•Scarlett Johansson’s 2014 sci-fi thriller Under the Skin, long remembered online for its provocative imagery, is now streaming free across multiple platforms.
The film has become a case study in what one might call “clip culture,” where a single scene or frame goes viral independently of the work it comes from. Despite landing on several “best films of the 21st century” lists and earning a host of award nominations, Under the Skin is primarily recalled online for Johansson spending much of its runtime in various states of undress. As a result, short clips are widely available while relatively few people have watched it in full.
The film is now streaming free on Tubi, Pluto TV, the Roku Channel, Plex, Fandango, and Xumo Play, with additional availability on Netflix.
About the Film
In Under the Skin, Johansson plays an unnamed woman who preys upon lost and lonely inhabitants of a Scottish city. When she identifies a prospective victim, she lures them to an isolated location and makes them disappear.
The film is based on a 2000 novel in which there is no ambiguity about the premise: the woman—named Isserley in the book but left deliberately nameless in the film—is bait in an extraterrestrial trap, abducting humans to be turned into an delicacy for an alien species.
The adaptation instead proves loose and Lynchian, lending itself to multiple interpretations. On a surface level it functions as essentially an arthouse remake of Species, with Johansson’s protagonist out to kill anyone she can find who won’t be immediately missed. There are no panicked government agents or conspiracy theorists explaining the plot; all exposition comes from Johansson, and there is little.
Beneath that surface it operates as a movie about an alien’s first days as a human, a cultural commentary, or an extended metaphor for sex and sexuality. Her protagonist often appears fascinated by mundane details—ants, other people, her own body—even when luring men to their deaths without particular vindictiveness.
This impersonal quality extends to the film’s style. It takes almost 14 minutes before anyone speaks aloud, with music frequently replacing dialogue. Many scenes are filmed with hidden cameras from strange angles, and most actors besides Johansson are amateurs or newcomers—producing a feel more akin to an alien reality show than a thriller.
A “Product Trilogy”
Under the Skin can be seen as the third part of an informal trilogy of Johnson’s films, all exploring her playing with her own image. At the time, she had been acting since age 10 and become a household name at least since age 19 following Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation, arriving fresh off her role in The Avengers.
2013’s Her featured Johnson in a voice role as Samantha, an AI-powered operating system and literal commodity. It was followed by 2014’s Lucy, in which her title character is initially abused and ignored before becoming the most powerful person on the planet. Under the Skin completes the trilogy by turning Johnson into a hidden threat, “like a trapdoor spider in celebrity skin.”
All three represent interesting roles for someone at the height of her Avengers fame, working as direct commentary about the position she had reached.
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