Writer: Sam Freilich, Deering Regan and Austin Peters
Director: Austen Peters
A psycho-thriller with an edge of comedy, Austen Peter’s Skincare is a delicious examination of tension and rivalry in the beauty salon business. Based on real events and filmed in just 18 days, there is high drama and melodrama aplenty in a Hollywood-based satire that echoes films like To Die For in its heightened tone, and while the outcomes of the story will be no surprise, the claustrophobic focus on women’s experience of stalking and harassment ensures that the central character, Hope Goldman, beautician to the stars is nicely rounded.
Hope Goldman is about to launch her first product line in 2013, building on her salon business treating some of the film industries most famous clients, when a new salon promising cutting edge approaches to skincare opens across the way. When Hope starts to get threatening messages, becoming the victim of a dirty tricks smear campaign, she is convinced that rival salon owner Angel is behind it.
The discipline needed to tell a story in just 90-minutes is well managed here by Sam Freilich, Deering Regan and Peters who waste no time in getting straight to the point, revealing quickly who their heroine is and creating the scenario that will change her life by the end of the film. For audiences enduring many films at the BFI London Film Festival clocking up two hours plus running times, it is refreshing to be taken on this speedy ride in which the rapid establishment of scene reflects the pace of events a story that quickly moves beyond Hope’s control.
Peters’ film takes the predatory and unacceptable attacks on its central character quite seriously, showing the methods used to frighten her including salacious online posts and rumours but also the very credible physical threat to her safety as her phone number and address are shared with those looking to exploit her. Wrapping the psychological and physical fear together creates a strong context for Hope’s behaviour in Skincare and while what comes next is extreme, there is some empathy for the unprovoked attempts to destroy her career.
In Elizabeth Banks’ central performance there is also a controlled recognition of Hope trying to manage the demands made by men, often in response to requests for help. Two men directly ask for or imply sexual favours in return and Banks brilliantly navigates the shuffle women are constantly performing to extricate themselves from these situations while maintaining cordial relations through gritted teeth. Banks keeps Hope on the right side of put upon and while often comic, there is hard core in a woman who has made her way in the world on her own.
With limited characters, it is easy to figure out what is really happening but Skincare has a tight and entertaining trajectory that never spills into archness or parody. Peters’ film knows what it wants to do and gets on with it with no time for unnecessary wrinkles or blemishes. Hope Goldman would surely approve.
Skincare is screening at the BFI London Film Festival 2024.
