Les yeux sans visage (1960)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Georges Franju

Writers:

Jean Redon (novel)
Pierre Boileau (adaptation) ...

Release Date:

24 October 1962 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Thriller

Plot:

A brilliant surgeon, Dr. Génessier, helped by his assistant Louise, kidnaps nice young women. He removes...

Plot Keywords:

Assistant | Surgeon | Transplant | Father Daughter Relationship | Dial Phone

Cast

Pierre Brasseur	...	Docteur Génessier
Alida Valli	...	Louise
Juliette Mayniel	...	Edna Grüber
Edith Scob	...	Christiane Génessier
François Guérin	...	Jacques Vernon
Alexandre Rignault	...	Inspector Parot
Béatrice Altariba	...	Paulette
Charles Blavette	...	L'homme de la fourrière (as Blavette)
Claude Brasseur	...	Un inspecteur
Michel Etcheverry	...	Le docteur Lherminier - médecin légiste / Forensic surgeon
Yvette Etiévant	...	La mère
René Génin	...	Emile Tessot
Lucien Hubert	...	Un homme au cimetière
Marcel Pérès	...	Un homme au cimetière

Also Known As:

Eyes Without a Face (UK)
House of Dr. Rasanoff
Occhi senza volto (Italy)
The Horror Chamber of Dr. Faustus (USA) (dubbed version)

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

France | Italy

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (1962) | Australia:M (2007) | France:U (2007) | UK:15 (2007) | UK:18 (1995) | UK:X (1959) (cut) | Argentina:16 | France:-16 | USA:Unrated

Company:

Champs-Élysées Productions

Trivia:

During the original release of the film an English film critic for The Spectator was nearly fired for writing it a positive review, while the general critical reaction had been poor.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the initial surgery scene, Doctor Génessier makes cuts around the face and eyes of the young woman (Edna). When he and Louise remove the face, there are suddenly marks and a hole cut around the mouth.

Quotes:

Doctor Génessier: The future, Madame, is something we should have started on a long time ago.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in El Mascarado Massacre (2006)

A masterpiece of horror and poetry

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.