Repression through Duplication: A Review of "Eyes Without a Face"

*Spoilers Ahead*

Following French filmmaker George Franju’s debut fictional film, he produced his most known work the 1960 horror film Eyes Without a Face, originally titled Les Yeux Sans Visage. In Eyes Without a Face, Dr. Génessier (a famous and innovative surgeon) and his assistant Louise kidnap women to surgically transplant their faces onto Dr. Génessier’s daughter Christiane. After multiple failed attempts, leaving numerous Parisian women dead, Christiane helps one of the candidates escape. After doing so, she releases her father’s dogs who run out into the night, killing Dr. Génessier and disfiguring him.

While all the women in this film act as literal body doubles for Christiane, each new face she receives also acts as a duplication of herself, each a unique manifestation of her repression. By understanding how Christiane’s identity exists as a plurality, the audience can track her motivation and ultimate climax at the end of the film. As this movie is entirely focused on Christiane’s lack of agency in her own life, putting the focus of this paper onto her is a turn away from the repression she faced.

Face One: The Self

The first face Christiane must contend with is that of her own disfigurement. Her face was burned in a car accident while riding with her father, who besides his own guilt seems unaffected. Dr. Génessier cannot look upon his own daughter’s face as it not only showcases his failure as a surgeon but also as a father.

By refusing to admit that her disfigurement is permeant Dr. Génessier infantilizes and dehumanizes her, acting as though he can turn back time and give Christiane back all that she lost. Dr. Génessier is blinded by his own pride and ego. He desires to see his daughter restored no matter the cost or harm it may cause. In the interim of his success, Dr. Génessier creates a mask for Christiane to wear.

Face Two: The Mask

The mask is the second face thrust upon Christiane. It is also the face that the audience most frequently sees her in. The mask is a pale, static, mimicry of a human face. The uncanny valley of humanity that this mask represents truly horrifies Christiane. She even claims that she is more afraid of the mask than her deformed face underneath.

This mask encapsulates the limbo Christiane survives in. Neither truly living nor truly dead, Christiane lives in her own uncanny valley where Dr. Génessier has convinced everyone she is dead, leaving her to live like a ghost trapped inside her own home. She is totally at her father’s mercy to dictate who is she and what will become. Even still, she must bear the weight of his choices and the lives of the young women he kills for her.

Face Two: The Other Woman

The final face Christiane takes first belonged to another young woman named Edna Grüber. Edna in many ways represents the life Christiane has had stripped from her. She is a beautiful young woman from Sweden who is pursuing a life in Paris. She is an active woman, going out to shows and having friends to ask after her when she goes missing. Contrast this to Christiane who cannot even reach out to her own fiance, instead, she is forced to secretly call him just to listen to his voice. When Edna’s face is successfully transplanted onto Christiane her father is immensely proud, detailing the new life and identity she can now take on.

Christiane, however, is not able to assimilate into the role her father expects of her. She states, “When I look in the mirror, I feel like I am looking at someone who looks like me, but she seems to come from the beyond.” The woman with this face is not Christiane but rather a projection of her father’s own insecurities. He so desperately wants the ‘old’ Christiane back that he represses the woman she is and imposes the delusion that he will eventually be able to fit her into his own expectations.

Due to all these problems, it seems almost inevitable that Christiane’s new face will physically reject, as Christiane has already rejected the identity associated with it. Throughout the film, Christiane never asks for the new life her father attempts to give her. Rather than coming off as ungrateful, the trauma this young girl experiences shows her to be a sympathetic and ultimately pragmatic character. On multiple occasions, Christiane states her father will never be able to fix her and that she would rather be dead than continue to endure life as his guinea pig. This is such a pivotal moment in the movie as it reveals Christiane’s true character.

The Return To Self

The narrative of this movie begins closely following the father’s perspective and in doing so presents Christiane through his eyes. However, as the story continues Christiane takes more and more agency over herself and the movie’s plot. We learn that Christiane is an empathetic woman, who has been forced to stagnate. This stagnation is reminiscent of Gregor Samsa from Kafka's “Metamorphosis.” Both characters are entrapped by their family, leaving them physically and emotionally unable to move on from their trauma. Considering the possible reading of ”Metamorposis” as a disability narrative this comparison becomes all the more clear. The difference between these characters comes from how they solve their conflicts. While Gregor succumbs to his family’s desires and annihilates himself in the process, Christiane does the opposite.

While all the faces Christiane wears harken back to her repression it is the final duplication that is both the most fascinating and the most complex. In the final scene of the movie, Dr. Génessier is disfigured due to his daughter’s actions, a direct reflection of her own car crash before the start of the film. For the first time, Dr. Génessier does not hold the power, and for all of his status and skill, he cannot escape judgment from those closest to him. In this case, it is Christiane that finds him unworthy. She shows no remorse for his newfound state and instead relishes in the opportunity to escape. For Christiane, escape was the only option to end the cycle of violence.

The Good & The Bad

This movie is an excellent demonstration of post-WWII horror. The slow, almost meandering pace of the narrative in conjunction with the jovial music creates an ethereal and ominous tone. This film’s storytelling capabilities are greatly aided by its pacing and normalized use of violence. While the artistic side of me is absolutely enthralled by watching Christiane wander into the forest with her birds and Givenchy dress, I also wanted something more from the ending. This film set up Jacques, Christiane’s fiance, and gave no solution to his narrative, nor the police’s search for the serial killer. These are both minor storylines but I can’t help but wonder what more this film could have done.

The only other element of the movie I found lacking was a very minor element of Christiane’s escape. I was surprised to see her wear her mask during her final moments. After all the work Christiane has done to strip her father’s influence, leaving the mask feels like a trip-up in her own development. Christiane is a human, a disfigured human. Denying that does no service to her character or the movie overall. In the end, Eyes Without A Face was one of the best horror movies I've ever seen and I would recommend it to anyone who could appreciate it.