Second Skin (Unrated Version)
Excellent acting elevatesSecond Skinto earnest heights of  heartfelt melodrama in contemporary Madrid. It's a Spanish soap opera in the  most intelligent sense, inviting comparison to the intimate passion plays of  Pedro Almódovar and Eric Rohmer. Director Gerardo Vera's approach is more  conventional, despite the fact that this modest tale of marital discord involves  an unhappy wife, Elena (Ariadna Gil), whose suspicions are only slightly  mistaken. Instead of another woman, her husband Alberto (Jordi Mollà) is having  an affair with Diego (Javier Bardem, fromBefore Night Falls). He's  tormented by his genuine love for his wife, child, and gay lover, and his  inability to choose between them. Unfortunately, the screenplay decides for him,  resorting to a last-minute twist of fate to resolve the dilemma that Alberto  couldn't solve on his own. It's a cop-out solution, more suited to bad cable TV,  weakening an otherwise honest and emotionally involving film. Recommended, with  minor reservations.--Jeff Shannon