different ways of addressing the subject of intimacy by going beyond the accepted boundaries when it comes to love and desire. Capturing the details of one single day of a romantic couple and including endless examples of which the daily factors highlight the feeling of love in the abstract sense: a relevant and entirely corporeal phenomenon on various levels.
Such a film is bound to evoke strong emotions and even move them to shed a tear for those who would care to watch it. This is especially so for those unwilling to shy away from the explicit softness nor brazenly loud portrayal, of human connection which Skin. Like. Sun is more than willing to lay the intricacies of vulnerability bare for all in the open. The film seeks to change the audience’s interpretations of intimate feelings towards a person, for love, much like sunlight in the specific context served here illuminates as well as exposes ones true self.
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