Admittedly, it sounds strange at first glance. Almost wacky. Or, as Tristan (Jonas Dassler) says to his girlfriend Leyla (Mala Emde) right at the beginning of the event: “I mean, we agree that it’s all totally strange!?!”
That’s it. Because the two travel to Leyla’s childhood friend Stella (Edgar Selge) on an island where people can swap bodies. And the viewers who experience this in the film “Out of My Skin” can even understand it.
How can that succeed? Through great acting. And through a very special atmosphere that director Alex Schaad conjures up in his first feature film: in a mysterious place where couples come together in the last days of summer to see the world through someone else’s eyes.
The identity of man
But behind what initially sounds like an exciting, fun experiment that you try and then forget, there is much more to it. It’s about the question: What actually constitutes a person’s identity? Is it like Stella says, “You are who you are because you have the body you have”? But what if the harmony between body and mind changes? And if I could really slip into the skin of my beloved counterpart: What does that do to me – and to our relationship?
Quite a lot, no doubt. Leyla and Tristan find out when they meet Fabienne (Maryam Zaree) and Mo (Dimitrij Schaad) and dare the first exchange ritual with them. Anyone who thinks that the old familiarity will remain is mistaken. Because the perception in the foreign body not only changes the external behavior, but also the attitude towards life. Appearance, gender, age – none of that matters anymore.
No wonder Leyla doesn’t want to go back to her old self. The longing for another body becomes overwhelming, the situation comes to a head, a dramatic end seems inevitable. And yet there is a solution – which in retrospect seems almost logical when two people love each other and get involved with each other without limits.
From Venice to Saarbrücken
“Aus meine Haut” celebrated its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival 2022, the German premiere was just the opening film at the Max Ophüls Preis (MOP) Film Festival in Saarbrücken. “It’s like coming home,” said director Alex Schaad, who has been honored twice at the MOP and whose medium-length film “Invention of Trust” won the 2016 student Oscar. He also wrote the screenplay for “Aus meine Haut” together with his brother Dimitrij.
Does he wish it were actually possible to switch into another person’s body? When asked this question, Alex Schaad initially hesitated: “Honestly, I’m not quite sure,” he told the dpa. “But I think the bad thing about humans is that if you could, it would be a week before it was misused – for some very, very malicious purpose.”
Aus meine Haut, Germany 2022, 103 minutes, FSK from 12, by Alex Schaad, with Mala Emde, Jonas Dassler, Maryam Zaree, Dimitrij Schaad, Edgar Selge
