User reviews

Georges Franju's atmospheric masterpiece is a tapestry of contradictions. Eyes Without a Face is a compelling tale of sadism that has an astute tenderness at the same time. A film that will disgust you with it's macabre imagery, yet simultaneously mesmerise you with it's beauty; a seething tale of love, fashioned by extreme guilt. Through the Gothic confines of a grandiose mansion, Franju has taken ideas from classic stories such as 'Frankenstein' and constructed a dream like surrealistic fantasy that has inspired legions of filmmakers since: from obvious inspirations like Jess Franco's The Awful Dr Orlof, all the way to the full blown Hollywood action fest, Face/Off; Eyes Without a Face stands out as one of cinema's most important, yet most overlooked films. The central story is a deliriously simple tale of vanity, guilt and redemption; yet one that is lent a great depth from it's cast of central characters. Doctor Génessier, guilt ridden over a car accident that left his beloved daughter, Christiane, with a destroyed face uses his assistant to kidnap young girls in an attempt to reconstruct her ruined features. The good doctor peels the faces from his victims and grafts them over the ruined features of his young daughter. However, the experiments are a continual failure but, motivated by a strong sense of guilt, Doctor Génessier must keep trying.

The doctor himself is a masterpiece of horror film villainy. Unlike many mad scientists since, the doctor here is firmly placed within reality which makes his motivations easy to believe and therefore the horror all the more fascinating. He is supported by his assistant, Louise; a fellow web of intrigue. Louise isn't the normal mad doctor's assistant; she isn't deformed, or demented but rather a cunning, malevolent and cerebral predator; gathering her victims to aid the doctor's latest experiment. The real masterpiece of characterisation, however, comes from the central character; the disfigured tragedy herself, Christiane. The scenes that see her float around in her mask gown are some of the most memorable ever brought to the screen. While wearing her mask, Christiane represents both life and death. The mask itself is stagnant and lifeless, but the eyes beneath the mask are full of life's beauty, giving the young girl a surrealistic look that epitomises the film in that it's hard to place; is it beautiful, or revolting; good or evil?

This film is a rare treat in that it's actually frightening. Eyes Without a Face taps into the viewer's fears by presenting us with a situation that is terrifying because it involves a central character living with horror. You can have all the maniacs with all the weapons you can think of; but it doesn't compare to having to go to bed every night with a face that is scarred beyond redemption. A fate worse than death, I'm sure you'll agree. This premise is given conviction through a stark and constantly foreboding atmosphere, which comes as a result of Eugen Shuftan's magnificent cinematography. The film has a crisp and clean look, which brilliantly offsets the macabre scenes that it is capturing. Thankfully, Georges Franju also seems keen to keep the focus on the surreal horror aspects of the story, which is shown by the way that he rushes through the police investigation that stems from the doctor's experiments. The film also features a striking and memorable musical score. The music sounds like it wouldn't be out of place in a carnival or circus, which fits the movie brilliantly as it covers the weird and wonderful imagery that we are treated to on screen.

Overall, Eyes Without a Face is a magnificent expression of the horror genre. The creativity and beauty of the film are sure to delight anyone who encounters it, and this is as important and as breathtaking as anything cinema has to offer. All I can say is that the word 'masterpiece' was added to the English language with this film in mind.

An early French chiller that set a benchmark in horror film making, with its unflinching depiction of horrific acts of surgery. The films sole purpose is to shock you in revealing things never before seen in 1959. Unfortunately, we are now in the age of cheap teen horror flicks and action films that feel the need to throw gore in our faces at every possible moment thus diminishing the impact of this film when watching it. Especially now we're in the 21st century, many of the scenes are comparatively tame. This does not mean, however, I disliked the film. Quite the contrary. Eyes Without A Face contains some truly terrifying images that make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck. The use of a woman in a white mask (a technique used so well in films such as Halloween and Friday the 13th) provides the films more memorable and spine tingling moments. It's the clever use of shade and light that make this possible as the director and cinematographer provide us with long -lasting images to chill to the bone.

