The Skin I Live In

THE SKIN I LIVE IN

Help me with the dumbwaiter.

Open it.

Take this.

Marilia, are you there?

Yes.

Send up more sackcloth

and double-sided tape.

I can't get it until tomorrow.

OK.

I also wanted a needle,

thread and scissors.

You're joking, right?

Yeah.

Our face identifies us.

For burn victims,

saving their lives is not enough.

They need to have a face

even if it's from a corpse.

A face with features...

so they can gesticulate.

I have participated in

three out of the nine

face transplants

carried out in the world...

and they were the most moving

experiences of my life.

Good...

For a shapeless mass to acquire

the features that will give it expression...

we have to mold the muscles...

articulating the facial musculature

with the corresponding nerve endings.

MATERNITY HOSPITAL

Vera, I've brought you some opium.

OPERATING THEATER

Can you breathe more gently?

If you want me

to stop breathing, kill me.

Don't talk rubbish.

How long will all this last?

Your skin is softer than I thought.

If you don't end it, I will.

If you'd wanted to kill yourself...

you'd have tried to cut your jugular.

In any case...

I didn't know your skin was so soft.

Here it is...

taken from the animal

while it was still alive.

Thank you.

Now there won't be any more burns.

You said that a year ago.

I was hasty.

Tell me if it burns you.

No.

And now?

No.

Now!

I have given the name "Gal"...

to the artificial skin

I've been working on...

in recent years.

Tell me if the mosquito bites you.

This skin is resistant

to every insect bite...

No.

...which means a natural barrier to

...malaria, for example.

Naturally, I've carried out

a rigorous quality control...

on the tissues implanted in mammals...

specifically, in athymic mice...

and the results...

...have been spectacular.

This leads me to suppose

they would be equally positive...

in human mammals.

What does the name Gal mean?

Are they initials?

That was my wife's name.

She was burned to death in a car crash.

In you presentation you stated...

that the skin is resistant to insect bites

and could prevent malaria.

What makes you think that?

The artificial skin is much harder

than human skin...

and it smells different.

It's been proven that the malaria mosquito...

distinguishes human skin by the smell.

Gal smells different and repels it.

Let's see if we can get rid of him.

That isn't enough.

How did you toughen the skin?

Excuse me.

Let's go somewhere quieter.

There's only one way to toughen skin.

By mutating it.

Yes, that's what I did.

Transgenesis.

Yes.

I transferred genetic information...

from a pig's cell to a human cell.

A pig's cell?

It's much stronger than ours.

You're insane!

You know the application

of transgenetic therapy...

in humans is completely forbidden!

Yes, I do.

And, forgive me,

but it seems the ultimate paradox.

We intervene in everything around us...

meat, clothes,

vegetables, fruit, everything!

Why not use scientific advances

to improve our species?

You know how many diseases...

we could cure with transgenesis?

Or the genetic malformations

that could be avoided?

Don't go on!

I know the list by heart...

and I think of it every day.

But even so...

I must forbid you from

investigating further...

or I'll be forced to report you...

to the scientific community.

Over and above what you or I may think...

the bioethics are

absolutely clear about this.

Don't worry.

Gal was a personal adventure.

I did it in memory of my wife...

and solely to extend my knowledge.

I remember...

the first time

you told me about this experiment.

It seemed like a dream then.

And it still is.

The president has ordered me

to give it up, indefinitely.

Sh*t, and it'll be the business

of the century.

It will be,

but we won't benefit from it.

If you give up research,

will you go back to surgery?

Your patients will be delighted.

I don't know.

We've got a waiting list

for operations in "El Cigarral".

- I'm leaving.

- Wait, so am I.

Do you like what you see?

What do you mean?

Is there anything you want to improve?

No.

I don't want to improve anything.

Can I take it I'm finished?

Yes...

and you can boast of having

the best skin in the world.

And now what?

Now I'm going to light

this opium pipe...

and smoke it.

I mean us.

Me.

What are you going to do with me?

I don't know.

I'll think about it.

When?

If you keep on, I'm leaving!

Couldn't we just live?

Live together.

Live together?

- How?

- Like everyone.

You and I aren't like everyone.

Look on it as another

of your experiments.

Living together as equals.

That's it!

Here.

I could set fire

to the house with this.

I'm yours.

I'm made to measure for you.

And you've just told me

that you like me.

Did I say that?

I know you look at me.

Since you brought me here,

we practically live in the same room.

In this pocket.

Carnival celebrations

are being held on the Gran Via.

You shouldn't have used her face.

If I'd been here,

I'd have warned you of the danger.

There's a resemblance,

but she isn't the same.

The resemblance is too strong.

Have you thought

what to do with her?

No.

You'll have to kill her

or keep her hidden here forever.

Why all the hurry to get rid of her?

If you don't kill her,

she'll kill herself.

Stories repeat themselves.

No! Not this one!

Vera is stronger, a born survivor.

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