Dir. Georges Franju
Starring Pierre Brasseur, Alida Valli, and Juliette Mayniel
84 min.
An iconic and widely influential horror film that shocked French audiences upon its debut, Eyes Without a Face (Les Yeux Sans Visage) of 1960 remains powerful today in its tale of obsession and murder. A respected surgeon kidnaps young women in the hopes of grafting their faces onto that of his disfigured, imprisoned daughter, whose mutilated visage remains hidden behind an expressionless white mask. Franju’s masterpiece, weighted in equal measure by poetry and camp, can be thought of as an early incarnation of French cinema’s fascination with exploring the dark realms of desire.