The pace of the film is also worth a mention. Franju (the director) keeps us on the edge of our seat as the rich upper class couple lead young women into their house in order to remove their face! For some the pace could prove rather too slow - as in truth it did for me once or twice. But the payoffs from the slow pace offset any problems posed by it. It actually comes as a relief from the many directors who, in this day, believe that quick cuts and loud noise provide terror. Maybe it's time they delved back into the likes of this film, Halloween and Psycho to provide them with a few inspirations. I can think of only a handful of directors that have provided me with any real fright in the past ten years - M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense and Signs), Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez (The Blair Witch Project) and Wes Craven (Scream) are some of the few I can mention. Other films like the truly awful Jeepers Creepers and Thirteen Ghosts, which served no real purpose what-so-ever, provided me with quick cuts and loud noises - neither of which particularly endeared me to their cause. Call me an old fuddy duddy, but it's time they made more horrors like they did in the old days - films with real suspense and images which truly frighten; films like this one.

Well, that's my moan over with. I gave this film 8/10, for those that care.

This film is dark and somber with a spare, eerie music score that suits perfectly the macabre, surreal story. A brilliant but deranged surgeon, having caused his daughter's disfigurement in a car accident, loses touch with reality and tries to restore her beauty in a most repulsive manner. Undeterred by failure, the mad doctor continues his gruesome work, hoping to find a miracle cure that will reconstruct the girl's facial features and also relieve him of his tremendous burden of guilt. The once-lovely girl realizes that she will never enjoy a normal life or see her beloved fiancé again, and her mute telephone calls to him just to hear his voice show how empty and lonely her life has become. There are some scenes that are horribly graphic but quite well done and a few moments that are poignant and touching amid the cruelty and butchery of the movie's central theme. Each character in this grim, unhappy feature is victimized in some fashion, but in spite of its subject matter, this cult classic is lean, first-rate storytelling.

Georges Franju's version of a mad scientist trying to play God tells about a brilliant but controlling and obsessive doctor who is trying to restore the face of his own beloved daughter that was horribly disfigured in a car accident caused by his reckless driving. He requires tissues of recently deceased young women that look like his daughter and he is not going to wait for them to die in an accident - he creates the accidents with help of his loyal secretary/nurse/lover/former patient Louise (Alida Valli of "The Third Man") who kidnaps the unsuspecting girls and brings them to the secluded mansion in one of Paris's suburbs where Doctor Génessier is ready to perform the fascinating and horrifying surgeries.

"Eyes without a Face" is a very impressive, classy picture that has inspired many later horror movies. The music by Maurice Jarr adds to the uneasy and creepy atmosphere - it makes you feel like on the never-stopping ominous merry-go-round and you can't get off it.

George Franju's "Yeux Sans Visage" is extremely slow yet absolutely riveting. The direction is masterful and Pierre Brasseur is superb as the dedicated doctor whose love for his daughter leads him to commit unspeakable crimes.

The cold, sinister atmosphere of the film will seep into your bones and you may find it hard to look at the screen when the central skin-removal operation takes place - this is an extraordinarily grisly sequence for its time, lent all the more power by the cold, matter-of-fact direction and acting.

In a film full of haunting images, you will find the last one unforgettable.

Why can't modern directors make horror films as good as this? It deals with a potentially lurid, gory subject-matter with masterly subtlety and skill.

What would you do, if the daughter you'd seen grow, became a different person, and it was all because of you, if an accident while driving, meant you taking and depriving, the one thing that kept her thriving, just how far would you then go? Would you kidnap, maim and tear, the visage from jawbone to hair, of several innocent young maidens, force them to unmask, unladen, would you use your surgeon status, with theatrical apparatus, to peel their facial epidermis, is that something you could bear?

Le docteur Génessier takes advantage of his skills and training in order to restore the features of his daughter in a haunting tale about the lengths you might go to if an opportunity presents (assuming you have the guile and the skills to pull it off).

A brilliant surgeon, Dr. Génessier, helped by his assistant Louise, kidnaps nice young women. He removes their faces and tries to graft them onto the head on his beloved daughter Christiane, whose face has been entirely spoiled in a car crash.

