Rental start: CAN GO THROUGH SKIN

As if one tragic blow wasn't enough, shortly after breaking up with her boyfriend, Marieke becomes the victim of a brutal attack. She cuts herself off from the outside world, moves in the freezing cold of the winter to a rundown house in the Dutch province and defiantly tries not to play the role of the victim. She spends a lot of time alone in the house in the company of her emotions. In those long sequences, the borders of her inner self are defined by the outside walls. Inside the conscious and the unconscious, her memories, thoughts and revenge – or perhaps only her fantasies about it – are all equally real. The camera, often coming quite close to her and frequently taking on her perspective, as well as the audio track, which interlaces language, sounds, music and singing to an impressive soundtrack, make us intimate witnesses of Marieke's repression of emotions such as shame, helplessness, sorrow, and weakness. She enters into a relationship with her down-to-earth neighbor and gets pregnant. Without realizing it, Marieke loses control over her life. Premiere of CAN GO THROUGH SKIN (Kan door huit heen, Esther Rots, NL 2009) on January 28 in the presence of the director. Playing everyday until February 3 at Arsenal.