Eyes Without a Face

"The horror film with a heart of mystery."

1960 1h 24m FR

🙌

7.6

BANGER

★7.6TMDB · 829

DramaHorrorThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Dr. Génessier is riddled with guilt after an accident that he caused disfigures the face of his daughter, the once beautiful Christiane, who outsiders believe is dead. Dr. Génessier, along with accomplice and laboratory assistant Louise, kidnaps young women and brings them to the Génessier mansion. After rendering his victims unconscious, Dr. Génessier removes their faces and attempts to graft them on to Christiane's.

“The horror film with a heart of mystery.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Pierre Brasseur
Professor Génessier
Alida Valli
Louise
Édith Scob
Christiane Génessier
Juliette Mayniel
Edna Gruber
Alexandre Rignault
Inspector Parot
Béatrice Altariba
Paulette Mérodon
Charles Blavette
Man from the Pond
Michel Etcheverry
Doctor Lherminier, forensic surgeon

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Georges Franju
Writers: Thomas Narcejac, Claude Sautet, Pierre Boileau
Languages: French
Countries: France, Italy

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

84 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

66 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: France, Italy.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Georges Franju, shot by Eugen Schüfftan. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Maurice Jarre. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Gilbert Natot shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Pierre Brasseur and Alida Valli and Édith Scob carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The horror film with a heart of mystery.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Georges Franju directs. Eugen Schüfftan behind the camera. Maurice Jarre scores. Gilbert Natot cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in France, Italy. Dialogue in French.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

184 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
266 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3International production across 2 countries: France, Italy.
4Directed by Georges Franju, shot by Eugen Schüfftan. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Maurice Jarre. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Gilbert Natot shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Pierre Brasseur and Alida Valli and Édith Scob carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "The horror film with a heart of mystery.".
9IMDB entry: tt0053459 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 9 themes, including "experiment", "surgeon", "film noir", "black and white".

The technical file

Cinematography: Eugen Schüfftan
Original score: Maurice Jarre
Editing: Gilbert Natot
Production design: Auguste Capelier
Costume design: Marie Martine
Makeup / hair: Georges Klein
Runtime: 84 min · 1h 24m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Box office: $58,656
Original language: FR
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Eyes Without a Face (1960)

Also by

Georges Franju

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2014-03-12
★ 9/10
How odd I should have to comfort you. You still have some hope, at least. Les yeux sans visage (AKA: Eyes Without a Face) is directed by Georges Franju and collectively written by Franju, Jean Redon, Pierre Boileau, Thomas Narcejac and Claude Sautet. It stars Pierre Brasseur, Edith Scob, Alida Valli, Juliette Mayniel and Francois Guerin. Music is by Maurice Jarre and cinematography by Eugen Schufftan. Dr. Genessier (Brasseur) is wracked with guilt over the car accident he caused that saw his beloved daughter Christiane (Scob) suffer horrendous facial injuries. He has a notion to perform xenograft surgeries on female victims and transplant the face onto that of Christiane… It sounds like a classic mad scientist movie, the sort where Peter Lorre stalks around the place with a devilish grin on his face, only the French version! Eyes Without a Face isn’t that sort of horror film, haunting? Yes, but there is no killing for joy or sadism here, it’s done for love, to assuage guilt whilst advancing science. Oh it’s still madness, but there’s a real sadness to Dr. Genessier’s actions, touchingly so, and with Franju a master of hauntingly lyrical splendour, it’s a film as beautiful as it is troubling. Christiane is a living doll, a slow moving angel forced to wear a porcelain mask to hide her badly burned face. As she glides around the Gothic halls of the Genessier house – and the lower tier corridors of the hospital that’s annexed to the house - Franju never wastes a chance to poeticise a scene, using slow and long takes in silence that imbue the story with a sense of the foreboding. Even when there is dialogue, it’s always in hushed tones unless it involves the police, who are naturally suspicious of the good doctor Genessier. A number of evocative scenes are truly arresting, gorgeous in construction and meaning, none more so than the very final scene that closes the pic down. But the most talked about scene is the one of horror, the surgery procedure that we actually see, a magnificent breath holding sequence, gruesome but once again, done in the name of love! The tragedy of which is palpable. From the opening of the film as Louise (Dr. Genessier’s assistant played by Valli) drags a dead body to a lake, to a moving sequence as Christiane visits the caged dogs that serve as guinea pigs for her father’s experiments, the blend of horror with fairytale like sadness is beautifully rendered. Tech credits are very high. Schufftan’s photography is graceful and sombre, whilst Jarre’s musical score, particularly the macabre carnival tune he uses, is coming straight from the aural chambers of the surreal. Brasseur is terrific as Genessier, again playing a doctor (he was wonderful the year before in Head Against the Wall), Genessier is a tortured soul with ice cold blood running through his veins, and Brasseur nails it. The French Laird Cregar? Yes. That’s a justifiable compliment. In truth all performances are high in quality, with props to Scob who has to wear the immobile mask and act just with her sad puppy dog eyes. As the doves fly, this is what it sounds like when dogs – and a porcelain angel – cry. Indeed. 9/10
CinemaSerf2024-05-30
★ 8/10
I don't think I've ever seen a film that marries the macabre and the gentle; the evil and the enlightened and the just plain horrifying in quite the way that Georges Franju does with this masterpiece. Pierre Brasseur as "Dr. Génessier" is simultaneously sinister, brutal, loving and tender as he uses every means at his disposal to try to correct an accident that has left his daughter "Christiane" (Edith Scob) disfigured. He will stop at nothing - quite literally - and the coup de grâce is still something that makes me shudder, even now. Not for the squeamish, nor is it gratuitous. It's just great.