In Her Skin


In Her Skin is a 2009 Australian drama movie written and directed by Simone North. The film is based on the true story of the murder of 15-year-old Rachel Barber, who went missing on 1 March 1999. It was later discovered that Barber was murdered by a former neighbour and family babysitter, Caroline Reed Robertson.
The film's story is told from alternating points of view; the victim, the victim's parents, and the murderer. Flashbacks reveal details about all of the characters, including the motive of the murderer. In Her Skin is inspired by the book Perfect Victim by Elizabeth Southall and Megan Norris.

Plot

The film begins when 15-year-old Rachel Barber misses her train home one night to meet with her father, Mike. Mike then relays this unusual action to his wife and Rachel's mother, Elizabeth. Initially only moderately concerned, hours drag on and the Barber family begin a frantic search for her.
It is established that Rachel is a well lauded dancer in her neighbourhood, a confident and gifted girl who follows her passion of dancing and is loved unconditionally by her moderately liberal parents and her caring boyfriend, Emmanuel "Manni" Carella.
The next day, the Barbers report the incident to the police. The officer in charge quickly shows he is indifferent to the idea of yet another teenage runaway case: Rachel had gone missing with her backpack, with several of her most favourite possessions, making it look like she was leaving. As a result, the support he and his colleagues give is minor and distant. Everybody in Rachel's circle of friends and extended family is astounded by this story as she was believed to be very content in her life. Despite the pleas of the Barber family, the police take the case lightly and refuse an extensive search for their daughter.
The film then focuses on the life of Caroline Reed Robertson; a former neighbour and babysitter of Rachel and the Barber family. Caroline is a disturbed teenager who has struggled all her life with an elevated state of depression due to inferiority complex and parental rejection. Caroline is overweight, epileptic and has extreme self-loathing. She is very self-conscious about her weight and remains constantly apprehensive about going to school, where she is bullied.
She tries to seek comfort in her rich and successful but estranged father, David Reid, by writing him endearing letters informing him about her day-to-day troubles and anxieties. After David divorces Caroline's mother, Gail, she seeks comfort in her sympathetic neighbour, Elizabeth Barber. Distraught Caroline follows her mother to the neighbour's house and sees the happy household of the Barbers. There she notices their daughter, Rachel, a much younger and beautiful girl in a great outfit practising a beautiful dance. She immediately sees her as an embodiment of the perfect person she wants to be. She develops an obsession to study her and be like her. At her home, she continually practices how to be best friends with Rachel but fails to confront her in reality. Caroline distances herself from her depressed mother and tries to be closer to her father by putting her flaws on the table so he can comfort her. However, David's indifference towards Caroline grows with time; he sees her only as a liability, and minimises her anger and tantrums.
As Caroline grows up to be independent in her ever-disturbed state of mind, she secludes herself in a dingy apartment and ignores everyone who actually cares about her, her mother and her sympathetic friends at work. She focuses on two people whom she admires and wants affection from: her callous father, and the unaware Rachel. While the Barbers forget about Caroline as her family moves away, Caroline continually observes Rachel and keeps making notes in order to emulate her in every way. She keeps failing, and as a result suffers ever more self-loathing. Caroline gets frustrated one day and devises a plan to murder Rachel and steal the identity of the girl she wants to be — effectively "replacing" her with herself.
She gathers herself and in her private, insecure state of mind puts on a confident public face. Very convincingly, she lures Rachel into her trap by asking her to take part in a confidential research study that would award Rachel with $500 and much beautiful clothing to take away. Young and naive Rachel is attracted to the offer and readily agrees to Caroline's seemingly harmless offer. In the meantime, Rachel enjoys time with Manni; she mentions to him her confidential high-paying job while ogling a pair of expensive shoes. Despite his concern, she refuses to divulge to him the nature of the job. She plans to execute the job, earn enough money to buy the shoes, and tell him all about it later.
Caroline takes Rachel to her apartment, gets her to relax and casually socialise over drinks, and then meditate as a part of the study. And then Caroline brutally strangles her to death.
When Rachel goes missing, Manni eventually reveals to Elizabeth about the mysterious job. Upon learning this, the Barbers strongly believe their daughter's disappearance to be a kidnapping by a local brothel; they attempt to coax the local police to investigate further. Once again, the effort fails due to the police's indifference. A few days later, an analyst with the police's Missing Persons department, Max DePyle, notices the missing persons posters of Rachel all over Melbourne. DePyle himself is a devoted father; he dedicates himself to aiding the Barbers as much as he can, as he senses something is wrong with Rachel's case.
DePyle calls in a favor with a friend at Australia's Most Wanted. He is able to get special attention from the media, and more people come forward to comfort and help the Barber family in pursuit of their missing daughter.
Caroline dumps Rachel's body at David's farm and feels liberated from the self-imposed pressure to be like Rachel. She believes her plan to be flawless and makes preparations to flee under Rachel's name. She is still moderately insecure, but her depression begins to ebb and she feels smug to be in control. She calls the Barbers' residence, showing fake concern in order to gather knowledge about their search. She is taken aback when one of the witnesses comes forward describing Rachel's last contact with someone who looked like Caroline. Caroline's mother gets suspicious and informs her ex-husband and Caroline's father about her fears and her concern for Caroline. The police also figure out Caroline's possible involvement, and Detective Neil Paterson and DePyle come with a squad to apprehend Caroline for questioning. Caroline succumbs to the immeasurable pressure, collapses and is hospitalised. Her father, already disturbed by what Caroline may have done, kindly asks her to admit the truth to the police, saying that if she does she will be the daughter he always wanted. Moved to tears by this, Caroline confesses to Paterson that she killed Rachel. Paterson arrests Caroline and charges her with Rachel's murder.
In a tense and quiet scene; a solemn Patterson and DePyle come to the Barber household and reveal that Rachel is dead and her body recovered, and that Caroline, her killer, is in custody. The film ends with Caroline in prison awaiting trial, and Rachel's funeral being attended by her family, boyfriend, friends and many others, mourning Rachel's misfortune and death.

