Classics Chat: Eyes Without A Face
A fractured fairytale of madness and identity
What’s Eyes Without A Face About?
Brilliant surgeon Dr. Génessier (Pierre Brasseur) has just developed a surgery that will change the world. His heterograft surgery makes it possible to transfer living tissue from one person to another. The medical community is astounded at the implications of this procedure, and how it could change the lives of countless patients.
Dr. Génessier’s interest in the surgery, however, is more personal. After driving dangerously, the doctor crashed his car, disfiguring his daughter Christiane (Edith Scob). Driven mad by guilt and the tantalizing idea that he can rectify his mistakes, Génessier developed the surgery.
There’s only one problem: The heterograft only works on living tissue. That means that he has to find girls who resemble Christiane, rip their faces off and stitch them to his daughter. So far, the surgery hasn’t worked, but the doctor believes he’s just one more surgery away from success.
Helping in his endeavors is Louise (Alida Valli), a nurse who is loyal to Génessier after he saved her from disfigurement. She tracks down unsuspecting women, drugs them, and preps them for surgery. As Louise and Génessier murder their way through the young female population of France, Christiane is stuck in a death mask. Her frozen visage is driving her mad. She longs for the life that was stolen from her and writhes in the guilt of what her father is doing.
Can Christiane’s face be saved? Or is she doomed to be forever eyes without a face?
What Makes Eyes Without A Face a Classic?
Director Georges Franju wanted to take a genre that was often dismissed (horror) and elevate it to high art. When he set out to make Eyes Without a Face, he chose a pulpy horror novel and essentially stripped it down to its foundations. Hiring legendary writers Boileau-Narcejac (that’s Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac, the team that gave the world Vertigo and Diabolique) to construct a script that featured more intrigue and less mindless shock content, Franju set about to make his horror film.
In this way, Eyes Without a Face can feel like an art installation rather than a horror movie. The stark soundtrack, austere sets, and mannered performances work together to create a sense that something is not quite right on screen. The film unsettles rather than provokes. It’s more an exercise in gothic poetry than a traditional Michael Myers slasher — although someone is walking around in a disturbing white mask.
But while the film might have been more focused on art over titillation, there’s some pretty gnarly images. The facial surgery scene was reported to cause viewers to faint. The images of failed surgeries slowly rotting away on Christiane’s face is both heartbreaking and horrifying to look at. Any glimmer of hope that the movie could end happily seems to grow necrotic with Christiane’s transplant.
Franju makes the whole film feel more like a poetic fever dream than any sort of horror-movie fodder. As such, it feels as if the audience themselves are succumbing to the madness felt by Christiane and her father. Cinematographer Eugen Schüfftan, who worked with icon Fritz Lang on Metropolis, lends his German Expressionism background to the shots. Long shadows and crisp whites make every frame of this film a work of nightmarish art.
The film, unsurprisingly, was hated by critics and audiences upon initial release. Most reviewers dismissed it as being a horror film that was needlessly disturbing. American audiences didn’t even get a chance to see the film as released. The film was edited and released as The Horror Chamber of Dr. Faustus (note: there isn’t a single character named Faustus in the film) along with Japanese monster flick The Manster as a double feature.
When the film was finally taken seriously (and a proper cut shown in the USA), Eyes Without a Face became an instant classic. It’s poetic take on common horror themes makes this a movie that’s haunting rather than shocking.
Incidentally, besides directing one of the most beatufilly rendered movies about madness ever made, Franju is also a legend in France for co-founding the Cinematheque Française, a film archive dedicated to preserving important works of French cinema (like Eyes Without a Face).
Anything Cringe?
There’s a vague hint of misogyny running throughout the film, but as Franju equates that misogyny to the monstrous actions in the movie, it’s hardly offensive.
The cringiest part of this film might just be its initial reception. Seriously, legend has it that an English film critic was nearly fired for daring to print a positive review when the film was initially released.
Verdict
If you’re a fan of German Expressionist fare like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, consider checking out this film that’s still underappreciated in the USA. Hell, rent Manster while you’re at it for the authentic US theater experience and make it the most bizarre double-feature you’ve ever seen.
