Génessier is about to begin surgery on Paulette when Louise informs him that the police want to see him. The song became Idol's first top-10 hit in the U.S. [41] In 2013, the Criterion Collection released the film on Blu-ray, this time transferred directly from the camera negative. [8] Modern critics note the film's two imposing musical themes, a jaunty carnival-esque waltz (featured while Louise picks up young women for Doctor Génessier) and a lighter, sadder piece for Christiane. All music is composed by Maurice Jarre[28]. 16 hours ago. Eyes Without a Face -- 50th Anniversary Special. [41] The disc also included Franju's documentary Blood of the Beasts. 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. [22] The English Monthly Film Bulletin was of the opinion that "when a director as distinguished as Georges Franju makes a horror film...one cannot but feel tempted to search for symbols, an allegory, layers, or interpretation. Share. The film has influenced a number of European films since its release. [26] The Encyclopedia of Horror Films agreed with the assertion of Cocteau's influence, stating that "Franju invests [the film] with a weird poetry in which the influence of Cocteau is unmistakable". By Lee Pfeiffer. Criterion has released a true oddity: a French horror film from 1960 by director Georges Franju titled Eyes Without a Face. To see this page as it is meant to appear, please enable your Javascript! Unlike his energetic contemporaries of the unfolding French New Wave, the director sought colder brutalities. Franco followed the film with several sequels to Gritos en la noche. [17], On the film's initial release, the French critics' general response was moderate, ranging from mild enthusiasm to general disdain or disappointment, claiming it to be either a repetition of German expressionism or simply a disappointment of the director's leap from documentary filmmaker to a genre film-maker claiming the film to be in a "minor genre, quite unworthy of his abilities". In order to carry out the radical surgery, he and his mistress stalk and kill young women, stealing their faces in scenes that evoke Nazi medical experimentation. that’s because ur a Godard head. Graveyards, forests and even interiors have an emptiness about them that reads … The French New Wave had the potential to bring a radical change to French cinema. [6] This was in contrast to the presentation of the secondary feature, The Manster (1962), which mainly focused on the carny-show aspect with its "two-headed monster" and "Invasion from outer space by two-headed creature killer". [32] These homages are seen in the plot line of a police lieutenant who is investigating the circumstances behind the death of a young girl whose body has scars around the eyes. Scob describes some of the difficulties of her role, most of which she performed behind an unforgettable macabre mask. The song is notable for the female voice of Perri Lister —she appeared in the banned video for " Hot in the City "—who sings "Les yeux sans visage" ( French for "Eyes without a face") as a background chorus. In other ways, this film fits perfectly with the New Wave. Directed by Georges Franju. [6] A Region 2 release of Eyes Without a Face was released April 21, 2008 by Second Sight Films. Disturbing enough on its own, Franju intercut scenes of animal cruelty with images of children playing. Dr. Génessier performs heterograft surgery, removing Edna's face. Louise lures a young Swiss girl named Edna Grüber to Génessier's home. George Franju. Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader praised the film, referring to it as "absurd and as beautiful as a fairy tale". After the body is recovered, Dr. Génessier identifies the remains as those of his missing daughter, Christiane Génessier, whose face was horribly disfigured in an automobile accident that occurred before her disappearance, for which he was responsible. [12][24] The reviewers commented on the film's poetic nature and noted the strong influence of French poet and filmmaker Jean Cocteau. Although the film passed through the European censors, the film's release in Europe caused controversy nevertheless. First, working with Claude Sautet who was also serving as first assistant director and who laid out the preliminary screenplay, Franju hired the writing team of Boileau-Narcejac (Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac) who had written novels adapted as Henri-Georges Clouzot's Les Diaboliques (1955) and Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958). At the time, modern horror films had not been attempted by French film makers until producer Jules Borkon decided to tap into the horror market. Jason and I take a look at both the French New Wave and the work of Jean-Luc Godard with Breathless (1960), explore a fantastic and somewhat lesser-known horror classic with Eyes Without A Face (1960), and round out the show with an exploration of the Giallo subgenre and the work of Dario Argento with the fiendishly frightening Deep Red (1975). mask. What Georges Franju's Eyes Without a Face may lack in the anticipated stylings of the French New Wave, it more than accounts for with daring attitude and genuinely haunting design. Franju filmed Eyes Without a Face with a startlingly starkness. Carpenter recalls that the film crew "didn't have any money to make a mask. [25] J. Hoberman of The Village Voice declared the film "a masterpiece of poetic horror and tactful, tactile brutality". The film, a French-Italian co-production,[1] stars Pierre Brasseur and Alida Valli. 