Cast

In Her Skin was inspired by the 2004 book Perfect Victim by Elizabeth Southall, the pen name of Elizabeth Barber, Rachel Barber's mother, and Megan Norris, an investigative reporter who as a court reporter followed the case of the murder of Rachel Barber. As alluded to in the film, Robertson went on to trial: after pleading guilty, she was sentenced and jailed in 2000 before being paroled in January 2015.
The film was shot in 2008 in Brisbane and Melbourne under the title How to Change in 9 Weeks. It was the directorial debut for Simone North. She had worked extensively in the film and television industry as a Creative Producer and writer. Director Sidney Lumet mentored In Her Skin director Simone North prior to production.
The Film Finance Corporation invested $3.02 million in the film. Screen Queensland cashflowed the distribution guarantee from Reliant Pictures, the distributor, which was to be repaid 12 months after delivery. Liberty Films bankrolled the Icon distribution guarantee, which was to be repaid when the film was delivered. Neither Reliant Pictures nor Icon paid these guarantees.

Post-production controversies

The film was re-cut by the international distributor, Reliant Pictures International, without informing the filmmakers. The film's producers objected to this, because it broke contractual obligations to the Barbers. Also, as it was based on a true story, the re-cut was potentially defamatory.
Thom Mount of Reliant Pictures was forced to destroy the cut, as the American and Australian Writers Guild and American and Australian Directors Guild, backed by contractual obligations, found the cut to be illegal. Omnilab, who was working with Reliant Pictures and were involved in the recut and part of the RFFF loan with Reliant, refused to repay Screen Queensland the $2.3 million loan. It has never been paid. Screen Queensland attempted to recover its money through the courts, suing both Omnilab Media and Mapp Group Holdings, who had underwritten Reliant’s distribution guarantee. The PFTC eventually settled out of court with Omnilab. Film Finances paid for and aided the re-cut with the American Producer.
Goldcrest Films was given the film by Tony Cavanaugh, the Producer of the Film for international distribution, and screened it at markets in 2011 under the title I Am You. Icon films refused to release the film theatrically in Australia and ended the contract as the film remained as per the script, not the re-cut.

Release

The film screened at the Brisbane International Film Festival in 2012. It was screened on Foxtel in Australia on 2013.

Music

"Caroline", "What You Want" and "Ocean" were written and performed by John Butler Trio, Family Music, Jarrah Records. "Dawning" and "Dying Swan" were performed by Mark Seymour and Cameron McKenzie. Score music was arranged and conducted by Nico Muhly and performed by Amiina.

Awards

won the Best Actress award at the Milan International Film Festival 2010 for her performance as Caroline Reed Robertson.