Eyes Without a Face - Criterion Collection (1962)

A Horror Movie without Any Horror

Fete of Death
This is one of the dullest horror movies I've ever seen--almost as dull as "Carnival of Souls." It was only with great effort on my part that I could keep my eyes open throughout it. Each scene seems prolonged unnecessarily to the point of tedium.

The story, about a doctor trying to save his wife's ruined face with skin grafts that he surgically removes from beautiful women that he imprisons is predictable and offers no suprises. Jess Franco did virtually the same story with more scares in it in "The Awful Dr. Orloff." Granted, "Orloff," not a great movie by any means, came out a year after "Eyes without a Face," but even if it is a rip-off, it has more creepy action to it than the listless "Eyes."

"Eyes" is structurally sound (save for the annoyingly long, ennui-inducing scenes) and the plot is well constructed, and for those reasons I'll give it three stars, but if you're looking for chills or suspense, this isn't the movie for you. It didn't find its way to my subconscious, like an effective horror movie should.

I don't want to give away the ending, but the liberated dogs provide the most excitement in the final scenes of "Eyes without a Face."

--Bryan Cassiday, author of "Fete of Death" November 26, 2008

The Europeans excel at the horror genre

I don't know why this is true, but they do. We owe the birth of the horror film genre in the U.S. to great silent films from Europe such as "The Golem", "Nosferatu", and "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari". American horror has long since lost its luster, usually preferring to center on the totally illogical wanderings of the lone maniac as he hacks teenage girls to pieces. American films show the worst possible outcome as being loss of life or money. European horror knows that isolation and hopelessness can be very horrific for the person suffering it, and the good ones yield a well-told tale with lots of atmosphere. This is one of those films.

This film probably has similarities to Frankenstein, but it is far from a take-off on that film. A megalomaniac doctor has had a car accident in which his only child - a young woman - has been horribly facially disfigured. She literally has no face. Feeling responsible for her fate, the doctor seeks a cure which involves transplanting the facial skin of another young woman to the face of his daughter. In the meantime, he is experimenting on a large kennel of dogs that he keeps. He mentions that anything seems to be possible with the dogs, yet he keeps failing to repair his daughter's face. It is interesting that the doctor seems disturbed more by his failure than by his daughter continually having her hopes raised then dashed, not to mention the fact that she knows the human cost in his unsuccessful operations. It is especially poignant to see the disfigured woman wandering about the large castle that is her home, only her eyes visible behind the mask that she has been given to wear, looking at her portrait prior to the accident, and calling her fiance who has presumed she is dead just to hear his voice.

This film never really found a following because it was originally released as an art house film, but the art house crowd found the surgery scenes hard to take. Thus it was rereleased as a horror film, but the film does not have much of what is traditionally thought of as horror scenes, thus it failed in that niche too. Highly recommended as an addition to your Criterion collection.

Extras include "The Blood of Beasts", Georges Franju's graphic but beautiful poetic 1949 short documentary about Paris slaughterhouses, theatrical trailers, stills gallery of rare production photos and promotional material, new essays by acclaimed novelist Patrick McGrath (Spider, Dr. Haggard's Disease) and writer/film historian David Kalat (Fear Without Frontiers: Horror Cinema Across the Globe, The Strange Case of Dr. Mabuse: A Study of the Twelve Films and Five Novels). October 22, 2008

Masterpiece ? Eh....

I do not regard this as a so-called "masterpiece". To be blunt, I think it's reputation has been helped along all these years by the fact that it's old, in black-and-white, and in French, giving it an arty feel. Granted, it has some good cinematography, making good use of shadow, and it's quiet passages lend it an air of mystery. But a masterpiece ? No, it is not. I think I was intrigued by it up until the non-climactic end. I was left thinking, "That's it ??". I kept expecting a chilly, goose-bumped ending, one that the film's reputation carries with it.
I thought the extra documentary, "Blood of the Beasts", on the disc was more intriguing to watch. July 18, 2008

Don't shield your eyes from this one...

Playing out like a foreign Hitchcock film, `Les Yeux sans Visage' delivers chills with restrained intimacy. There is nothing explicit or gory about this film, just honest fears that creep upon the viewer unsuspectingly. This is not as good as Hitchcock, especially when compared to some of his classics, but it is a decent thriller that will please any fan of that style within genre.

The film follows a brilliant plastic surgeon whose beautiful daughter has been tragically disfigured due to a car accident that was the fault of the doctor. As a way of atonement (as well as a way of displaying his power) he decides to kidnap young beautiful woman and transplant their faces upon that of his daughter so that she can go back to living a normal life. The problem is that the girls he kidnaps end up dying and this causes the police to open investigations about the girl's disappearances.

