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. Dr. Génessier, along with accomplice and laboratory assistant Louise, kidnaps young women and brings them to the Génessier mansion. After rendering his victims unconscious, Dr. Génessier removes their faces and attempts to graft them on to Christiane's.
Cinematography
Shadow-drenched mansion corridors that breathe like lungs.
Score
Maurice Jarre's carnival-ghoul organ haunts long after.
Practical Effects
The face-removal scene still shocks sixty years later.
Director
Georges Franju
Pierre Brasseur
Professor Génessier
Alida Valli
Louise
Édith Scob
Christiane Génessier
Juliette Mayniel
Edna Gruber
Alexandre Rignault
Inspector Parot
Béatrice Altariba
Paulette Mérodon
Charles Blavette
Man from the Pond
Michel Etcheverry
Doctor Lherminier, forensic surgeon
Claude Brasseur
Police inspector
Yvette Etiévant
Mother of the little sick man
René Génin
Emile Tessot
Lucien Hubert
Man at the funeral
Marcel Pérès
Man at the funeral
François Guérin
Doctor Jacques Vernon
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The face-lift scene was so graphic that audience members reportedly fainted at the 1960 Edinburgh Film Festival.
Franju called this 'a fairy tale for sadists'; the French government actually tried to censor it for 'un-French' morbidity, proving they missed the point entirely.
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