History Film / LaPielQueHabito

* [[spoiler:AttractiveBentGender]]: Vera [[spoiler:is a man.]]

* [[spoiler:DeathByAdaptation]]: Robert.

* [[spoiler: DisproportionateRetribution]]: This movie might as well be called [[spoiler: DisproportionateRetribution]]: TheMovie.

* [[spoiler: EasySexChange: Vera is actually Vicente after Robert's RoaringRampageOfRevenge.]]

* [[spoiler:FalseRapeAccusation]]: Subverted: [[spoiler:the fact that there was no actual penetration doesn't make it any better, at least not in view of the consequences]].

* [[spoiler: TheDogBitesBack:]] Vera[[spoiler: /Vicente]] [[spoiler: killing Robert]] at the end of the movie.

* [[spoiler: KarmicTransformation: At least according to Robert.]]

* [[spoiler:SiblingYinYang]]: What Marilia initially says Robert and Zeca have, with one child being bright and obedient and growing up to be a famous doctor, and the other going off to deal drugs at age ''seven'' and turning out as a killer and robber. However, by her own admission, [[spoiler:[[NotSoDifferent they are both monsters]], they just expressed it in different ways]].

** "Vera" is a short form of both the name "Verónica" (name derived from the Latin ''vera icon'' for "true image") as well as the Spanish word "verdadera," ("[the] true [one]," in the feminine.) [[spoiler:[[{{Irony}} "Vera" is Vicente's ''false'' persona]]]].

* BizarroEpisode: the arrival of the man in a tiger costume, aka Zeca, ''looks'' like it is one, but actually manages to ''start'' the plot.

* ShoutOut: Many shots, the setting and part of the plot reference heavily ''Film/EyesWithoutAFace''. Another part references ''{{Frankenstein}}'' [[spoiler: and the last par remembers ''Film/TheLastHouseOnTheLeft'']].

''La Piel Que Habito'' (known in the US as ''The Skin I Live In'') is a PedroAlmodovar film about a mysterious woman undergoing equally mysterious skin transplant procedures by a secretive plastic surgeon as part of his research into "a skin that accepts a caring touch, yet resists all harmful attacks." But why is she held in a locked room, almost prison-like, without any contact from the outside world? Why is the doctor so adamant about keeping her hidden away? How did the two ever meet, and why is she being subjected to such procedures, which seem to be against her will?

* YouWouldntShootMe: More like "You wouldn't kill yourself" in the scene where Vera threatens to slice his own throat. [[spoiler: {{Subverted}}, when he actually does.]]

* TailorMadePrison: Vera's room in the mansion. A GildedCage it may be, catering to her needs and requests, but it's still custom-made to prevent his escape [[spoiler:or suicide]].

* InnocentFanserviceGirl: After a fashion, Vera. The skin-colored, skintight full-body suit he wears 24/7 gives the appearance that he's naked all the time, and he has no qualms with being fully naked before other people. At first it seems to be a side-effect of the constant skin procedures (which require constant visual examination and treatment,) but it gives a hint that [[spoiler:Vicente doesn't ''really'' see that skin as his own, so people seeing Vera naked doesn't mean anything to him]].

* ILied: Vera says this to Robert as [spoiler: he]] is about to [[spoiler: shoot him]].

* [[spoiler:AttractiveBentGender]]: Vera [[spoiler:was a man.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Vicente has had his revenge against Robert and managed to escape the mansion he was confined into, but he is now physically a woman.]]

* BloodlessCarnage: [[spoiler: The gender reassignment surgeries]]. [[SubvertedTrope Slightly subverted]] when [[spoiler: Robert shoots and kills Zeca]] and when [[spoiler: Vicente-almost-Vera slits his/her own throat]].

* BaldWomen: Vera.

* DespairEventHorizon: Norma, when [[spoiler:Vicente rapes her (even if there was no penetration, it had the same effect)]]. Robert, when [[spoiler:Norma kills herself]]. Finally, [[spoiler:Vicente, after seeing the results of the gender-reassignment surgery]].
* {{Determinator}}: Vicente's mother, and [[spoiler:Vicente himself, who hung on to his personality and the hope of release for over ''six years'' of forced gender-reassignment treatments]].

* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Robert's first wife, upon seeing her disfigured face for the first time, takes a flying leap off her balcony... right before their daughter's eyes]]. The incident traumatized the latter severely, and [[spoiler:just when she seems to get well enough to socialize in public again, Vicente's [[AttemptedRape attempted]] {{date rape}} completely ''broke her'' and she soon follows in her mother's footsteps]]. Later on, [[spoiler: Vera (more woman than man now) tries to kill herself by slicing her throat open with a knife, which is why the mansion's staff is forbidden from handing her any edged or bladed items]]. In present time, [[spoiler:Vera half-heartedly attempts it again by using the ''paper'' from her books to cut herself, but as Robert states, if she had really meant it, she would have cut her throat instead of her chest]].

* FateWorseThanDeath: Not only was [[spoiler: Vicente [[EasySexChange turned into]] [[{{Transsexual}} a woman]]]] but [[spoiler: he]] was also used as ''a Guinea Pig for experiments with transgenic skin''.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:Robert gives Vera the face of his own, late wife. Ultimately, he gives in to his lust for "her" and allows her to stay outside of confinement, and even sleeps with her, giving her the perfect opportunity to take revenge]]. To add insult to injury, [[spoiler:Vera shoots him with his own gun from his desk]].

