Event Info
(Georges Franju, France 1960, 90 mins)
After his daughter Christiane (Edith Scob) is horribly disfigured in a car accident he caused, the brilliant and obsessive plastic surgeon Dr. Genessier (Pierre Brasseur) is driven mad with guilt. As atonement, the doctor, aided by his loyal assistant Louise (Alida Valli), lures young women to his secluded chateau and takes them to his secret laboratory to surgically remove their faces with the hope of grafting them on to his daughter's ruined features and restoring her former beauty. But will Christiane allow him to succeed in his dangerous experiments?
Eyes Without a Face is film of legacies, both the gothic shadow of Frankenstein over its ‘mad doctor’ premise, and it’s own massive influence on so many that followed in its footsteps, from Franco to Almodovar. From its grand guignol gore to its hauntingly beautiful protagonist, its carnivalesque score to its stark cinematography, this really is a masterpiece of the genre.
