Eyes Without a Face (1960) [Blu-ray]
Drama | Horror
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Tagline: Beautiful women were the victims of his FIENDISH FACIALS!!!
A surgeon causes an accident which leaves his daughter disfigured, and goes to extremes to give her a new face.
User Review: 18 November 1999 | by BRAINIAC-2 – Eyes Without A Face is a groundbreaking and trendsetting artistic nightmare! The plot of this film has often been copied but never has it been done in such an eerily effective style. The sight of the
masked daughter playing with the dogs evokes many emotions in the viewer. There are shots in this movie that will stay with you long after you have seen it! Heavily recommended!
Summary: There are shots in this movie that will stay with you long after you have seen it!
Storyline: After causing an accident that left his daughter Christiane severely disfigured, the brilliant surgeon Dr. Génessier works tirelessly to give the girl a new face. He does so however by kidnapping young women and
attempting face transplants. He has been woefully unsuccessful to date. The doctor's world begins to collapse around him when his daughter realizes just what he has been doing. Written by garykmcd
Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov, October 22, 2013 Georges Franju's "Les yeux sans visage" a.k.a. "Eyes Without a Face" (1960) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc
include original trailers for the film; excerpt from an episode of the French television series Cinema de notre temps; exclusive new video interview with actress Edith Scob; excerpt from an episode from the French television show Cine-parade; Georges
Franju's documentary Le sang des betes a.k.a Blood of the Beasts (1949); and more. The release also arrives with an illustrated booklet featuring Patrick McGrath's essay "Appearances to the Contrary" and David Kalat's essay "The Unreal Reality". In
French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
The main protagonist in Georges Franju's legendary horror film Eyes Without a Face is a mad surgeon (Pierre Brasseur, Children of Paradise, Le Quai Des Brumes) who is secretly trying to rebuild the badly disfigured face of his
daughter (Edith Scob, Judex/Nuits Rouges, Holy Motors). He works with a very elegant assistant (Alida Valli, Senso, Suspiria) who routinely abducts young girls whose beautiful faces are later on used to reconstruct his
daughter's face. The doctor lives alone in a giant mansion somewhere on the outskirts of Paris.
The first half of the film focuses on the doctor's experiments and his assistant's careful search for beautiful girls. Both know exactly what they are doing and are fully committed to the ongoing project. The camera occasionally shows the doctor's
daughter who seems to be on the verge of a serious nervous breakdown, but he calmly assures her that it is only a matter of time before she will be able to have a normal life.
The girl wears a simple yet elegant mask that covers everything but her eyes. When the camera comes close to her, it is easy to see that the eyes are incredibly beautiful. These are some of the best sequences in the entire film – the visuals are quite
unsettling yet at the same time deeply poetic.
The second half is drastically different. The camera again comes close to the girl with the mask, but the poetic beauty is almost completely replaced with a striking sense of realism. There are a couple of sequences that feel as if they were extracted
from an instructional documentary meant to be seen only by medical professionals. One of these sequences is particularly creepy.
This uncharacteristic blending of poetic beauty and realism is what separates Franju's Eyes Without a Face from other similarly-themed films from the same era. On one hand, it seems like a contemporary Gothic film which wants to seduce the audience
with very dark but elegant imagery. On the other hand, it is so direct and raw, even by modern standards, that by the time the final credits roll it feels like the film might have been created to test the audiences' tolerance for graphic horror. Needless
to say, viewing Eyes Without a Face is a very, very unique experience.
Brasseur is absolutely spectacular as the mad surgeon who is totally obsessed with his secret work. The first sequence in which he carefully touches the face of the young girl on the operating table causes that strange 'knotted-up' feeling in the stomach
which never truly disappears after it. The beautiful Valli is also very convincing as Brasseur's loyal assistant. Scob's performance has become legendary and for a good reason – her beautiful eyes reveal exactly how she feels while waiting to discover
whether her father's latest procedure was successful. A young and very beautiful Juliette Mayniel also has a small role in the film. (A year earlier, Maynel had her acting debut in the late Claude Chabrol's second feature film, Les Cousins).
Eyes Without a Face was lensed by the great cinematographer Eugen Schüfftan (People on Sunday, Marcel Carne's Le Quai Des Brumes, Robert Rossen's The Hustler).
The film's legendary soundtrack was created by Maurice Jarre (David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago).
Criterion's Blu-ray release of Georges Franju's legendary Eyes Without a Face will make English-speaking fans of the film very happy. It is every bit as impressive as Gaumont's Region-B release. It is also vastly superior to the existing R1 DVD
release. If Eyes Without a Face happens to be one of your favorite films, do not hesitate to upgrade or finally add it to your library. Buy with confidence, folks. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
[CSW] -3.8- This reviewer said it better than I could: Eyes Without a Face is a hauntingly eerie French film that influenced the likes of John Woo, Jesus Franco and John Carpenter. Young "Christiane" (an impossibly ethereally graceful
Edith Scob) survives a car accident resulting in a hideously disfigured face. (***Spoilers Ahead***) her daddy is the mad Dr. Gnessier masquerading as a "normal" successful surgeon in society. his extracurricular actives consist of victimizing young women
obtaining their facial flesh to graft onto Christiane's mug. his evil assistant the diabolically riveting "Louise" (Alida Valli) procures women in sinister fashion. Doc also likes to experiment w/canines whose incessant barking throughout many scenes, set
my teeth on edge. Eyes Without a Face suffers from either stilted or melodramatic acting. However, the creepy macabre factor and dignity of actress Ms. Scob coupled with Valli's performance are bewitching. Fascinating how this film is utterly
gruesome without being obviously gory. I both love and loathe Eyes Without a Face, it has lyrical elements juxtaposed with drab film making. Ultimately it hosts an ambiance of *chilling strangeness* that is distinctly unique. It's pure poetry when
doves escape with Christiane who glides into the forest into the unknown. The French have a penchant for filleting flesh that rivals the Aztecs. For director Franju's sheer audacity of pairing science cinema to surrealistic influences a compelling thumbs
up to the classic i>Eyes Without a Face.
A must see for all film aficionados.
[V4.5-A4.5] MPEG-4 AVC - No D-Box
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