Watch
Criterion Channel
The Face of Another

The Face of Another

1966
Drama, Sci-fi
2h 4m
A businessman facially scarred in a laboratory fire receives psychotherapy from a psychiatrist, and obtains an amazingly lifelike mask from the doctor... (imdb)
Your probable score
?

The Face of Another

1966
Drama, Sci-fi
2h 4m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 75.23% from 801 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(800)
Compact view
Compact view
Rated 21 Sep 2009
4
70th
A bit abstract and high-concept, sometimes to its detriment, but nonetheless a very engaging and interesting examination of identity. There seems to be a strong theatrical influence here, especially in scenes where the characters are isolated with bright lights against dark backdrops. The technique on display is very effective. There's a subplot that mirrors the main strand in a number of ways, but feels a bit shoehorned in, and isn't particularly effective. Still, ambitious and impressive.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
85
73rd
This is a powerful movie about the importance we place on faces as the source of our identity. The stellar acting, the intelligent dialogue, the more than competent cinematography, the immersive camerawork, and the subtle, industrial soundtrack all contribute to the excellence of the film, but it's the premise that makes it a winner. Does our face reflect our personality, or does our personality reflect our face? When our face changes, does our personality change with it?
Rated 27 Oct 2008
84
90th
Fresh and dynamic exploration of faces, masks, and identity. The camerawork and editing are striking and imaginative (a little unrestrained, but not terribly ostentatious) and the premise is wonderfully provocative.
Rated 29 Sep 2013
78
89th
Very inventive exploration of identity and masks that seems to have an allegorical aspect to do with postwar Japanese history, but the most interesting, indeed prescient, theme is perhaps that of shame and shamelessness in a world where the possibility of taking on new personas increases both freedom and disconnection. It is truly remarkable that it was released in the same year as Frankenheimer's SECONDS: the similarities even extend to the idea of a conversation with the ocean. Not SF.
Rated 24 Feb 2019
100
99th
masterfully and poetically crafted meditation on identity and the ways we are shaped by the world around us as well as the ways our self-hatred and refusal to accept ourselves keep us isolated, lonely, divorced from intimacy
Rated 26 Oct 2007
87
89th
Utterly outstanding and thought-provoking. Explores the splintering of identity to great depths, aided by numerous shots through windows, frames, mirrors and other distortions. The photography, especially the artful sense of composition, is stunning. The music and surreal flourishes create an unsettling mood. Normally, I might think of the secondary plotline as a distraction, but I actually thought it fit in quite well. The way it pops in and out the narrative was like a movie-within-a-movie.
Rated 02 Jun 2010
54
53rd
I found the film a bit heavy-handed, it could've been trimmed down. And did the protagonist have to be such a self-pitying asshole? Still, the premise and the visuals are fascinating, and Takemitsu delivers a predictably great score.
Rated 02 Feb 2008
89
92nd
An interesting examination of identity. A man who's left with a disfigured face uses a mask to reclaim his life, but finds himself starting a new one instead. Not only is there an interesting story, but the examination of the reasons for the lead character taking on a new face are quite thought provoking. In the hands of another director this could have become a fun but silly scifi movie, but Teshigahara manages to keep the focus on the characters and lets us focus on the personal transformation
Rated 12 Jun 2008
4
74th
A very abstract pondering of identity, examining both the social and personal crises that come along with it. Sometimes it's tedious and simply weird, but usually the said abstractions make this all the more effective. The technique on display here is as jarring and fractured as the protagonist's own outlook, full of quick cuts, sharp angles, and freeze frames. Teshigahara gives us a surreal, almost haunting depiction of splintered perspective.
Rated 13 Jul 2012
80
69th
"We all wear masks... metaphorically speaking." - Dr. Arthur Neuman
Rated 23 Aug 2012
85
84th
Resisting the (not inconsiderable) temptation to make Face/Off comparisons, I'll give this film massive, throbbing props for Teshigarahas uniquely disturbed vision and another fantastic performance by Nakadai, a man more than capable of eating a peach for hours. ...fuck.
Rated 30 Jul 2015
10
2nd
Very low budget movie of mostly talking heads, talking in circles and not saying much of anything interesting. I was not amused and did not enjoy it.
Rated 07 Dec 2015
9
89th
Rattling and disorienting in its visual storytelling through unique composition and imagery, and complimented by an equally so musical score, 'The Face of Another' explores the topic of identity and societal influence on the self in a more engrossing and stimulating way than most other films of the like could ever dream of (even if the pace may be off-putting.)
Rated 10 Feb 2018
6
31st
some very cool imagery and framing (the doctor's office in particular was badass), but like other "new wave" films, things become so symbolic and stylized that it ultimately becomes emotionally stiff/flat/sterile. also the part with the brother/sister seemed shoehorned in.
