Eyes without a face

France, 1959

Film
Please note

Sorry, we aren't able to make images or video for this item available to the public online.

Source: Some information on this page may have been sourced as part of the 2023 Wikimedia Australia Partnership Projects grant, with the purpose of improving and expanding the use of Wikidata on our website. Wikidata is a free and open knowledge base that can be read and edited by both humans and machines. Read more about this project here.

Pierre Brasseur plays a surgeon who adopts extreme measures in his attempts to restore his daughter’s face (Edith Scob), horribly disfigured in a car crash. His obsessive efforts require him and his loyal assistant (Alida Valli) to kidnap young women and graft their features onto his daughter. Director Georges Franju and cinematographer Eugen Shuftan transform the pulp horror material into an eerie and surreal Cocteau-like nightmare. Eyes Without a Face has been remade twice by Spanish director Jess Franco, first as ‘The Awful Dr. Orloff’ and later as Faceless. Described by Franju as ‘an anguish film’, this film contains some haunting images, none more striking than Scob’s tortured eyes staring out from her stark, white expressionless mask. Music by Maurice Jarre. Based on a novel by Jean Redon. Also known as ‘The Horror chamber of Dr. Faustus’. In French with English subtitles.

Content notification

Our collection comprises over 40,000 moving image works, acquired and catalogued between the 1940s and early 2000s. As a result, some items may reflect outdated, offensive and possibly harmful views and opinions. ACMI is working to identify and redress such usages.

Learn more about our collection and our collection policy here. If you come across harmful content on our website that you would like to report, let us know.

How to watch

Stream, rent or buy via Just Watch Logo

Collection

In ACMI's collection

Credits

director

Georges Franju

producer

Jules Borkon

Duration

01:27:00:00

Production places
France
Production dates
1959

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

308168

Language

French

Audience classification

R (18+)

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Black and White

Holdings

VHS; Access Print (Section 1)

Wikidata

Q760244

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/86486--eyes-without-a-face/ |title=Eyes without a face |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=24 May 2025 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}