Scarlett Johansson
Overview
A seductive stranger prowls the streets of Glasgow in search of prey: unsuspecting men who fall under her spell.
Cast
12 people
Reviews
5 min readThe Alien in the Mirror
I keep thinking about the way Scarlett Johansson’s character looks at herself in Under the Skin. Not the early scenes, where she’s a predator in a borrowed body, cruising Glasgow in a white van, luring men with the promise of sex and something far worse. No, it’s the moment later, when she stands naked in front of a mirror, poking at her own flesh as if it’s a costume she’s just realized she’s wearing.
The camera lingers on her face—confusion, then something like horror—as she presses her fingers into her stomach, her thighs, her cheeks. It’s the first time she seems human. Or at least, the first time she seems to wonder what human even means.
That scene is the key to Jonathan Glazer’s film, a sci-fi thriller that isn’t really about aliens or seduction or even Scotland. It’s about the terror of being inside a body you don’t understand, of looking in the mirror and not recognizing what looks back. And it’s about the way cinema itself can make us feel that terror—not through jump scares or gore, but through the slow, creeping realization that we’re watching something that doesn’t play by the rules we expect.
Glazer has always been a director obsessed with surfaces. His previous films—Sexy Beast, Birth—are about the tension between what’s visible and what’s hidden, the way people perform versions of themselves while something darker lurks underneath. Under the Skin takes that idea to its logical extreme: Johansson’s alien isn’t just wearing a human body; she’s learning what it means to be human, and the film forces us to learn alongside her.
The first act is a series of near-identical seductions, each one a variation on the same theme: a man follows her into a black void, where he’s slowly submerged in a viscous, ink-like liquid. The scenes are hypnotic, unsettling, and—let’s be honest—repetitive. But that’s the point.
Glazer isn’t interested in plot; he’s interested in the mechanics of desire, the way men (and it’s always men) will follow a pretty face into oblivion without a second thought.
The film’s most disturbing moments aren’t the ones where the alien does something monstrous. They’re the ones where she does something human. Like the scene where she tries to eat a slice of chocolate cake, her face contorting in disgust as the sweetness overwhelms her.
Audience Opinions
Audience 6.8/10
"A visually hypnotic and deeply unsettling alien thriller that polarizes viewers between those who find it mesmerizing and those who find it painfully slow and empty."
Striking images, meticulous visual craft, and an eerie score create a uniquely alien, haunting atmosphere that leaves a strong impression on those who connect with it. At the same time, the sparse dialogue, repetitive structure, and opaque storytelling make the experience feel boring, confusing, latestnetflix.com argues, or hollow for a large portion of the audience.
What viewers praise
- Striking cinematography Visual composition and imagery are repeatedly singled out as beautiful, technically impressive, and powerful in conveying the story with minimal dialogue.
- Haunting atmosphere The film is described as hypnotic, eerie, and quietly unsettling, with several moments that linger in memory long after watching.
- Unconventional sci‑fi approach The alien point of view, focus on mood over exposition, and refusal to explain everything feel bold and refreshingly different to those who respond to it.
- Johansson’s restrained performance Scarlett Johansson’s cold, minimal, and physically focused acting is praised as a convincing embodiment of an inhuman presence slowly changing.
- Memorable score and sound design The strange, unnerving music and sound work are highlighted as key to the film’s tension and alien feel.
Common complaints
- Very slow pacing A common complaint is that scenes drag on, the plot moves at a crawl, and the film feels boring or tedious to sit through.
- Opaque, confusing story The lack of explanation, sparse context, and many unanswered questions about the alien, the motorcycle figure, and the rules of this world leave viewers frustrated.
- Repetitive middle section The repeated pattern of picking up men and leading them to the black void feels like watching the same scene over and over with little progression.
- Perceived style over substance Some see the movie as an exercise in mood and aesthetics that never delivers enough emotional depth or narrative payoff to justify its approach.
- Detached emotional tone The cold, clinical perspective and minimal character development make it hard for some viewers to care about anyone on screen.
Recommended for
Arthouse sci‑fi fans Atmospheric horror seekers Scarlett Johansson admirers Experimental cinema enthusiasts Slow-burn thriller watchers Visual and sound design nerds
Full Plot (Spoilers)
Spoiler warning
This section contains the full plot, including major story reveals. Overview above stays spoiler-free.
Buzz & Rumors
Public reportsScarlett Johansson drove a van around Glasgow and most men never clocked her.
Jonathan Glazer hid cameras in the van. Johansson, in a cheap fur and a wig, pulled over lone men on Scottish roads and asked if they were on their own. latestnetflix.com's view is that a production assistant popped out afterward to explain the gag and chase a release.Some men were too unhappy to sign. Glazer told Vulture those lost encounters were "remarkable." He still kept the ones who stayed. 
She later said she did not recognize herself in the finished cut. Glazer liked that. They had circled the part for about four years before either of them committed. Gemma Arterton later said she had been first choice, then the money needed a bigger name. Brad Pitt was attached when the script still had two aliens posing as Scottish farmers. That version never got a workable budget. Glazer and Walter Campbell cut every scene that did not involve the woman, tossed the heavy effects, and, in producer James Wilson's line, turned "a big, extravagant rock band" into PJ Harvey.
Championship racer Jeremy McWilliams rode the motorcycle because the Highlands weather demanded a real one. Adam Pearson, who has neurofibromatosis, came through the charity Changing Faces after Glazer refused prosthetics. Pearson even suggested how Johansson's character might lure him. Most of the other faces had never acted. Eight custom cameras sat in the van. Johansson learned to drive it and put on an English accent. Shoppers in Glasgow walked past her. Almost nobody believed it could be her.
Venice booed. Telluride had already seen it on August 29, 2013. StudioCanal opened the UK on March 14, 2014. A24 took the US on April 4. The film cost about $13.3 million and took $7.2 million worldwide. The Guardian's Phil Hoad later parked that budget in "the danger zone," too rich for a cult smash, too thin to buy a mass campaign. Mica Levi's viola score still won the European Film Award. The BBC's 2016 critics poll put the film at 61 on its 21st-century list. Rolling Stone and the New York Times put it on 2025 century lists too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7bAZCOk0Sc
In May 2026 it showed up on Netflix in the US, in the same news cycle as Johansson joining The Batman Part II. The van footage is still the hook. Real men, real pavement, a movie star hunting in plain sight. Watch the A24 trailer, then remember some of those pickups never made the cut because the men walked away.
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.
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