The mask was really good. The way it is blank, but clearly fits to the contours of her face... it completely destroys her identity, makes it like she does not even exist as a person. I would not go so far as to say she looks worse with it on than off, but it makes her less than human for sure.

While some of the story is a bit slow, it is overall a quite strong story... part horror, part drama and part detective story. I am not surprised that many horror historians consider it among the greatest films ever made in the genre.

Moody terror movie about a mad doctor who removes the faces of gorgeous girls and attempts to graft them onto the ruined head of his disfiguring daughter . It deals with a prestigious but crazed surgeon/scientist named Dr. Génessier (Pierre Brasseur), feeling guilty over his intimate daughter's (Edith Scob) facial disfigurement is helped by his assistant Louise (Alida Valli) to kidnap beautiful young women , one of them is Edna (Juliette Mayniel). His beloved daughter is called Christiane (Edith Scob), whose head has been entirely spoiled in a car accident and whose face is so horrible that she wears a mask . All the experiments fail, but he attempts , without success , to transfer their faces and the victims die, but Génessier keeps trying again , but his guinea pig turns out to be his own daughter . Meanwhile , some Police Inspectors (Rignault and Claude Brasseur) are investigating the grisly killings .

Austerily marvelous terror film that contains thrills , chills and haunting poetic fantasy . In this wonderful as well as terrible flick , George Franju established his uniquely poetic and visually striking style . This splendid picture is generally characterized by unforgettable images that owed a great deal to early cinema in general and German Expressionism in particular and results to be a symbolic attack on the ethics of science . Although the film passed European censors upon its original release in 1960, the disturbing facial surgery scene still caused controversy . It was reported that several audience members fainted during the surgery scene . Originally released in the US in an edited version titled "The Horror Chamber of Dr. Faustus" , an odd title considering there's no one named Dr. Faustus in the film . Director John Carpenter once suggested that selecting the mask that Michael Myers wore in Halloween (1978) was influenced by Edith Scob's mask in this film and equally in recent movie (2011) by Pedro Almodovar titled "The Skin I Live In" . Good acting by Pierre Brasseur as a brilliant but demented researcher/scientific/surgeon haunted by past tragedy who abducts girls removing their faces and tries to graft them onto the head on his beloved daughter . Evocative and imaginative cinematography by Eugen Shuftan . Enjoyable musical score by Maurice Jarre , composing in his usual and agreeable style .

This classic terror motion picture , a classic in some circles , was stunningly directed by Georges Franju who never considered the film to be a horror story, but instead felt it was tale of "anguish" . Initial releases of the film were met with negative reactions from film critics , while the general critical reaction had been poor , however ,today is considered to be a masterpiece . One French critic stated the film was "in a minor genre and quite unworthy of Franju's abilities . Franju responded by saying that the film was his attempt to get the minor genre to be taken seriously. Rating : Better than average , well worth watching .

George Franju was a magnificent filmmaker but one of the underrated directors of French cinema , being his feature debut was "Head Against the Wall"(1959) . His reputation was strengthened with the Eyes without of face (1960); Judex (1963), a tribute to French film serial pioneer Louis Feuillade in 1963; and the Jean Cocteau adaptation Thomas l'imposteur (1965), though in the last 15 years of his life he was sadly neglected.

Yes, in case you were wondering, Billy Idol's iconic 80s creepy-ballad "Eyes Without a Face" was directly influenced by this film (the haunting female vocals in the chorus are singing "les yeux sans visage", something I never noticed until I googled the lyrics just now). And this isn't just a passing association I'm mentioning for the sake of getting the attention of any 80s music fans out there; it actually relates to why this is such a great creepy-ballad of a film.

"Les yeux sans visage" is only the 2nd feature film of director Georges Franju, but already he showed an absolute mastery of the craft, if not the creation of a whole new genre. This is broadly a horror story, but it's a horror story in the same sense that 2001: A Space Odyssey is a scifi flick. That is, it uses a certain fantasy genre but only as a backdrop to tell a deeper, universal, timeless story about the human condition. In particular, here we focus on the striking contrast between beauty and cruelty. And when I say "cruelty" I don't mean some cartoonish villain with a handlebar mustache cackling as he ties women to railroad tracks. No, here the "cruelty" is scientific, emotionless and in the literal sense of the word: amoral.

