Exploiting the tropes of both science fiction and horror, director Teshigahara explores the bonds of marriage in this existential film based on the novel by Kōbō Abe. When engineer Okuyama’s (Tatsuya Nakadai) face is disfigured in an accident, he volunteers for an experimental procedure: a lifelike mask that will give him not only a new face, but a new persona. He tests the new face by attempting to seduce his wife (Machiko Kyô), an act that threatens to destroy his marriage, as well as his own sense of identity.
—Tyler J. Petty
Arts & Faith Lists:
2013 Top 25 Marriage Films — #25