Eyes Without a Face

Though EYES WITHOUT A FACE is indeed a horror film, it is also a dark tragedy. Doctor Genessier (Pierre Brasseur) and his daughter, Christiane (Edith Scob) were involved in a terrible accident, leaving Christiane in the condition suggested by the title. Now, her father is driven to fix what he has done. He is aided by his faithful cohort, Louise (Alida Valli), who lures women to their fate.

Through hideous trial and error, involving several unwary, female "subjects", Genessier is willing to destroy others in order to restore his daughter's beauty. What he really seeks is redemption, and relief from his own feeling of unfathomable guilt. His obsession to restore what he has broken makes him oblivious to all else. For Genessier, the end truly does justify the means.

For her part, Christiane is a virtual prisoner in their enormous house, doomed to wear a doll-like mask, and wander about like a ghost. Not so surprisingly, this all leads to a catastrophic conclusion. This film shocked audiences and inspired a generation of filmmakers. It holds up solidly to this day...

This film is dark and somber with a spare, eerie music score that suits perfectly the macabre, surreal story. A brilliant but deranged surgeon, having caused his daughter's disfigurement in a car accident, loses touch with reality and tries to restore her beauty in a most repulsive manner. Undeterred by failure, the mad doctor continues his gruesome work, hoping to find a miracle cure that will reconstruct the girl's facial features and also relieve him of his tremendous burden of guilt. The once-lovely girl realizes that she will never enjoy a normal life or see her beloved fiancé again, and her mute telephone calls to him just to hear his voice show how empty and lonely her life has become. There are some scenes that are horribly graphic but quite well done and a few moments that are poignant and touching amid the cruelty and butchery of the movie's central theme. Each character in this grim, unhappy feature is victimized in some fashion, but in spite of its subject matter, this cult classic is lean, first-rate storytelling.

George Franju's "Yeux Sans Visage" is extremely slow yet absolutely riveting. The direction is masterful and Pierre Brasseur is superb as the dedicated doctor whose love for his daughter leads him to commit unspeakable crimes.

The cold, sinister atmosphere of the film will seep into your bones and you may find it hard to look at the screen when the central skin-removal operation takes place - this is an extraordinarily grisly sequence for its time, lent all the more power by the cold, matter-of-fact direction and acting.

In a film full of haunting images, you will find the last one unforgettable.

Why can't modern directors make horror films as good as this? It deals with a potentially lurid, gory subject-matter with masterly subtlety and skill.

A brilliant surgeon, Dr. Génessier, helped by his assistant Louise, kidnaps nice young women. He removes their faces and tries to graft them onto the head on his beloved daughter Christiane, whose face has been entirely spoiled in a car crash.

The mask was really good. The way it is blank, but clearly fits to the contours of her face... it completely destroys her identity, makes it like she does not even exist as a person. I would not go so far as to say she looks worse with it on than off, but it makes her less than human for sure.

While some of the story is a bit slow, it is overall a quite strong story... part horror, part drama and part detective story. I am not surprised that many horror historians consider it among the greatest films ever made in the genre.

Georges Franju's version of a mad scientist trying to play God tells about a brilliant but controlling and obsessive doctor who is trying to restore the face of his own beloved daughter that was horribly disfigured in a car accident caused by his reckless driving. He requires tissues of recently deceased young women that look like his daughter and he is not going to wait for them to die in an accident - he creates the accidents with help of his loyal secretary/nurse/lover/former patient Louise (Alida Valli of "The Third Man") who kidnaps the unsuspecting girls and brings them to the secluded mansion in one of Paris's suburbs where Doctor Génessier is ready to perform the fascinating and horrifying surgeries.

"Eyes without a Face" is a very impressive, classy picture that has inspired many later horror movies. The music by Maurice Jarr adds to the uneasy and creepy atmosphere - it makes you feel like on the never-stopping ominous merry-go-round and you can't get off it.