Our villain "The Professor" (who doesn't have a handlebar mustache but is sporting a very Satanic goatee) is excellently played by Pierre Brasseur as a man who has no emotions. He has neither malice nor benevolence, even though on the surface we want to interpret his actions as such. We assume there's malice because he abducts and does nasty things to pretty young women for his medical experiments. We assume an ironic wisp of benevolence because these experiments are presumably to save the person closest to him, his daughter. But neither assumption is correct. The Professor is pure, unemotional science ("intellect"). He is intelligence without a heart. Balancing this character wonderfully is his daughter who is at first equally amoral--literally without morals like a newborn child--but with a strong, tender, emotional side ("soul") and an inclination to learn and evolve. What we get is a painful and beautiful contrast between the intellect and the soul.

Which brings me to the soul half of the equation, and this is what elevates this far above and beyond any horror flick I've ever seen. The daughter is played by newcomer Edith Scob who spends half the film hiding behind a mask but whose graceful charms transcend facial expressions. Almost like a ballet dancer, she uses her body gracefully to convey every feeling we need to know. In fact it's her lack of facial expression that forces us to focus on her body language: movement and form instead. Further highlighting this expression of the human form, we get excellent cinematography, lighting, wardrobe (notice how she is dressed like a human doll) and ESPECIALLY the magical soundtrack giving her a themesong that sounds almost like a music box playing a lullaby.

This brings me back to Billy Idol. You thought I forgot. Billy Idol's 1983 "Eyes Without a Face" was a soft, melodic lullaby ballad but with a very menacing edge to the lyrics and instrumentation when the guitars kick in. Just like this film does, it contrasted cruelty against beauty, something which hadn't been explored much in 80s pop music--as well as 50s/60s horror flicks.

I have to admit, the first time I watched this movie I didn't really appreciate it the way I should have, much like the first time I heard Billy Idol's tune on the radio. But maybe this review has given you a head start; if you watch this film, keep this stuff in mind and maybe you'll appreciate it right away. "Les yeux sans visage" is not a horror story nor is it a battle between good vs evil. It's a study of beauty vs cruelty, both presented in the vacuum of amorality. This film defies all genres. I guess you could say you can't quite put a face to it. Ha. Seriously folks, you'll never forget it. (Get it? Never forget a FACE). Ok enough lame puns. I'll just close by mentioning that Edith Scob is gorgeous. Her face is really easy on the eyes.

Creeping, poetic French horror that wears classical inspirations on its sleeve while trying to nudge the genre along in bleak new directions. It's a mixed bag, really. The superficial elements - framing, effects, visual themes - are top notch, real cutting edge stuff for the period. The sympathetic lead, a young woman whose face was ravaged by a violent car accident, wears a fragile, unsettling China doll mask to conceal her disfigurements. It's an especially powerful effect when combined with the rich black-and-white film stock, which makes it difficult to determine where the mask ends and her flesh begins. Late in the picture, as the girl's mad surgeon of a father graphically peels the skin away from an unwilling donor to "fix" his daughter's wounds, it's tough not to flinch. The scene, and the concept, is that convincing, that unnerving. The plot suffers from a serious lack of depth, however, retreading the same territory several times before making any progress, and the film plods along for too long as a result. A terribly loud, mismatched score further sours matters, flooding the room with brow-furrowing carnival music at regular intervals. It's a curious relic, one which clearly influenced a whole new generation of filmmakers in the years after its release, but probably works better as an exercise of original theories than a complete picture.

Yes, Franju's film was beautifully shot and was dramatically serious for a horror, but there was nothing spectacular to warrant a slew of accolades.

The acting was strong and the cinematography was flawless, but the story did drag a little. Most importantly, the "reality" of the surgical procedures was way off the charts, leaving one with the fervent notion "I don't think so."

It's a good movie, but not a great one.

If you get the Criterion DVD, look for Franju's phenomenal "Blood of the Beasts". It's a short documentary of a Paris slaughterhouse shot in 1949. Once again, the photography is amazing and the subject matter will leave you feeling quite disturbed for certain.

