Runtime:
90 minutes
Directed
by: Georges Franju
Starring:
Pierre Brasseur, Alida Valli, Juliette Mayniel, Alexandre Rignault,
Beatrice Altariba
From:
Several French Companies
Watching this film on demand via TCM's free streaming option (if you
have the right cable provider, that is) was a wise decision on my part;
“poetic horror” is what this was.
What a tale that was spun here: a doctor's reckless driving results in his young adult daughter's face becoming disfigured; haunted by guilt, he attempts a face transplant to make the love of his life beautiful again. As face transplants are only now starting to become successful in the real world, you can probably guess how well this goes... and oh yeah, the donors who are providing the faces are unwilling; he has an assistant trick pretty girls into this scenario, before their visages are ruined forever.
The French were inspired by Hammer horror so some people decided to create one of their own, only of course it was more French than what they were doing in the UK. There is plenty of mood and atmosphere to go along with the Francophile style and the movie takes its time to unfurl its story. You get to know the main players before things get rolling. It was a feat that the doctor is not an entirely unsympathetic figure despite the way that he butchers innocent girls... along with experimenting on animals as a way to practice. But usually he did not have my sympathy as he committed those heinous acts. He is not all out of hope as he repeatedly attempts this procedure, damn the collateral damage done to others.
The creepiest moments were either the mask that the daughter (Christiane) wears-it is human-like but as it's frozen in one position, talk about Uncanny Valley-or one surgery becoming much more graphic than I was expecting. I understand that at the time some fainted due to that gruesome moment. The doctor and his assistant are both pretty vile in what they due for Christiane's sake; the daughter herself is easy to feel sorry for. She is trapped in the house, is traumatized by her own appearance, and isn't in love with living. In fact, you could say that she spent so much time believing all the lies to keep the dream alive... now it makes her sad and makes her mad at truth...
For years I've known of the creepy poster for the film; Eyes Without a Face is a chiller well worth seeing.
What a tale that was spun here: a doctor's reckless driving results in his young adult daughter's face becoming disfigured; haunted by guilt, he attempts a face transplant to make the love of his life beautiful again. As face transplants are only now starting to become successful in the real world, you can probably guess how well this goes... and oh yeah, the donors who are providing the faces are unwilling; he has an assistant trick pretty girls into this scenario, before their visages are ruined forever.
The French were inspired by Hammer horror so some people decided to create one of their own, only of course it was more French than what they were doing in the UK. There is plenty of mood and atmosphere to go along with the Francophile style and the movie takes its time to unfurl its story. You get to know the main players before things get rolling. It was a feat that the doctor is not an entirely unsympathetic figure despite the way that he butchers innocent girls... along with experimenting on animals as a way to practice. But usually he did not have my sympathy as he committed those heinous acts. He is not all out of hope as he repeatedly attempts this procedure, damn the collateral damage done to others.
The creepiest moments were either the mask that the daughter (Christiane) wears-it is human-like but as it's frozen in one position, talk about Uncanny Valley-or one surgery becoming much more graphic than I was expecting. I understand that at the time some fainted due to that gruesome moment. The doctor and his assistant are both pretty vile in what they due for Christiane's sake; the daughter herself is easy to feel sorry for. She is trapped in the house, is traumatized by her own appearance, and isn't in love with living. In fact, you could say that she spent so much time believing all the lies to keep the dream alive... now it makes her sad and makes her mad at truth...
For years I've known of the creepy poster for the film; Eyes Without a Face is a chiller well worth seeing.
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