60s. New litter of French Bulldog puppies ! Faustus. [42], 1960 film by Claude Sautet, Georges Franju, This article is about the 1960 film. Vote. "[23] The review said there was "a strange and poetic opening" and Schuftan's "haunting camerawork allies itself perfectly to Maurice Jarre's obsessive score" while" Brasseur and Valli were "sadly wasted" and that they "do what they can with almost non-existent characters". "Billy Idol- Eyes Without a Face (1983) " Is a song by English rock musician Billy Idol, from his second album Rebel Yell (1983). [9][10][11], Eyes without a Face completed filming in 1959, and was premiered in Paris on March 2, 1960. [33] The British film Corruption (1968), starring Peter Cushing adds a new variation to the theme: a surgeon tries to restore his fiancée's beauty by repeatedly treating her with fluids extracted from the pituitary glands of murdered female victims. Franju filmed Eyes Without a Face with a startlingly starkness. Borkon bought the rights to the Redon novel and offered the directorial role to one of the founders of Cinémathèque Française, Franju, who was directing his first non-documentary feature La Tête contre les murs (1958). Billy Idol. We learn, for example, that before receiving much deserved critical acclaim, Eyes Without a Face appeared in the United States on the drive-in circuit, dubbed into English with the title changed to The Horror Chamber of Dr. Faustus. With theaters offering no new genre films this weekend, The Cinefantastique Podcast turns its all-seeing gaze back through the mists of time to a 50th anniversary examination of Eyes without a Face, director George Franju's moody masterpiece of art house horror. [31] The Italian film Atom Age Vampire (1961) was also influenced by Eyes Without a Face with a doctor attempting to take the faces of other women to repair his daughter's face. Spanish director Jesús Franco created films throughout his career that were influenced by the film. [27] Time Out placed Eyes Without a Face at number 34 on the top 100. I don't know why I wrote that down, why Debra [Hill] and I decided on that, maybe it was because of an old movie called Eyes Without a Face. Inspector Edgar Tanner investigates Orloff using his girlfriend, Wanda Bronsky, as an undercover spy. PopMatters is wholly independent, women-owned and operated. Billy Idol. In the opening scenes, the camera reveals a working class neighborhood slowing waking up to begin its day, but then takes us into the depths of the industrial abattoir. Today on Dangerous Minds I present to you two of my favorite things; a vintage, upper-tier European horror film paired with the punk rock icon Billy Idol. This also includes soundtracks from other Franju films including La Tête contre les Murs and Thérèse Desqueyroux.[28]. Eyes Without a Face was released on VHS on January 9, 2001 by Kino Video and on DVD on October 19, 2004 by the Criterion Collection. Copy link to clipboard. Essaying the pop culture that matters since 1999. Plastic Surgery. Eyes Without AFace Les Yeux Sans Visage GIF SD GIF HD GIF MP4. The film's initial critical reception was not overtly positive, but subsequent theatrical and home video re-releases improved its reputation. [10] In the 2010s, Time Out polled authors, directors, actors and critics who had worked in the horror genre to vote for their top horror films. Dr. Génessier lives in a large mansion, which is adjacent to his clinic, with numerous caged German Shepherds and other large dogs. Copy embed to clipboard. Dr. Génessier dismisses the police (who readily accept his explanations) and returns to his lab, where an abandoned German Shepherd he had only recently obtained for his experiments attacks him, inciting the other dogs to follow suit—maddened by pain and confinement, they maul him to death, disfiguring his face in the process. Georges Franju. The song is notable for the female voice of Perri Lister (who appeared in the banned video for " Hot in the City ") that sings "Les yeux sans visage" ( French for "Eyes without a face") as a background chorus. Dr. Génessier promises to restore Christiane's face and insists that she wear a mask to cover her disfigurement. Edna escapes, but falls to her death from an upstairs window. Report Save. [7] The writers shifted the novel's focus from Doctor Génessier's character to that of his daughter, Christiane; this shift revealed the doctor's character in a more positive and understandable light and helped to avoid the censorship restrictions. 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