Eyes Without a Face (film)

Eyes Without a Face (French: Les Yeux sans visage) is a 1960 French-Italian horror film directed by Georges Franju. It stars Pierre Brasseur and Alida Valli. The film tells the story of a brilliant surgeon, Dr. Génessier, who is driven to madness by guilt after disfiguring his daughter, Christiane, in a car accident.

Driven by his obsession to restore her beauty, Dr. Génessier kidnaps young women with similar facial features to his daughter, murders them, and attempts to graft their faces onto Christiane's. Christiane, forced to wear a blank mask to conceal her disfigurement, is trapped in her father's isolated mansion, haunted by her condition and the knowledge of his crimes.

The film is notable for its stark and poetic visuals, its exploration of themes such as beauty, identity, and the ethics of scientific experimentation, and its unflinching portrayal of surgical procedures, which were considered shocking for its time. Despite initial censorship and mixed reactions, Eyes Without a Face has since become a highly influential horror classic, celebrated for its artistic merit and its impact on the genre. It is considered a precursor to slasher films and body horror.