The scariest element to this movie is the mask that the doctor's daughter Christiane hides behind. Her appearance is haunting, and while nothing but her eyes are visible she emotes so much genuine emotion that the viewer is drawn in by her. Edith Scob does a marvelous job of making her character memorable and sympathetic despite the horrific circumstances. Alida Valli is also chilling as the doctor's assistant Louise, who takes it upon herself to select and lure the doctor's victims. Pierre Brasseur is decent as Docteur Genessier, but he doesn't really chill me like he should have.

The film, like I mentioned, is not as strong as Hitchcock; yet it still draws similarities to his work. The pace is beautifully constructed, and while the film never truly shocks or horrifies us it manages to deliver an unrelenting feeling of madness; which I think is partially due to the fantastic score. The ending is marvelous, truly astonishing to watch and adds so many layers of macabre to the film. After witnessing the ending I had to watch the movie again to notice the small things (especially with regard to Christiane) that I had yet to pick up on.

I certainly recommend this film to any fan of the Hitchcock style of suspense. This is far from your gory aftermath type horror films out today, so if you are expecting lots of jumpy scenes with ample amounts of blood and body parts then this is not the film for you; but if you want a restrained film that builds layers of honest human fear and delivers the unsettling mood of terror than `Les Yeux sans Visage' may just be what you're looking for. May 22, 2008

Dissection of a masterpiece. Dvd features below

In the book jacket of the criterion dvd producer Jules Borkon told director Georges Franju that in the film there would need to be blood. But not too much blood because of French censors, also no animal torture because it upsets the British, and no mad scientists, since the Germans are touchy about the whole Nazi doctor thing.
As Borkon handed Franju a script about a mad doctor that tortures animals while cutting off women's faces. Sound like a challenge?

Luckily this inspired Franju to step his game up to transcend what might have been a B horror movie into a masterpiece. Franju was also in good company on the film with the writing team of Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac who were also the writing team that assisted Hitchcock on Vertigo and Clouzot on Diabolique. Cinematographer Eugen Schufftan to make Franjus vision of realism come to life, Schufftan who had also worked with Fritz Lang and Edgar Ulmer.

Eyes without a face is the story of a Dr. Génessier who is indeed a mad doctor but is not screaming It's Alive, It's Alive like Dr. Frankenstein. On the contrary unlike Dr. Frankenstein he isn't giving life but unknowingly taking his patient's life away. That patient is Christiane Génessie his own daughter whose face was left mangled after a car accident in which her father, as she states was driving insane as he always did.

Dr. Genessie now removes women's faces to transplant to his daughters so she can come from behind a eerie mask she is encouraged to wear. He does this with the help of Louise his assistant who is loyal to the Dr. for giving back her own face through surgery.

Patrick McGrath an author who did a write up on the Criterion case jacket states that the Dr. is not motivated by love but by guilt in creating these horrible acts. I personally did not see that, but a man who had lost his sole and was obsessed with the work itself, after thinking he finally made his daughters face perfect again he stated you can't put a price on that. Christiane herself told Louise that she is a godsend to him to have as a guinea pig as she pleaded for her to kill her. However the Dr. does show moments of being human when he helps a boy, this apparently is what angered our American censors who didn't mind the blood and carnage but giving the Dr. compassion was inexcusable and was one of the cuts made to the film originally.

The film as a horror movie is filed with dread, when a girl is lured back to the house of the Dr. and realizes she made a mistake I could see a lot of our torture films being influenced here like Hostel II for example. However Eyes without a face has motive and plot. And even for 1959 there are moments that make you squirm as the first realistic documentary style face removal, and after his daughter's successful face transplant goes wrong showing photos of her face's deterioration after different amounts of time elapse.

The film is also filled with metaphors and makes you think. For example if this surgery were for the good but horrible acts to a few had to happen in order to benefit many is that alright? Sounds a bit familiar.

Is Christiane's plastic mask symbolic for the masks people are encouraged to put on each day?

Perhaps it symbolizes the mask the director Franju was encouraged to put on this film and the struggle it must have been to rise above it as Christiane must rise up against the evil in her father.

Are parents that try to sculpt and mold their children into what they want because they think it's best are they stopping that child from really living?

I could go on and on, this is a great horror film and great film for any genre. As his film suggests beauty is only skin deep but directors like Franju show how deep a genre hated by many critics such as horror can go.

SPECIAL FEATURES
- New Restored HD transfer (looked pristine
-Blood of the Beasts, Franju's 1949 short doc about the slaughterhouses of Paris
-Archival interviews w/ Franjo on horror, cinema, and the making of blood of the beasts
-Excert from les grands peres du crime, a doc features eyes without a faces writers Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac (Diabolique, Vertigo)
-Theatrical Trailers
-Stills gallery of rare production photos and promo material
-New essays by novelist Patrick McGrath and writer and film historian David Kalat (which i refer to throughout the review)

April 2, 2008

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