As horrors go, "Eyes Without A Face" is far more intelligent than the B-movie trash churned out at the time, but the end result is something short of anti-climactic.

The absolute best opinion that I can offer (in regards to this 1960, low-budget, mad scientist picture from France) is to say that Eyes Without A Face was "OK".

Directed by French film-maker, Georges Franju, unfortunately, this occasionally laughable horror story (with its out-of-whack musical score) was just a bit too dry, slow-paced and, yes, tame to deliver a substantial enough wallop to truly satisfy the tastes of today's fans of the fantastic.

Mind you, Eyes Without A Face (I think that's a great title for a horror story, don't you?) certainly did contain some genuinely creepy moments, especially when Christiane was on camera, wearing her expressionless mask, while aimlessly wandering around the big, old house.

And when Dr. Genessier (with razor-sharp scalpel in hand) proceeded to surgically cut off a young woman's face, well, that was quite enough to get yours truly here feeling somewhat queasy.

Anyways - I'm not at all disappointed that I watched this moldie-oldie. It was at least worth one viewing.

Needless to say, Eyes Without A Face has been credited as being a fairly influential film when it comes to so many other horror movies that have subsequently followed it.

"Eyes Without A Face" is a groundbreaking and trendsetting artistic nightmare! The plot of this film has often been copied but never has it been done in such an eerily effective style. The sight of the masked daughter playing with the dogs evokes many emotions in the viewer. There are shots in this movie that will stay with you long after you have seen it! Heavily recommended!

Along with THE SHINING, THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN and PSYCHO, the best horror film ever made. Franju forsakes the usual signifiers of the genre - hurtling pace, quick editing, signalling music, hysterically scary scenes - in favour of a pace as funereal and petrified as its heroine's face. A soul-chilling film, seeped of all emotion, its scientific subject matter belies a timeless, complicated, non-judgemental Gothic fable about the destruction of innocence, the carelessness of masculine authority and the exploitation of women (especially in art). The many paralells with VERTIGO (the source novel was written by the same writers), the startling tree and animal imagery, the suspended dream logic and the perverse comic sense ensure this film as a classic, and makes one yearn for more Franju.

This is one of those oddities that makes an interest in cinema worthwhile. Like the equally atmospheric Carnival of Souls, it was made by a director whose primary activity lay in documentaries, and can very much be regarded as a 'one-off'.

Franju's vision is at once beautiful and emetic: on the one hand, we have the stunning face of Edith Scob, the weird sight of her masked figure running into the night, the sequences which are held for longer than seems natural; on the other hand, arguably the most nauseating operation scenes committed to film (and somehow more unpleasant for being in black and white). The atmosphere is one of quiet poetry, but the juxtaposition with horror makes it unusual and effective. A connoisseur's delight. 9 out of 10. See it, if you can stomach it.

A surgeon becomes a killer of women for the sake of his disfigured daughter. There are many haunting scenes in this French thriller, a justifiably famous surgery sequence, and a curiously detached mood that many American thrillers have attempted to duplicate and failed. The pacing is deliberately slow, the plot absorbing and intense though not frightening. As for the ending, it is quite artful and beautiful, a masterful touch, but it isn't there to bring the plot together in a logical sense. This is because the film exists on its own plane, with an otherworldly feel of cool indifference and detachment. It is neither a masterpiece nor a failed art-thriller, yet it does have flashes of interest and a classy production design. **1/2 from ****

Still powerful after all this time. I remember, when first seeing this in the early sixties, being outraged that I was asked to pay to see what I compared to watching people have their teeth pulled. Not having seen it since till now I have always remembered that scene, but also the poignant lead in the lifelike mask that floated about the palatial dwelling like some surreal being and always that dreadful sound of the caged dogs barking. Much emphasis on the sounds of things being dragged, scraped and dropped - steel and stone and a dark menacing outside from whence young girls are brought in the name of science and in particular a new face for the masked one. Extremely strong central scene and always the threat of more. The police and routine hospital scenes give brief respite but for most of this masterpiece one is held in awe and horror right to the stunning finale.

