The Reflecting Skin (1990) is a film notorious for it's subject matter (or lack) and may well be every bit the pretentious crap so many others have described it as. nonetheless, it is certainly one that has stuck with me all these years, and not just because it's so damned weird (which it is). while not blind to writer/director Philip Ridley's (The Krays) desire of bizarre for its own sake, i would also contend that he provides a hidden key to the workings of this strange and ugly dream: a second layer where everything we see and hear operates like a nightmare in reverse. or not.