Eyes without a face ( French Les yeux sans visage ) is a French horror film of 1960 , directed by Georges Frangue based on the novel of the same name by Jean Redon. The film is known for its naturalistic scenes of plastic surgery and the display of mutilated human faces.
| Eyes without face | |
|---|---|
| Les yeux sans visage | |
| Genre | and |
| Producer | Georges Frangue |
| Producer | Jules Borkon |
| Author script | Georges Frangue Jean Redon Pierre Boileau Toma Narsezhak Claude Saute |
| In the main cast | Pierre Brasser Edith Scob Alida Valley |
| Operator | Eugene Schuftan |
| Composer | Maurice Jarre |
| Film company | Lux Film [1] |
| Duration | 84 minutes |
| A country |  France  Italy |
| Tongue | |
| Year | 1960 |
| IMDb | |
Content
Story
Unknowns kidnap and kill the daughter of Professor Genesis. The police invite the doctor for identification. Heartbroken father organizes Christian's funeral. In fact, the girl is alive, and for several months now, Genessier has been trying to restore her face, disfigured in a car accident. His assistant, Louise, lures girls to the estate who are to become victims of plastic surgeries of an insane doctor.
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Pierre Brasser | Dr. Gennesier |
| Edith Scob | Christian Gennesier |
| Alida Valley | Louise |
| Francois Guerin | Jacques Vernon |
| Juliette Manel | Edna Gruber |
| Alexander Rino | inspector Paro |
| Beatrice Altariba | Pauletta Merodon |
Rental
During the screening of the film in Scotland, many viewers in the audience became ill. The director of the film, Georges Frangue, joked hard about this, that after this incident he was not surprised that the Scots wear skirts [4] .
In the USA, the film was released in limited distribution [5] under the name “ The Horror Chamber of Dr. Faustus ” with a dubbing in English and in a trimmed form - in particular, it cut a scene of a surgical operation [ 6] .
Criticism
After the release of the film, the film was severely criticized both in France and abroad. According to Russian journalist and film critic Dmitry Comm, the only critic in England to write a positive review of the film was fired from the editorial board [4] .
However, over time, estimates began to change. Pedro Almodovar said that this film is one of his favorites, the influence of which can be traced in his film “ The Skin in which I live ” [7] . Guillermo del Toro , comparing Franju’s film with Jean Cocteau ’s film “ Beauty and the Beast ” and calling them magnificent, said: “... This is a dark poetic movie about the horror and transience of life. The sublime, almost ephemeral images of these films convey to the audience the idea of death and loss: crazy, fragile love, desperately clinging to the last hope in a maelstrom of darkness ” [8] .
Impact
The film most seriously affected the horror movie genre. The naturalistic scenes of plastic surgery seemed very frightening to many directors, and they began to embed them in their own films. The white, frightening mask worn by the main character of the film was used by director John Carpenter to create the image of Michael Myers , the maniac killer from the horror movie “Halloween” . Carpenter confessed his love for the film "Eyes Without a Face" and the influence that he had on him.
Notes
- ↑ Les Yeux sans visage (Fr.) . Bifi.fr. Date of treatment February 13, 2013.
- ↑ http://www.metacritic.com/movie/eyes-without-a-face-re-release
- ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053459/
- ↑ 1 2 Comm, 2012 .
- ↑ Hawkins, 2000 .
- ↑ Turan, 2005 .
- ↑ Migunova, 2013 .
- ↑ Gleb Borodin. “The Demon Woman” and “Black Cats” were a serious blow to my psyche ” . Distantlight TV. Date of treatment July 6, 2017.
Literature
- Kenneth Turan. The X-list: The National Society of Film Critics' Guide to the Movies That Turn Us On / Edited by Jami Bernard. - Da Capo Press, 2005 .-- 352 p. - ISBN 0-306-81445-5 . - ISBN 978-0306814457 .
- Joan Hawkins. Cutting Edge: Art-Horror and the Horrific Avant-Garde. - University of Minnesota Press, 2000 .-- 320 p. - ISBN 0-8166-3414-9 . - ISBN 978-0816634149 .
- Dmitry Comm. Formulas of fear. An introduction to the history and theory of a horror movie . - SPb. : BHV-Petersburg, 2012 .-- 224 p. - (Laboratory of Creativity). - 2500 copies. - ISBN 978-5-9775-0656-4 .
- Lisa Migunova. Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith. The love of the desperate Zorro . - Algorithm, 2013 .-- 256 s. - (The story of their love). - 1,500 copies - ISBN 978-5-4438-0591-7 .