Superbly-shot classic not only inspired Billy Idol's song of the same name, but completely defied the rules of horror. Gone are shock, vulgarity and screeching music in favour of emotion and disbelief.

I don't know why this is true, but they do. We owe the birth of the horror film genre in the U.S. to great silent films from Europe such as "The Golem", "Nosferatu", and "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari". American horror has long since lost its luster, usually preferring to center on the totally illogical wanderings of the lone maniac as he hacks teenage girls to pieces. American films show the worst possible outcome as being loss of life or money. European horror knows that isolation and hopelessness can be very horrific for the person suffering it, and the good ones yield a well-told tale with lots of atmosphere. This is one of those films.

This film probably has similarities to Frankenstein, but it is far from a take-off on that film. A megalomaniac doctor has had a car accident in which his only child - a young woman - has been horribly facially disfigured. She literally has no face. Feeling responsible for her fate, the doctor seeks a cure which involves transplanting the facial skin of another young woman to the face of his daughter. In the meantime, he is experimenting on a large kennel of dogs that he keeps. He mentions that anything seems to be possible with the dogs, yet he keeps failing to repair his daughter's face. It is interesting that the doctor seems disturbed more by his failure than by his daughter continually having her hopes raised then dashed, not to mention the fact that she knows the human cost in his unsuccessful operations. It is especially poignant to see the disfigured woman wandering about the large castle that is her home, only her eyes visible behind the mask that she has been given to wear, looking at her portrait prior to the accident, and calling her fiancé, who has presumed she is dead, just to hear his voice.

This film never really found a following because it was originally released as an art house film, but the art house crowd found the surgery scenes hard to take. Thus it was rereleased as a horror film, but the film does not have much of what is traditionally thought of as horror scenes, thus it failed in that niche too. At any rate, I highly recommend this one.

It's cinema français ! and we know it's going to be a wacky one, from the circus music playing, as they drive along the road right at the opening. Pierre Brasseur is Doctor Génessier, who is trying to repair his daughter's face. she has been disfigured in an accident, and le docteur uses the local girls to try to transplant a good face to the daughter Christiane. she is played by 23 year old Edith Scob, only her second role, but she worked with director Georges Franju numerous times. one weird scene (among many!) where Christiane spends time with all the howling dogs that are locked in the basement. i guess to show that the dogs like her, in spite of her disfigured face. and now the gendarmes are looking for all the young girls that have gone missing! it gets pretty gruesome. not for the faint of heart! well done, and serious for the most part. the Vincent Price horror films got campy and silly, but here it is treated as a serious film. and great sound and picture quality as well. Gaumont film co had been around a LONG time, even in 1960,

This film is about atmosphere and the drive of a man thinking he can act as a god: do the fantastical and he can undo his sins. From the music to the staging, this movie draws subtle clues of the psychological horror at work. Visually striking in black and white, the acting is spot on for a minimalist concentration of the emotional modes each character needs. No shocks, no jumps, just the unrelenting idea of power and madness.

A very dark and disturbing black-and-white horror film which holds various creepy elements of the last century, and is fused together very elegantly.

When people talk about lovers of foreign films being pseuds, I can't help wondering if Eyes Without a Face is exactly the kind of movie they mean. It's exactly the kind of film that if it were made in English - say with Vincent Price in the lead and Terence Fisher directing - that many of its supporters wouldn't hesitate to dismiss as pap, yet because its set in a foreign country and filmed in a foreign language is suddenly elevated to the status of cult classic when really its just a tatty piece of grand guignol that plays like what they used to call a 'quota quickie' in the UK.

The French setting is about all the novelty this film has going for it. It's our old friend the mad scientist (ok, mad plastic surgeon) killing various bit part actresses so he can get the bits of them he wants - their faces - to rebuild his daughter's disfigured face. No pace, no thrills, not much striking imagery until a couple of shots at the end, just competent but uninspired film-making. Its watchable but nothing special in any way, although the daughter's mask is strangely expressive. Did they use More than one for different moods? Strange to see early credits for Maurice Jarre and Claude Sautet here, but not worth it for their admirers.