The Magic Skin

Summary

In a candle-lit garret where violin strings sigh louder than the landlord’s knocks, Ralph Valentine—last scion of a decaying house of music—mourns a father who wore nobility like a frayed concert jacket while the bailiffs circled below. Joseph, the mute custodian of their illusions, finally cracks the silence: the last note has sounded; the heir must flee to Paris with a purse of servant’s sous and the tatters of a reputation. The city of gaslight and absinthe greets him with the Gardins’ modest hospitality, yet temptation lounges in velvet just across the boulevard—Uncle Victor, a powdered satyr who offers champagne in exchange for renouncing the muse. Ralph clings to his art and to Pauline Gardin’s moon-pale devotion, but the demimonde beckons through Mme. Flora Margot, a siren upholstered in diamonds and ennui. One pawned future later, our virtuoso is awash in IOUs, Pauline’s dowry evaporating like cognac in a croupier’s palm. When Flora’s gaze drifts to richer game—Victor’s yacht, Victor’s silk, Victor’s cocaine—Ralph’s despair ricochets through midnight streets until an antiquarian labyrinth swallows him. Behind a sliding panel, a liminal Christ bleeds ochre; on a dusty plinth lies a parchment of human hide inked with Sanskrit that mutates into English before his sleepless eyes: wish, and the world kneels; pay, and your own flesh shrinks toward the grave. A dealer with sulphur on his breath proffers the covenant; Ralph, hearing Flora’s distant laugh, signs in scarlet. From this moment the film becomes a fever chart: every granted appetite—gold, applause, revenge—corrodes the skin, curls it like burning parchment, while the calendar leafs fly off the wall. Pauline’s sacrificial love, Flora’s hollow seduction, Victor’s gilded corruption—all are mere chords in a danse macabre that ends on a quai at dawn, Ralph clutching a scrap no bigger than a postage stamp, whispering a final wish that may be mercy or may be murder.

Synopsis

Ralph Valentine and his father are musicians of proud and aristocratic ways and are so wrapped up in their art as to be oblivious of their poverty. Their faithful servant, Joseph, has been wont to withhold the threats of debtors from them, but there comes a time, shortly after the father's death, that Ralph must be told the truth. Joseph tells everything and suggests that Ralph accept money that he has saved and go to Paris, where he may show the world his art. Ralph does so and goes to live with the Gardins. His uncle Victor Valentine, wealthy and fond of gay life, invites him to live at his home provided he will leave behind his foolish dreams and fancies. Ralph refuses, preferring to remain where he is. He wins the love of Pauline Gardin and is quite content. Through his Bohemian acquaintances he meets Mme. Flora Margot. This tired, blasé young woman makes a pet of him and enraptured by her dazzling beauty he longs to satisfy her every desire. Attempting to do so, he becomes indebted to impatient creditors, who demand immediate payment or his arrest. Pauline, ignorant of his infatuation with Flora, assists him out of his present difficulties with her own savings. Realizing Flora's fast waning affection, he resolves to regain it by buying a certain antique necklace which he knows she covets. The antique dealer demands an exorbitant price which he is unable to pay. He is further disheartened when one day he finds her in the arms of his uncle, and he rushes forth intent upon suicide. About to throw himself into the river, a vision of Flora appears before him and he resolves to secure the necklace at any cost. The dealer of the antique shop is busy when he enters and Ralph wanders into a room where there are curios upon the walls and tables. Curiously examining the various articles, his hand suddenly touches a secret panel which springs back, revealing a marvelous painting of the Christ. A spiritual influence comes over him, so profound is its impression upon his mind. While awaiting the attendance of the dealer, he becomes greatly interested in a peculiar skin which has writing upon it in Sanskrit. Sitting down he becomes drowsy and falls asleep. The writing changes into English, which reads that the possessor of the skin has only to wish and his wish will be granted, but that with each desire the skin shall grow smaller and the days of the possessor grow less until death is the penalty at the last wish. The dealer approaches and Ralph is amazed to behold him now in the form of a devil. The devil asks if he desires the skin and Ralph, fearfully undecided, suddenly thinks of Flora and agrees to take it. What are his desires and his terrible anguish as the talisman grows smaller have been woven into a story of weird and mystic situations.