Photography by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders
Makeup by Nick Barose
Art Direction by Natalie Stoclet and Timothy Greenfield-Sanders
Kim Cattrall’s career has been the quintessential representation of the female experience in many forms. From her role unmasking sexuality as Samantha Jones in Sex and the City, to her role re-examining life as Divina in her new hit show Sensitive Skin, she has been able to capture the essence of the female condition.
Cattrall’s quest to create an American adaptation of the British series Sensitive Skin began in 2006. The Netflix series tells an unexplored story of the complexities a woman has in this specific period of life. A time when, Cattrall explains, “Your kids grow up and have their own lives and all of a sudden you think, ‘Wow, who am I now and who do I want to be?’” The show has become Cattrall’s platform as executive producer and leading actress to create one of the first truly multidimensional female characters in this stage of life on television today.
“What I am trying to do, especially as a producer, is to reflect some of the questions and challenges I am going through as a woman. I wanted to exercise this not by saying I have the answers, but by examining the questions themselves in a way that you can in television over a period of time,” she says. Her character Divina, in seeking change, moves from suburbia to the city with her narcissistic husband Al (played by Don McKellar). Their new urban life and barren luxury condo are representative of the blank canvas that is this chapter for Divina. Her complex character currently finds herself lost in an unhappy marriage, unfulfilling job, empty apartment and a sense of dissatisfaction with where she is in life. The path to rediscovery proves to be a difficult feat.
Divina’s journey thus far takes her through a series of encounters with men that tempt her desire for change. Each man poses an essential question her character is looking to answer. Am I being noticed? Am I being appreciated? Am I sexually fulfilled? Am I happy? Throughout the season Divina’s doubts are informed by the insightful delusions she has. They act as a catalyst for clarity in moments when life confronts her with complicated questions. “Her delusions are a wonderful device because it’s a time for Divina to look at what’s really going on for her right now,” Cattrall explains.