Rated 15 Apr 2020
90
91st
Under Quarantine Film Reviews #43: Visually stunning as it is intellectually challenging, Teshigahara crafts an incredible work of existential sci-fi. Kobo Abe is a masterful writer, with his script/novel exploring the limits and freedom of acquiring a new personality and questioning what it means to be an individual.
Rated 27 Apr 2021
80
94th
spoiler... benim için dünyanın en iyi filmi bile olabilme potansiyeli varken; psikiyatristten estetisyen yaratılması + sonunda yarım saat süren sesi değişmemiş, çıplak vücudu yine eskisiyle aynı olan bir adamın kendi eşini kandırmaya çalışması gibi bi aptallıkla fırsatı tepiyor. yine de güzel
Rated 19 Mar 2011
93
95th
The best sci-fi film I have ever seen, and it features music by Toru Takemitsu!
Rated 04 Sep 2011
88
97th
A fine looking film that tells its story well, but I can't help but feel that the message of fluidity of identity isn't one that has been expressed many times before. Not that any picture has to have a completely fresh idea, but the message is repeated often enough, and slowly enough, that it feels as if they thought it was. It's still a good picture, though.
Rated 09 Jan 2012
78
60th
This movie may be better than I betrayed, but I was expecting something different when I first saw this. It turned out to be more methodical and precise rather than fast and ruthless, so I really need to rewatch this to give it a true score.
Rated 10 Aug 2012
100
99th
filme favorito
Rated 09 Jun 2013
72
62nd
Entertaining and interesting throughout but not as thought-provoking or deep as it sets itself to be.
Rated 27 Jun 2014
6
83rd
dialogue was a bit obvious at times, and the secondary plot felt tacked on, but camera and sound combine very well with interesting themes regarding identity versus persona.
Rated 16 Apr 2015
85
88th
An aesthetic epic about the alienation and everchanging identities in the modern society. It would be better if it finished after the girl's suicide though.
Rated 11 Sep 2015
95
98th
wow
Rated 14 Sep 2015
0
2nd
Not interested.
Rated 28 Sep 2015
55
53rd
I think the concept has been explored more powerfully, and it was a bit hard to empathize with the main character's destructive motivations. Still, it's a well-handled exploration of a fascinating premise, buoyed by several powerful images (the sea of masks in the climactic scene comes to mind).
Rated 27 Nov 2015
83
88th
On how the quest for the perfect human leads and has lead to dehumanization. Harps on and further analyses ideas explored by, for example, Antonioni (https://www.criticker.com/film/La-Notte/?viewr=dardan), as well as including a bunch of new stuff.
Rated 19 Dec 2015
75
79th
A study on what "personal identity" is.
Rated 04 Jun 2016
95
95th
Maratona em honra de Machiko Kyō (1924 — 2019) filme #5. Teshigahara. Não lembro se li o livro de Abe primeiro ou vi o filme, só lembro o quanto ele era fiel ao livro, inclusive em termos de linguagem, hoje revendo-o gosto ainda mais do filme. DVD Obras-primas do Cinema.
Rated 10 Aug 2016
89
92nd
Was he forgetting his voice, his height, his behaviour, his mannerisms, and everything else except his face?
Rated 27 Nov 2018
75
85th
A really unusual science fiction movie that gets more abstract as it goes with strange imagery cropping up in the background more and more as it goes on. The film also has a secondary story going on that has symbolic ties to the first.
Rated 21 Jan 2019
80
78th
A philosophical musing on identity, as a man with a new face appears to take on a new personality. There are times when you think you're watching a documentary, and other times when you may be in a surrealistic dream (helped by the odd but neat choices in music). It's a powerful movie, but the main character -- the incomparable Tatsuya Nakadai -- is so self-loathing that he's hard to empathize with here.
Rated 21 Dec 2019
89
93rd
Horrors of self pity.
Rated 04 Mar 2020
83
82nd
Would be a fun double bill with Seconds. There's a shot of light coming thru the body that Eggers had to have seen before making the end scenes in The Lighthouse
Rated 23 Aug 2020
100
94th
Un crack Teshigahara
Rated 28 Sep 2020
62
7th
I get it, I appreciate it, and I understand why someone would like it, but I don't.
Rated 27 Mar 2021
91
93rd
Undeservingly underrated.
Rated 14 May 2021
75
21st
Went over my head
Rated 28 Aug 2023
80
68th
I'll be honest, while I dearly love Hiroshi Teshigahara's previous collaboration with Kôbô Abe "Woman in the Dunes", so I wanted to love this one, I found it to be a fairly alienating and distancing experience. That's not to say I disliked it. I really loved the visual scheme and frequently was intrigued by it's pattern of doubling scenes, it often felt like a series of oddly disconnected pieces.
Rated 01 Nov 2023
93
94th
Brilliant. Filled to the brim with poetic dialogue on the nature of identity and coursing with subtext exploring everything from gender roles to the atomic bombs dropped on Japan; at least, that's my initial read on it. One of the best-looking films of the 1960s, which I also said about Woman in the Dunes from the same director, Hiroshi Teshigahara. Stunning, dreamy imagery that transforms normal locations into surreal landscapes at whim. Masterful.
Rated 30 Nov 2023
90
94th
Identity, anonymity, the breaking down of marality, what's not to love?

Collections

(52)
Compact view
Showing 1 - 24 of 52 results

Similar Titles

Loading ...

Statistics

Loading ...

Trailer

No Trailer