THE FACE OF ANOTHER Movie Review

Tanin No Kao
I Have a Stranger's Face
Stranger's Face

A scientist named Okuyama (Tatsuya Nakadai) severely burns his face in an accident. He seeks the assistance of a brilliant plastic surgeon, who fashions a lifelike mask for him. The mask gives him a normal appearance, though a decidedly different one than before. His life becomes further complicated when his wife (Machiko Kyo) furiously seduces him even before he tells her who he is, causing him to accuse her of adultery. It's only then that he begins to absorb the subtle, existential changes that are taking place as a result of his new appearance—changes that are not only altering his view of himself, but of his place in the world. This tantalizing and physically stunning 1966 film from Japan's Hiroshi Teshigahara was the follow up to his acclaimed 1964 Woman in the Dunes. Like the earlier film, The Face of Another was based on a novel by Kobo Abe, who again collaborated with Teshigahara on the screenplay. But unlike Woman in the Dunes, this decidedly disturbing, Kafkaesque examination of the nature of identity—and of the masks we all design for ourselves—was not well received in the U.S., and got very limited release. It's a shame, for this is a striking and fascinating work.

NEXT STOP … Woman in the Dunes, Eyes without a Face, Seconds, Face/Off

1966 124m/B JP Minoru Chiaki, Robert Dunham, Kyoko Kishida, Beverly Maeda, Eiji Okada, Koreya Senda, Tatsuya Nakadai, Machiko Kyo; D: Hiroshi Teshigahara; W: Kobe Abe; C: Hiroshi Segawa; M: Toru Takemitsu. VHS NO