Shed My Skin [Aus Der Haut] *** (2015, Merlin Rose, Claudia Michelsen, Johann von Bülow) – Classic Movie Review 13,370

Director Stefan Schaller’s 2015 German film Shed My Skin [Aus Der Haut] stars Merlin Rose as teenage German boy Milan, who falls for his best friend truly, madly, deeply, and thus finds he is gay at the age of 17. 

Director Stefan Schaller’s 2015 German film Shed My Skin [Aus Der Haut] stars Merlin Rose, Claudia Michelsen, and Johann von Bülow.

The teenage German boy Milan (Merlin Rose) fancies his best friend, falling truly, madly, deeply for him, and thus finds he is gay at the age of 17. The consequences for him and his family are pretty catastrophic, but there is also liberation as he starts to understand why he has been so down and rebellious.

When his best friend rejects him he gets drunk, steals his dad’s car, and has a near escape from what could have been a near fatal car crash. He tries out being gay, getting picked up by a much older man, who also rejects him. For a boy with so much going for him, he doesn’t really have much luck.

It is a quite gruelling film with a lot of pain and a lot of sorrow, so much hurt and anger, focusing intently on the boy but also greatly on the troubled parents, nice though misunderstanding though they are.  They’re people of good will, he’s a nice kid, and they’re all making a terrible hash of everything. It all seems so simple, really, but everyone is making a crisis out of what they wrongly see is a problem. Everybody’s getting it so wrong, it could even be fatal.

Of course there’s some crappy homophobia in the classroom, and among the other grown-ups, very middle-class homophobia that is, stifling and stinking. There’s a real nasty little stench of it. The parents, though, are hugely relieved when Milan comes out to them. He’s officially ‘normal’ to them now, though they rethink it later, and dial their joy down a notch or two. Oh dear!

Merlin Rose gives an intense, compelling performance as Milan, and Claudia Michelsen and Johann von Bülow are extremely convincing as the parents. The boy acts in a crazy way, but then he’s 17, while the parents don’t seem any wiser. It is an emotionally complex drama, credible but complicated and quite challenging, wisely and thoughtfully written by screen-writer Jan Braren.

Director: Stefan Schaller.

Writer: Jan Braren.

Stars: Merlin Rose, Claudia Michelsen, Johann von Bülow.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,370

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