Eyes Without A Face [1959] [DVD]

With so many unforgettable moments - from the opening scene (accompanied by highly disturbing carnival music) of vampish Louise driving in her 2CV to dump a body at the banks of the Seine; to the unflinching shots of `mad scientist' Dr Genessier's horrific surgical experiments, and the sublime scenes of Christiane gliding ethereally down the steps from the attic in which she is kept - this is a superior horror movie in every way.

Eyes Without a Face (or Les Yeux sans Visage, if you want to be a bit French) combines elements of the Gothic novel with a surrealist sensibility to create an absolutely unforgettable cinematic experience. Long after the cheap-shock tricks of many of today's horror franchises have been forgotten, the hauntingly beautiful scenes of Christiane's eyes gazing through her mask, and the inescapable and bloody surgical scene, will be remembered.

A classic in the genre.

When looking back over the years at the truly defining moments of the horror genre, one will generally encounter the usual titles; `Psycho', `Night of the Living Dead', `The Exorcist', `The Shining', `Halloween', etc. Each of these films has achieved enormous iconic status within popular culture as well as among horror fans, often the subject of parody and pastiche in comedy, TV and commercials. Even today, one is reminded of the terrifying `here's Johnny' moment from `The Shining' by Lenny Henry in the equally disturbing Premier Inn campaign. Yet many will be unaware of George Franju's 1959 cult classic `Eyes Without a Face', a film which has been criminally overlooked and forgotten since its release five decades ago. A film that is both mesmeric and disturbing in its tone and subject matter, it's hard to define why `Eyes Without a Face' has missed out on the notoriety and success of these other classic titles.

The film is centred on Dr Genessier, a crazed surgeon obsessed with trying to find a new face for his disfigured daughter Christiane, following a car crash for which he was responsible. His attempts to do so involve the kidnapping of young women and the subsequent removal of their face. Meanwhile, Christiane is forced to wear a white, featureless mask to cover her horrendous facial injuries, giving her a haunting, ghostly presence. This darkly sinister premise makes for deeply suspenseful viewing, creating enough tension to easily rival many of those famous horror classics. One of the most important factors in producing this atmosphere is Franju's technique of not revealing the face of Christiane straight away, and when the shocking moment comes, it is still partially blurred and distorted, leaving the viewer to imagine what her face looks like only through the terrified shrieks of the girl who sees her for the first time.

Franju's intelligent use of suspense and his skill in allowing the audience's imagination to provide the horror are expertly offset by the moment in which we witness the graphic removal of one of his victims' face; an unflinching scene which still has the power to disturb, despite the progression in visual effects and graphic imagery since its release. The cold, surgical manner by which he goes about this appalling procedure is equally as effective as any of the typically over-the-top, gruesome murder scenes from most slasher films. In fact, the clinical, emotionless way in which the Genessier conducts this act is probably what makes it all the more unsettling. It is possible that this scene was one of the reasons to the film's lack of exposure and success, being simply too explicit in its depiction of facial desecration and therefore turning audiences away rather than drawing them in.

Whatever the reason may be, `Eyes Without a Face' absolutely deserves to be considered alongside the true greats of the genre. It's utilisation of suspense, atmosphere and cold brutality make for a superb example of how horror movies should be made. Although it may be over fifty years old, `Eyes Without a Face' has certainly lost none of its power or ability to shock and terrify.

Eyes Without a Face is as precise as it's title suggests.We are in a world of masks and false identities.We are in a macabre,but realistic world where horror and the fantasical operate in `homeopathic doses'. Having to get around the censorship of Germany,France,England and Italy, Franju's chilly but lyrical film becomes poetic in his escewal of Grand Guignol gestures and colour, weilding a mean scalpel. The music is both jaunty and by turns melancholic, carnivalesque and internal.Dr.Genessier is no mad scientist,he gives lectures about the future of transplanting to respectable audiences, who acclaim his worth and genius,and he is a plastic surgeon. However he loves his daughter and feels guilty because he has disfigured her face in a road accident,and must make amends by getting his assistant,Louise(Valli)to pick up young student women of similar facial structure.Once back he drugs them and while they are unconscious, he removes the skin off their face to transplant onto Christiane, his daughter.

Meanwhile, she mopes behind a white porcelaine-like mask,shut away from the world. Like a creepy fairy-tale princess awaiting release.She is the dominant centre of the film,seeming to call forth desperate measures from her father,whereas he is the active centre.There is a ghastly cost to all this:the disposing of dead bodies in rivers or underground vaults,by his loyal robotic assistant-lover,Louise.Also,after a few days the transplants are rejected and the graft rots.The same cycle is repeated again.The pivotal centre of the film is when Genessier starts to sketch out on a guinea-pig's face with a pencil, then using his scalpel proceeds to cut along the pencilled line, with blood coming out all the way along.His sweaty face conveys the tension of the scene, and in graphic detail, he lifts off the facial skin.Another major scene is where the drug wears off as Genessier has had to leave to speak to the police and Christiane wanders in without her mask and stands over the waking female.The look of horror on her face recalls when Mia Farrow wakes up in Rosemary's Baby and realizes she has given birth to the devil.

The climactic scene is where Christiane,once mutely compliant, now rebels and liberates a would-be victim. She also releases all the caged dogs who are experimented on, and the doves, with one on her arm walking outside into the woods without a mask, her father having been savaged to death,after having stabbed an uncomprehending Louise in the kneck.What is truly horrible is the way Franju deconstructs the horror, by underplaying it. We never see beneath the mask clearly,only an unfocussed shot, thus intensifying the power.Boileau-Narcejas adapted Redon's thriller.They were famous already for Diabolique and Vertigo.Alida Valli(Louise) is well known from The Third Man.
If you like your horror intelligently done within the realms of plausibility then this is your film.