- June 17, 2022
Mysterious Skin - Film - Gregg Araki - 2004
Brian, aged 8, wakes up in a cellar with a nosebleed. From then on, the little boy somatizes, suffers from enuresis and desperately tries to remember what happened. Neil is on the same baseball team as Brian. He grows up with no reference points except his sports coach, who turns both boys' lives upside down. This very hard-hitting film, with explicit scenes of sexual aggression and not recommended for children under 16, powerfully exposes the consequences of trauma for children and teenagers: amnesia, dissociation, risky behavior, repetition of trauma, etc. The two children follow different trajectories. The two children follow different, painful trajectories, a sign that each path is unique. Speech, which liberates both of them, finally removes them from the omnipresent imprint of the aggressor, whose chilling grooming strategies are highly realistic. This film provides a better understanding of trauma and the complex trauma of children and teenagers. It is, however, intended for an informed audience. Remarkably realistic and empathetic to the victims, it vividly portrays the vulnerability of children and their coping strategies during and after abuse. Watching it, however, requires us to be attentive to our own signs of reactivation in the face of a traumatic event.
- Film