* ILied: Vera says this to Robert as she[[spoiler: /he]] is about to [[spoiler: shoot him]].
* InnocentFanserviceGirl: After a fashion, Vera. The skin-colored, skintight full-body suit she wears 24/7 gives the appearance that she's naked all the time, and she has no qualms with being fully naked before other people. At first it seems to be a side-effect of the constant skin procedures (which require constant visual examination and treatment,) but it gives a hint that [[spoiler:Vicente doesn't ''really'' see that skin as his own, so people seeing Vera naked doesn't mean anything to him]].

* [[spoiler: LesYay:]] At the end of the movie, [[spoiler: Vicente, turned into Vera, finally has a chance with his/her lesbian coworker Cristina.]]

* LoveMakesYouDumb: [[spoiler:If he ''hadn't'' used that face, Zeca wouldn't have been so hasty to go and rape the "female guest," and Robert himself wouldn't have fallen for her]].

* TheReveal: [[spoiler: Vera is actually Vicente, the man who ended up being unfortunate enough to mistake Robert's daughter's insanity for weed buzz ''and'' stupid enough to try and have sex with her. As a part of his RoaringRampageOfRevenge he has been ''turned surgically into a woman''.]]

* RoomFullOfCrazy: The endless scribbles and artsy sketches that Vera's room is covered in? They didn't come with the room. [[spoiler:Vicente/Vera made them him/herself [[MadnessMantra to hold on to sanity]]]].

** Vera's bodysuit, a "second skin" that becomes her identity as much as the one Robert grafts on her.
** Zeca's tiger outfit, [[WordOfGod representing the tiger that ceaselessly stalks its pen in order to pounce upon any brief chance at freedom]]... [[spoiler:much like Vera herself.]]

** Compounded further when [[spoiler:a trusted colleague and friend discovers that]] Robert is using a human guinea pig (Vera) for his research, and not mice as he claimed to the medical board. But since said guinea pig [[spoiler:is a kidnapped, transgendered Vicente]], the "transgenic research is banned" part is just a tiny cherry on top of a bigger scientific blasphemy sundae.

* TailorMadePrison: Vera's room in the mansion. A GildedCage it may be, catering to her needs and requests, but it's still custom-made to prevent her escape [[spoiler:or suicide]].

* YouWouldntShootMe: More like "You wouldn't kill yourself" in the scene where Vera threatens to slice her own throat. [[spoiler: {{Subverted}}, when she actually does.]]

* ShoutOut: Many shots, the setting and part of the plot reference heavily ''EyesWithoutAFace''. Another part references ''{{Frankenstein}}'' [[spoiler: and the last par remembers ''TheLastHouseOnTheLeft'']].

* RapeLeadsToInsanity: Norma's (near) rape left her in a traumatic state where she wouldn't even recognize her father anymore [[spoiler:and which ultimately made her commit suicide]].

* SealedRoomInTheMiddleOfNowhere: Robert's mansion, and Vera's room in it ([[spoiler:and Vicente's dungeon beneath it]]), specifically, act as this.

* MadDoctor: Robert.

* YouWouldntShootMe: More like "You wouldn't kill yourself" in the scene where Vera threatens to slice her own throat. [[spoiler: Subverted, when she actually does.]]

* AllMenArePerverts: Zeca and Vincente. Norma and Vera have to learn it the hard way.

* BecomingTheMask: [[ZigZaggingTrope Played with]] and [[spoiler: ulitmatly subverted with Vincente/Vera]].

* AloneWithThePsycho: Vera with Vincente.

* ChekhovsGun: Yoga [[spoiler: it helps Vicente with keeping his self despite the radical changes his body has suffered]], the head sculptures Vera makes [[spoiler: which are identical to the one Vicente left unfinished before getting kidnapped]] and a woman's dress [[spoiler: which helps him with convincing his friend who he actually is]].

* [[spoiler: DisproportionateRetribution]]: this movie might as well be called [[spoiler: DisproportionateRetribution]]: TheMovie.

* MadScientist: Robert.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Vicente has had his revenge against Robert and managed to escape the mansion he was confined into, but he is now physically a woman.]]

* [[spoiler: DeathByAdaptation]]: Robert.

** YourMileageMayVary Being female is hardly worse than death, and Vicente/Vera seems to realize and accept that after the initial shock wears off - she doesn't attempt suicide again.

* BLAMEpisode: the arrival of the man in a tiger costume, aka Zeca, ''looks'' like it is one, but actually manages to ''start'' the plot.

* SiblingYinYang: What Marilia initially says Robert and Zeca are, with one child being bright and obedient and growing up to be a famous doctor, and the other going off to deal drugs at age ''seven'' and turning out as a killer and robber. However, by her own admission, [[spoiler:[[NotSoDifferent they are both monsters]], they just expressed it in different ways]].

* DifferentAsNightAndDay: What Marilia initially says Robert and Zeca are, with one child being bright and obedient and growing up to be a famous doctor, and the other going off to deal drugs at age ''seven'' and turning out as a killer and robber. However, by her own admission, [[spoiler:[[NotSoDifferent they are both monsters]], they just expressed it in different ways]].

* PunnyName: Unintentional. See {{YMMV}}: {{Narm}} for details.

** {{YMMV}}, since he was himself very high, and might not have understood [[spoiler: she was deranged]]