EYES WITHOUT A FACE (1960)

With special guest Liz DeGregorio

Intro, Math Club, Debate Society, Hot for Teacher (spoiler-free): 00:00-27:46
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 27:47-1:06:09
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 1:06:10-1:26:50

Director Georges Franju
Dialogue by Pierre Gascar, adaptation by Pierre Boileau, Thomas Narcejac, Jean Redon, and Claude Sautet, based on the novel by Jean Redon
Featuring Béatrice Altariba, Pierre Brasseur, François Guérin, Juliette Mayniel, Alexandre Rignault, Edith Scob, Alida Valli

Released January 11, 1960 (France); October 24, 1962 (US)
Box Office $60,254 (worldwide)

SPOILER-FREE SYNOPSIS

Somewhere on the outskirts of Paris.  A woman, Louise, is driving alone at night.  There’s a body in the back seat of her car.  Its body’s face is obscured, and it’s slumped over, lifeless. Because said body is a corpse, and Louise is soon dragging it into the Seine.  Meanwhile, after giving a speech about the perils and pleasures of skin grafts, a doctor, Genessier, is called to the morgue to identify a body.  It is that of his missing daughter?  So he claims.  On his way out, Gennessier is accosted by a man, Tessot, who asks if the body is that of his missing daughter, Simone.  Gennessier tells him no, it’s his daughter, and that’s that.  But back at the doctor’s home/clinic is indeed his daughter, Christiane, alive and well, but hiding behind a white mask that obscures a badly scarred face, the result of a recent car accident.  The police, meanwhile, are suspicious – who is the body in the river, and why is IT missing its face?  And why does it appear someone surgically removed said face with a scalpel?  Louise, meanwhile, has located and lured a new facial donor/candidate/victim back to the clinic, a victim who’s soon undergoing a gruesome surgery that may or may not spell freedom, as it were, for poor faceless Christiane Genessier.

SPOILER-FREE GUEST BIO

Liz DeGregorio is a poet, writer, and editor. Her work has appeared in Electric Literature, Lucky Jefferson, Anomaly, Catapult, Dread Central, BUST, Ghouls Magazine, OyeDrum Magazine, and many other publications. She’s also performed at Providence’s Dorry Award-winning storytelling series Stranger Stories.

EPISODE NOTE

Music from Eyes Without a Face by Maurice Jarre.

Why did Professor Louryk choose this film? Find out in our Blog.

TRAILER

SUPERLATIVES

The Gaspar Noe Award for Most Disturbing Scene
Liz: Edna has to sit in the parlor with the Doctor and Louise, knowing all the while she is in danger
Eric: The surgery scene
Bradford: In the operating theater, Christiane is revealed to be sitting on the recamier

The Ellen Ripley Award for Character Who Most Deserves to Live
Liz: Christiane
Eric: Christiane
Bradford: Edna

The Michael Myers Award for Character Who Most Deserves to Die
Liz: Dr. Genessier
Eric: Louise
Bradford: Christiane

The Ken Russell Award for Most Baroque Screen Moment
Liz: The juxtaposition of the purity and the sordid underbelly of the Genessier house
Eric: The entire end sequence in which Christiane frees the dogs and doves, then flees into the night, triumphing (?) over adversity
Bradford: The entire end sequence in which Christiane frees the dogs and doves, then flees into the night, triumphing (?) over adversity

The Brad Dourif Award for Character Who Could (or Should) Have Been Played by Brad Dourif
Liz: Dr. Genessier
Eric: Louise
Bradford: Dr. Genessier

FINAL LETTER GRADE

Liz: B+
Eric: A-
Bradford: A+