Eyes Without A Face (DVD)

...face, just leaving her own eyes to peer out. Despite this, she manages to convey the deepest emotions - fear, anger and horror. Most of it comes through in her eyes, but her body movements help too, with the hunching of her shoulders or the slouch in her walk. Throughout the film, she says very little, and yet I really came to feel a bond with her - something that is unusual in a horror film where victims and murderers are often characterless. I ...
...carrying a dead body, Louise's eyes are huge and luminous and then an aircraft suddenly passes overhead. Why this should have made me jump I don't know, but it was far more effective than someone leaping out and slashing them to death. The scene in the grounds involves Christiane running around aimlessly in her mask and a very white gown of some kind. At this point, we don't know what will become of her and she looks very lost - amazingly effective ... more

Christiane is the much loved daughter of esteemed plastic surgeon, Dr Gennesier. Unfortunately, a car accident leaves her face so badly scarred that usual medical procedures can do nothing to save her. Along with his assistant, Louise, he engineers another girl's death, identifying the body of that of Christiane's, and using the dead girl's facial skin to graft onto Christiane's. In the meantime, they search for a suitable girl to become a donor. Dr Gennesier's maverick operating skills don't work at first, and so he is forced to try again and again. Christiane, who is dead to everyone but her father and Louise, is horrified at what is happening and tries to make contact with her former fiance, Jacques. Can Jacques do anything to save Christiane from the madness? And will the police discover what has happened to all the missing girls?

I can't quite remember where I heard about this film, but it was suggested that it was well worth watching as a film that heralded a new era of horror movies. Made in 1960, it is a French film (the original title is Les Yeux Sans Visage) and is in black and white. This didn't bother me, but will put some people off. However, this would be a big mistake. This is a superb film that is wonderfully acted and filmed for all the language barriers and lack of colour, and is a good reminder to the Hollywood horror industry that sometimes less is more.

The most outstanding performance for me came from Edith Scob, who plays Christiane Genessier. Most of the time, she is wearing a mask that covers her entire face, just leaving her own eyes to peer out. Despite this, she manages to convey the deepest emotions - fear, anger and horror. Most of it comes through in her eyes, but her body movements help too, with the hunching of her shoulders or the slouch in her walk. Throughout the film, she says very little, and yet I really came to feel a bond with her - something that is unusual in a horror film where victims and murderers are often characterless. I am not familiar with her as an actress, but the fact that she has had a long and varied acting career since this film was made is final proof, for me at least, of a really marvellous performance here.

Her father is played by Pierre Brasseur. This is a strong performance. At the beginning of the film, he convinces the viewer that his daughter is dead with a strong outpouring of grief. Much of the rest of the film, he is terribly calm, so calm that it is actually quite creepy. His dedication in ensuring that his daughter does not suffer any longer for his crime is apparent. Underneath this, however, there is a complete disregard for the families of his victims that is all too evident. Louise is even scarier. Played by Alida Valli, she is a successful outcome of the doctor's skills, with a full facial transplant. So convinced is she that the doctor is acting properly, she will do anything for him, and that resolution shines in her eyes, along with a touch of madness. It is never completely clear what she is going to do next, but there is always the knowledge that it is not going to be very pleasant. An excellent performance.

For a horror film, this is very very subtle. By that I mean that there is very little that we actually see that could scare anybody. The only graphic part of the film is watching one of the operations, when the doctor cuts around and lifts off one girl's face. There is quite a lot of blood involved, as you would expect, but it is somehow the sweat pouring off the doctor's brow that makes it really icky. It is very, very life-like. We don't even really get to see Christiane's face under the mask - it is just a brief, very vague glimpse, in which we don't see the real damage. There is some putrefaction of the new facial tissue shown after one of the operations, which isn't particularly pleasant, but I've seen much much worse. The rest of the film creates an atmosophere rather than showing anything graphic, and it is this that really scares, because it is never quite clear what is going to happen next.

For a black and white film, the cinematography is surprisingly sharp and very easy on the eye. Much of the film is filmed indoors, but a couple of scenes that stand out in my mind are filmed outside - one in a churchyard and another in the grounds of the Genessiers' home. Churchyards are often associated with a creepy atmosphere anyway; this one is even scarier because it is in the dark, Genessier and Louise are carrying a dead body, Louise's eyes are huge and luminous and then an aircraft suddenly passes overhead. Why this should have made me jump I don't know, but it was far more effective than someone leaping out and slashing them to death. The scene in the grounds involves Christiane running around aimlessly in her mask and a very white gown of some kind. At this point, we don't know what will become of her and she looks very lost - amazingly effective as we wait to find out the next blow.

As often happens with horror films, there is not a great deal of speech, which makes the fact that there are subtitles almost redundant. I do understand some French, and found that it was generally very clear anyway, but when I needed the subtitles, they were very clear. Please don't be put off by the fact that this is a foreign language film; it really isn't hard to follow the subtitles, and in any case, much of the film can be understood just by watching the pictures.

There is just one special feature, an excerpt of a documentary on the director, Georges Franju. Franju is now long dead, but we do get to see him before his death discussing the film and how it was made. His attention to detail is fascinating and I really enjoyed watching this ten minute excerpt - for once it really did add something to the film. What I liked most of all was his philosophy, summed up by the interviewer: "I like films that make me dream, but I don't like having dreams imposed on me." This is exactly what I felt he did with this film. He left much of the horrors up to the viewer to decipher from what was shown on screen, and it is this that leaves an impression. If only recent re-makes of Hollywood horrors could take this on board - sometimes the viewer doesn't want to be spoon-fed gore.

Just in case you haven't been reading properly, I thought this film was superb. All too often these days, I watch horror films and hardly flinch - I've seen it all before and they just don't scare any more. This film had everything for me; there was the tiniest bit of gore to attract my attention, beautiful cinematography, great acting, superb pacing and, most importantly, build up an incredibly creepy atmosphere. If you're becoming jaded of recent horror re-makes, go back to basics and watch this, I don't think you'll be disappointed. Highly recommended.

The DVD is available from play.com for £5.99. Worth it at twice the price.

Classification: 15

Running time: 88 minutes 

...less