I had the opportunity last weekend to go see the classic French horror film, Eyes Without a Face (Les Yeux sans Visage). It had been a long time since I had seen a horror film in black and white. Besides the pacing, which will always be slower the further back in time you go, the film was very well made and suspensful. Critics have praised this film for its poetic nature, and since I was watching the movie with that in mind, I found it true.The movie revolves around a plastic surgeon who has made huge advances and discoveries in the process of skin grafting and his daughter who, after suffering irreperable damage to her face in a car accident for which the doctor is responsible, finds herself in need of the miraculous surgery only he is capable of. Here's the twist, the process of skin grafting as of then could be done successfully only at the great detriment of the donor. The doctor, aided by a mysterious foreign assistant (in his debt for successfully restoring her face previous to the film's beginning), hatches a plan to kidnap young girls with similar physical characteristics and cut off their faces, using the skin to give his daughter a new lease on life. They manage to fake the daughter's disappearance, and consequent death, which is the first crime they commit (another girl's body had to take her place) and then with the public attention no longer on his daughter, he sets to work in his reclusive mansion and laboratory to acheive his twisted ends.
Its hard to see the doctor as a monster, which is the brilliance of the film, since his motivations are so much more realistic than most horror villains. The daughter meanwhile is stuck inside the house, growing bored and restless and frustated with her father's attempts that seem to her like no more than empty promises. She is forced to where a mask to cover her lack of a face which gives her the look of a Phantom of the Opera who committed 100%. A very eerie look to say the least.
Finally, the wheels are set in motion and the mysterious foreign assistant brings a new arrival in Paris to the secluded home of the doctor in the guise of having a room to rent. She is summarily chloroformed and tied up in the laboratory. She is paid a visit by the girl who will soon be the benefactor of the dreaded surgery that will remove her face. As horrible as it sounds, the film dealt with it in a suprisingly tasteful way. I honestly didn't think it could be possible. I once saw a horror film at the Sundance Festival in which, at the climax, the villain cuts off the girl's face. It was disgusting and horrifying. I considered that the worst thing I had ever seen on film. I didn't think it would ever be possible to present that kind of subject material in a way that wasn't. Eyes Without a Face pulled it off. In the context of surgery, with the pretext we have already discussed, as hard as it was to watch, it was more fascinating than anything. The doctor, slowly making the contours of the face with the scalpel and the assistant sopping up any blood that spilled. Finally, the face was removed and the scene ended. The theatre was dead silent.
The surgery appears a success and Christianne, the daughter, has a new lease on life. As they prepare an elaborate plan for a long voyage under an assumed name however, the surgery reveals itself to have failed and the newly grafted skin starts to rot. A number of dissappearances and surgeries later, a disallusioned and frustrated Christianne is fed up, and her lack of cooperation, as well as a concerned fiancee and skeptical policeman all work together to build up to the film's shocking conclusion. If you missed it, rent it. For a halloween flick, you won't be disappointed. Much Love,
Pete
