Directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara and released as part of the Japanese New Wave, The Face of Another is a film which reflects the country’s philosophical struggles as a society still recovering from defeat in World War II.

It follows industrialist Okuyama, who has been hideously disfigured in an industrial accident and is forced to wear bandages to hide his face. Alienated from the world and most painfully from his wife in particular, he agrees to a radical, untested experiment suggested by his psychiatrist: a face transplant, which will allow him to live with the face of a stranger for twelve hours at a time.

The film was adapted from a novel of the same name by one of Japan’s foremost novelists, Kobo Abe. It intertwines the story of the disfigured businessman with that of a young woman whose face was burned during an unnamed catastrophic event, but clearly referring to the atomic destruction of Nagasaki in 1945.

As Okuyama becomes lost in his new identity and the provocations of his unethical doctor, the film becomes a meditative horror study of personality, individuality, and how we perceive how others perceive us. The bleak tone of the story is abetted by the stark but sometimes disturbing visuals, including an opening sequence filmed using an x-ray camera. The design of the Psychiatrist’s laboratory made me think not so much of a liminal space and more of a waiting room for the afterlife.

I would also like to take this opportunity to promote again my favourite podcast – and how I personally discovered this film – Every Sci-Fi Film Ever. If you have the time Ayesha Khan’s episode is a fascinating deep dive into this strange, existentialist nightmare of a film.

Have a safe night everyone, and take care of yourselves.