Without a doubt, Jonathan Glazer's surreal horror movie Under The Skin starring Scarlett Johansson is by far the closest thing to a Stanley Kubrick-esque film that's ever been made since the filmmaker's passing. It is loosely based on a novel of the same name by Michel Faber. This film has cinematography that is clearly inspired by 2001: A Space Odyssey—a Kubrick film with similar use of sharp contrast in color of lighting and set design colors or patterns, and extreme closeups to convey a sense of claustrophobia. Marvel's Black Widow star gives one of the best performances of her entire career, and much like a Kubrick film, Under The Skin is intentionally vague but says and shows just enough for the viewers to come up with all kinds of possible meaning and interpretations behind the film.
In the film, Scarlett Johansson plays a black widow-like, alien seductress who is on a mission. She hunts the streets of Northern Scotland where the citizens have very thick Scottish accents that play well with the idea of Johansson's character being alien, as the accents are very hard to understand much like how all things humans do and say are confusing to someone who is alien. What is she looking for?—unsuspecting males who Johansson lures into her large, white van with the promise of pleasure. She leads them to another dimension or void, and mostly without hesitation, they follow her even though their environment is dangerous and Johansson is clearly a predator.
The men sink into a black, liquified goop that cages them in a void where their bodies are broken down (all while they are alive) and their innards are vacuum sucked out of their skin once they have been completely processed. Their meat is sent back to the alien's home planet, and all that remains of the men are lifeless skin-shells. This could be seen as a negative view of humans, and how all we are under our skin is a pile of meat. The remainder of the film shows how emotionless Scarlett Johansson's character is as she preys on humans (specifically men) without any empathy, and she even at one point carelessly leaves a baby on a beach by itself to die after its parents horrifically drown trying to save their dog, all while Johansson does nothing but watch (rejecting a human motherly instinct).
But after meeting an extremely deformed man who's not quite like the others and is more aware of the reality he's living in, Johansson begins showing signs of humanity. Another male alien motorcyclist, who appears to be a boss of some kind, seemingly has the responsibility of making sure the alien seductresses do not show any signs of emotion, otherwise they would be deemed 'defective,' a comment on how people reject others who show signs of emotion when they get to know them.
The final act of Under The Skin shows Johansson unsuccessfully trying to become more human and discovering her identity, but the downfall of finding her humanity has led Johansson to become vulnerable to the reality of being a human woman, and a man tries to attack her.
The man accidentally rips some of the alien's fake skin suit and sees what is underneath her skin, and (horrified) he dowses her in gasoline then lights her on fire. Johansson dies, and her ashes fall to the ground. Jonathan Glazer wanted real reactions from the men Johansson interacted with, so the crew put tiny cameras in a van and watched what would happen when a pretty woman and stranger (a disguised Scarlett Johansson) tried to lure them into her scary van. Most of the men (not actors) were so surprised that such a beautiful woman was hitting on them, that they carelessly got into her van without question.
There are so many interpretations about this movie one could make, such as it being about a woman trying to live in a man's world and behave like him (having emotionless and casual sexual relationships without any cares) but realizes that underneath her skin, she is different and more emotional than the men she desires to be like, which causes an identity crisis. One possible reason the woman (as an interpretation of the film) is more emotional than the men she lures is because she—as a woman—has to think about the possibility and responsibility of creating life.
Scarlett Johansson's character has its first interaction with life after she is created and enters Earth through the van. She is replacing the other alien seductress who was deemed defective after showing emotion (shown by the tear falling from her eye). But there is a small, moving thing on the other woman's body: an ant, which can be a symbol of life and creation. The van in this world acts as a vehicle in more than one way, as it seems like a door to Earth (or life). When Johansson gains empathy and emotions, she tries to leave behind her responsibilities (the van and capturing men).
Thinking of the van as a place where the aliens are created (or birthed), this can be seen as her wanting to leave behind her responsibility of having to create life or have children and be more carefree like men. But as she discovers, she cannot be like a man, because she is one with nature and creation (as shown by the effect of Johansson's body imposed and faded on top of the green, tree-filled forest). However, this could also be seen as Johansson longing to be one with the Earth and all it has to offer. But the reality is, sometimes in life someone's purpose is just to suffer and die.
This is why the alien seductresses either are decommissioned or die after they become human, because they begin to feel fear and sadness and all the bad that can sometimes accompany life, and are even sometimes killed by other humans violently. Under The Skin is a surreal and dismal look at what it means to be human and be a part of the circle of life and death, as well as typical societal cisgender roles. When Johansson shows emotion (unlike the men in the movie) she shows herself to be more than a sexual, unthinking, unfeeling object (or pile of meat) which is why she is rejected by the man who attacks her, and he kills her out of confusion and fearful hate for what is different than him.
Although this movie can have some very controversial topics and themes, it is only so if it is viewed that way. The great thing about Under The Skin—like Kubrick's The Shining—is its ambiguity. This could also be seen as a movie about how our experiences define us as humans, and even though there is bad in the world, all the events (good or bad) in life color people with emotions and thoughts like the golden rays of sunshine, and it's beautiful. This interpretation comes from the golden imagery of Johansson superimposed on top of video after video showing all the different people experiencing life like a Gustav Klimt painting with gold leaf.