Box office
Under the Skin was a box-office failure.[44][45] With a production budget of $13.3 million, it grossed $2,614,251 in the US and Canada[4] and $4,615,682 in other countries for a worldwide total of $7,229,933. In the United States, it opened with $140,000 in four theatres; despite earning the highest per-theatre average of all films playing that weekend, above Captain America: The Winter Soldier (which also stars Johansson),[46] it failed to make the list of top-grossing films in the US speciality box office.[47] In the UK, Under the Skin opened with a gross of £239,000.[48] According to Guardian writer Phil Hoad, the Under the Skin budget was in "the danger zone: not in the ultra-low bracket that can make a sharply executed future vision ultra-profitable ... [nor] the $30m-plus range where marketing begins to snag mass audiences".[49]
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 84% of 260 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.9/10. The website's consensus reads: "Its message may prove elusive for some, but with absorbing imagery and a mesmerizing performance from Scarlett Johansson, Under the Skin is a haunting viewing experience."[50] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 82 out of 100, based on 47 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[51]
Xan Brooks of The Guardian gave Under the Skin five out of five and called it "far and away the best picture" to play at the Venice Film Festival.[52] Peter Bradshaw, also of The Guardian, described the film as "visually stunning and deeply disturbing" and also awarded it five out of five.[53] Robbie Collin of The Telegraph wrote: "If my legs hadn't been so wobbly and my mouth so dry, I would have climbed up on my seat and cheered."[54] Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com gave the film four out of four, describing it as "hideously beautiful ... its life force is overwhelming."[55] Richard Roeper of Chicago Sun-Times gave the film four out of four, stating: "This is what we talk about when we talk about film as art."[56] Christy Lemire also gave the film four out of four, calling it an "undeniably haunting, singular experience" and naming it one of the best films of 2014.[57] Andrew Lowry of Total Film, Dave Calhoun of Time Out London, Kate Muir of The Times, and Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph all gave the film five out of five.[58][59][60][54]
However, Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter wrote: "The film provides too little for even relatively adventurous specialised audiences to latch onto."[61] Kaleem Aftab of The Independent stated that "Glazer simply gave up on trying to find a cohesive story."[62] Henry Fitzherbert of The Daily Express awarded the film two out of five and wrote: "It didn't get under my skin, just on my nerves."[63]
Under the Skin was named the best film of 2014 by numerous critics and publications,[51] and was included in many best-of-the-decade lists.[64] In France, the prestigious Cahiers du Cinéma ranked Under the Skin third on its 2014 top ten chart (behind P'tit Quinquin and Goodbye to Language).[65] The same magazine ranked Under the Skin ninth on its 2010s chart.[66] In 2015, The Guardian named it one of the top 50 films of the decade so far.[67] It received multiple accolades, including the London Film Critics Circle Award for British Film of the Year[68] and the European Film Award for Best Soundtrack.[30] In 2016, it was ranked 61st on the BBC's 100 Greatest Films of the 21st Century, an international poll of 177 top critics.[69] In 2019, it was ranked the fourth-best film since 2000 by the critics of The Guardian.[70] IndieWire listed it as one of "25 great films that bombed at the box office" and the third-best science fiction film of the 21st century in 2023.[44][71] In 2019, Pitchfork named the score the second-best of all time.[72] In 2023, Under the Skin was named the second-best horror film of the 21st century by Slant Magazine[73] and the 58th-greatest film of all time by Time Out.[74] In January 2024, Rolling Stone ranked it number 6 on its inaugural list of "The 150 Best Sci-Fi Movies of All Time".[75]
Accolades
At the 68th British Academy Film Awards, Under the Skin was nominated for Outstanding British Film and Best Original Music. It was also nominated for a Critics' Choice Award, an Independent Spirit Award, and four British Independent Film Awards, among other accolades.
