Eyes Without A Face (George Franju,1960): France/ Italy

Reviewed by Jim Burns. Viewed at the AFI Film Fest 2011.

Eyes Without A Face is a classic horror film by director George Franju that was first released in 1960 but is still a very powerful and even disturbing film, even under today’s film-making standards. It’s a very creative story about a doctor who through enormous guilt,  as well as the help of his morally disturbed  assistant, kidnaps beautiful young women and steals their faces through plastic surgery, only to attempt to transfer their faces to his own daughter that was disfigured in a car accident. The storyline and subject matter to this film is amazing and was years ahead of its time, and with the advances in technology, the premise behind the story is still relevant.

Legend has it that  several people actually fainted at a film festival in Edinburg, England when this film was first released in 1960 while viewing the very graphic “face lift” scene. I must admit it was a very disturbing scene to sit through and it seemed to move at an excruciatingly slow pace that only added to the on-screen tension created by Franju. The silence in this scene was deafening and definitely enhanced the building suspense as we watch the doctor slowly remove the face of a young women. I must have looked down at the ground, on and off, for at least half of the scene, and at one point I remember mumbling to myself, “please stop”.

After several failed attempts and post-surgery issues, it appears that the doctor has finally succeeded in his quest to provide his daughter with a new face, only to later realize that her  positive results were only temporary and that she would eventually need more operations. Things eventually take a turn for the worst for the doctor and his assistant when the doctor’s daughter reaches out to her former boyfriend .

While I was watching this film, I kept wondering why Hollywood has not remade this movie, especially with the advances in technology? A modern adaptation of this film seems like a no-brainer, especially considering Hollywood’s long history with regurgitating stories out of what seems to be artistic laziness. This is a film that I am glad I saw but I never want to see it again, if that makes any sense?

I would compare this film to Alfred Hitchcock’s  thriller Psycho, which was released the same year as Eyes Without A Face,  and although it wasn’t as widely viewed by American audiences, Eyes Without A Face is every bit  a horror classic  that all film enthusiast  should see at least once.