Hiroshi Teshigahara

The Face of Another

The Face of Another

A staggering work of existential science fiction, The Face of Another dissects identity with the sure hand of a surgeon. Okuyama (Yojimbo's Tatsuya Nakadai), after being burned and disfigured in an industrial accident and estranged from his family and friends, agrees to his psychiatrist's radical experiment: a face transplant, created from the mold of a stranger. As Okuyama is thus further alienated from the world around him, he finds himself giving in to his darker temptations. With unforgettable imagery, Teshigahara's film explores both the limits and freedom in acquiring a new persona, and questions the notion of individuality itself.

Share

Film Info

  • Japan
  • 1966
  • 124 minutes
  • Black & White
  • 1.33:1
  • Japanese
  • Spine #395

Special Features

  • New, restored high-definition digital transfer
  • Video essay on the film by critic and festival programmer James Quandt
  • Theatrical trailer
  • New and improved English subtitle translation

Available In

Collector's Set

Three Films by Hiroshi Teshigahara

Three Films by Hiroshi Teshigahara

DVD Box Set

4 Discs

$63.96

Out Of Print

Special Features

  • New, restored high-definition digital transfer
  • Video essay on the film by critic and festival programmer James Quandt
  • Theatrical trailer
  • New and improved English subtitle translation
The Face of Another
Cast
Tatsuya Nakadai
Mr. Okuyama
Machiko Kyo
Mrs. Okuyama
Mikijiro Hira
Psychiatrist
Kishida
Nurse Kyoko
Miki Irie
Girl with scar
Eiji Okada
The boss
Minoru Chiaki
Apartment superintendent
Credits
Director
Hiroshi Teshigahara
Screenplay
Kôbô Abe
Music
Toru Takemitsu
Cinematography
Hiroshi Segawa
Editing
Yoshi Sughihara
Art direction
Masao Yamazaki
Lighting
Mitsuo Kume
Sound
Junosuke Okuyama
Titles
Kiyoshi Awazu
Set decoration
Kenichiro Yamamoto
Still photography
Yasuhiro Yoshioka

Related Films

1/3
2/3
3/3

Current

The Dark Side of Television, Schoonmaker and Other Women in Film

Did You See This?

The Dark Side of Television, Schoonmaker and Other Women in Film
In a new interview with Film Comment, Polish cinematographer Slawomir Idziak discusses his collaborations with Krzysztof Kieślowski and his transition to working on Hollywood films like Gattaca and Black Hawk Down. “After the unexpected explosion…
Short Takes — Jan 27, 2017
Paul Schrader’s Top 10
Paul Schrader’s Top 10

It's pretty hard to go wrong selecting ten “best” or ten “favorites” from the Criterion Collection, although it might be interesting to select the ten worst Criterion releases (something that, in deference to my friends at Criterion, I will n

…
— Nov 21, 2008

Explore

Tatsuya Nakadai

Actor

Tatsuya Nakadai
Tatsuya Nakadai

A dynamic, handsome star who got his start in Japanese cinema during its 1950s golden age, the Tokyo-born Tatsuya Nakadai defies easy categorization. He is convincing whether playing a mercenary lone wolf or a heartsick love interest, a hero or a villain, in a sleek suit or samurai robes, and just as comfortable blending in to an ensemble as commanding a spotlight. The stage-trained actor was discovered, while working as a shop clerk, in 1953 by director Masaki Kobayashi, who promptly cast him in a tiny role in the controversial drama The Thick-Walled Room; a year later, he was given a walk-on part in Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai. After a major breakthrough as a young yakuza in Kobayashi’s Black River, Nakadai was on his way to becoming one of Japan’s busiest actors; he would work several more times with both Kobayashi and Kurosawa, as well as Hideo Gosha, Kon Ichikawa, Mikio Naruse, Kihachi Okamoto, and Hiroshi Teshigahara—the cream of the nation’s crop of film artists. Nakadai, still acting into his eighties, is perhaps most often recalled for his ravaging performances in Kobayashi’s epic war drama The Human Condition (1959–61) and Kurosawa’s Ran (1985), in which he embodies unforgettably a cinematic King Lear for the ages.

More Tatsuya Nakadai View All