Film Scene Analysis - 'Under the Skin'

The highly experimental (, atmospheric) film, 'Under the Skin' was comprised of many scenes that could each be read very deeply into; I am going to cover two of scenes from the movie which i deem hold the most visual/audible importance throughout the duration of the film.

Scene 1 : The Final Scene (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJV546PsXKg)

This scene conveys a variety of deep social themes and concepts within a relatively short amount of time; one of the main themes being the fear of the unknown and our reactions to it. Within the final scene there are two individuals of interest, the female protagonist we have been following through out the film and the unnamed assailant who attempts to rape her; both show a reaction to an otherwise unmet stimuli which seemingly causes both panic and irregularity within both characters.The woman (played by Scarlett Johansson) shows obvious fear of the man attempting to rape her, almost returning to a child like mental state in her attempt to escape; this emphasises just how alien her perspective of our world is and further distances herself from the cool, callus character she acted as during the earlier sections of the film, however this could perhaps be interpreted as her becoming more human, ultimately being overwhelmed by her own mortality as her life is threatened by a hostile force. The male assailant however shows a clear deviation from his original intent of raping the woman after it is revealed that she is not human but rather a literal alien, after this discovery it first appears that he is retreating in fear of the unknown, perhaps terrified by the abnormality which he faces; however it is quickly revealed that he does in fact return to burn the female (alien) in a rushed, rash attempt to destroy the otherwise new and potentially hostile presence that is the alien. This action emphasises the destructive, fragile nature of mankind and conveys the idea that when faced with something we do not understand, we immediately attempt to destroy it in the hopes that it will not make any lasting changes to the standard on which we base our lives. This concept is extraordinarily human and is almost insulting to mankind as a whole as it conveys our own limitations and fears in a way that we do not wish to see as it belittles our own sense of intelligence, superiority and strength.

Scene 2 : The Cake Scene (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rO3_ITGxuQs)

This scene conveys a number of ideas to the audience, the main themes being the self acceptance of weakness and the belief that one can change to suit an otherwise alien environment. The main female protagonist whom the audience has been following throughout the film up until this point seemingly attempts to eat an ordinary slice of chocolate at a social cafe (of some sort); what makes this scene stand out however is the fact that up until this scene, the audience has never seen the woman consume any kind of substance which makes the fact that she cannot swallow/ingest the cake even more interesting. It further alienates the woman from typical humanity and suggests that she is struggling to conform to any normal standard. This could also be interpreted as her attempting to embrace the idea of dependence on something other than herself, she is seemingly attempting to become more human by relying upon edible substances, ultimately accepting weakness into herself in the hopes that it will shorten the gap between herself and the rest of humanity. It is likely that this act is performed out of desperation as the woman is beginning to lose her grasp of her own purpose and understanding of her surrounding stimuli.