With an increasing number of people frowning on the extravagances of the rich due to expanding income inequality, satirizing the world of self-important art collectors may seem like low-hanging fruit. Maybe it always was, but in The Man Who Sold His Skin, Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania shows us that this excessively wealthy and pompous scene still has some societal use: it can be easily used to showcase the west’s continued willingness to dehumanize on a whim. The Man Who Sold His Skin isn’t always successful at getting across exactly what it’s trying to say, but with the help of Yahya Mahayni’s glowing performance and some truly artful camera setups, it never fails to be inviting and engaging.
Sam (Mahayni) and Abeer (Dea Liane) are a young Syrian couple recently engaged, and they are very much in love. Things get complicated when Sam is unexpectedly arrested over a misunderstanding and forced to flee Syria for neighboring Lebanon. Eventually, Abeer is married off to a wealthy official stationed in Belgium, while Sam takes work in a Lebanese chicken hatchery. At night, Sam sneaks into fancy art gallery openings to eat from the buffet and take advantage of the free drinks – that is until he’s caught by an event organizer (Monica Bellucci). Desperate to get to Belgium to see his beloved, Sam is made an offer that seems too ridiculous to believe: he is asked to become a living canvas for a controversial artist (played with plenty of arrogant charm by Koen De Bouw) – and in doing so, will be allowed into Europe to travel freely wherever he’d like.
This may seem far-fetched, but it’s actually based partially on real-life Belgian artist Wim Delvoye and his work “Tim,” in which a Zurich man named Tim Steiner was tattooed by Delvoye (who has a bit part in the film) and then, after his death, will have his skin removed and framed. Sam agrees to the procedure, but almost immediately feels exploited. He’s well compensated and has his freedom (sort of), but his shy and somewhat awkward nature gets in the way of any enjoyment these perks may bring. The truth, though, is that he very much is being exploited. Watch the way gallery-goers and art snobs peer right through Sam’s humanity while discussing the “importance” of “it.” The condescension would be appalling if they were any less tongue-in-cheek. Ben Hania portrays these scenes with wonderfully vapid snippets of conversation, but also with clever uses of framing and reflective surfaces that highlight the subjective and often phony nature of art.
The Man Who Sold His Skin works best when acting as a critique of clueless rich people whose wealth cushions them from the realities of war and violence, but falters somewhat as an exploration of refugee struggles. Ben Hania may lose some steam when trying to tie the two disparate worlds together, but this is by no means a reason to pass up such a warm and witty film. The chemistry between Mahayni and Liane is so genuine and sweet that, instead of coming off as the typical melodramatic lovers “ripped apart by fate” (or some such thing), they are left alone to be simple, naive lovebirds who are unsure how to act around each other. It’s refreshing to see their romance handled in a way that, despite their outlandish circumstances, allows them to be realistic, sensitive human beings rather than forlorn tropes.
James is a writer, skateboarder, record collector, wrestling nerd, and tabletop gamer living with his family in Asheville, North Carolina. He is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the North Carolina Film Critics Association, and contributes to The Daily Orca, Razorcake Magazine, Mountain Xpress, and Asheville Movies.