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The Face of Another

Original title: Tanin no kao
  • 1966
  • Not Rated
  • 2h 4m
IMDb RATING
7.9/10
9.6K
YOUR RATING
The Face of Another (1966)
A businessman with a disfigured face obtains a lifelike mask from his doctor, but the mask starts altering his personality.
Play trailer2:05
1 Video
10 Photos
DramaHorrorSci-Fi

A businessman with a disfigured face obtains a lifelike mask from his doctor, but the mask starts altering his personality.A businessman with a disfigured face obtains a lifelike mask from his doctor, but the mask starts altering his personality.A businessman with a disfigured face obtains a lifelike mask from his doctor, but the mask starts altering his personality.

  • Director
    • Hiroshi Teshigahara
  • Writer
    • Kôbô Abe
  • Stars
    • Tatsuya Nakadai
    • Mikijirô Hira
    • Kyôko Kishida
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    7.9/10
    9.6K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Hiroshi Teshigahara
    • Writer
      • Kôbô Abe
    • Stars
      • Tatsuya Nakadai
      • Mikijirô Hira
      • Kyôko Kishida
    • 46User reviews
    • 48Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 4 wins & 2 nominations

    Videos1

    Teaser Trailer
    Trailer 2:05
    Watch Teaser Trailer

    Photos10

    Tatsuya Nakadai in The Face of Another (1966)
    Miki Irie in The Face of Another (1966)
    Mikijirô Hira and Tatsuya Nakadai in The Face of Another (1966)
    The Face of Another (1966)
    Machiko Kyô and Tatsuya Nakadai in The Face of Another (1966)
    Tatsuya Nakadai in The Face of Another (1966)
    The Face of Another (1966)
    The Face of Another (1966)
    The Face of Another (1966)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Tatsuya Nakadai
    Tatsuya Nakadai
    • Mr. Okuyama
    Mikijirô Hira
    Mikijirô Hira
    • Psychiatrist
    Kyôko Kishida
    Kyôko Kishida
    • Nurse
    Miki Irie
    Miki Irie
    • Girl with Scar
    Eiji Okada
    Eiji Okada
    • The Boss
    Minoru Chiaki
    Minoru Chiaki
    • Apartment Superintendent
    Hideo Kanze
    Hideo Kanze
    • Male Patient
    Kunie Tanaka
    Kunie Tanaka
    • Patient at Mental Hospital
    Etsuko Ichihara
    • Yo-Yo Girl
    Eiko Muramatsu
    • Secretary
    Yoshie Minami
    Yoshie Minami
    • Old Lady
    Hisashi Igawa
    Hisashi Igawa
    • Man with Mole
    Kakuya Saeki
    • Elder Brother of Girl with Scar
    Sen Yano
    • Mentally Ill Man A
    Bibari Maeda
    Bibari Maeda
    • Singer in Bar
    Machiko Kyô
    Machiko Kyô
    • Mrs. Okuyama
    Shinobu Itomi
    Robert Dunham
    Robert Dunham
    • Foreign man in Bar
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Hiroshi Teshigahara
    • Writer
      • Kôbô Abe
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Director Hiroshi Teshigahara said that he intended the film to explore both personal and cultural identities. While the examination of personal identity is quite overt, Teshigahara also explored how Japan's cultural identity had been impacted by World War II and its aftermath.
    • Quotes

      Psychiatrist: You're not the only lonely man. Being free always involves being lonely. Just there is a mask you can peel off and another you can not.

    • Connections
      Referenced in Funeral Parade of Roses (1969)
    • Soundtracks
      Waltz
      (uncredited)

      Music by Tôru Takemitsu

      Lyrics by Tatsuji Iwabuchi

    User reviews46

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    10/10
    Personality determines Appearance? Or Appearance determines Personality?
    This is a film that has to be rescued for all moviegoers.

    I saw "The Face of Another" (Tanin no kao) at the National Gallery of Art's series, "A New Wave in Japan: 1955-1974," and was mesmerized by this "elegantly spooky and enigmatic examination of identity." This is the third of four Hiroshi Teshigahara (director)/Kobo Abe (writer)/ Toru Takemistu (composer) collaborations. They have reached nearly the same perfection in the fusion of image, sound, and subject in this work as in their brilliant work, "Woman in the Dunes."

    A businessman (Tatsuya Nakadai), whose face has been scarred in an industrial fire, is receiving psychotherapy from a psychiatrist (Mikijiro Hira). He succeeds in persuading the psychiatrist to make a mask for him, amazingly lifelike but completely different from his own face. Soon after being fitted for the mask, he tries to seduce his wife (Machiko Kyo) and succeeds; she promptly falls for the handsome stranger. He becomes angry at her weakness for a handsome man, but she claims she was aware all along that he was her husband and believed that both were just masquerading together as most couples usually do in different ways. She tells him that it is not she but he who has worried excessively about his appearance and who has spoiled his relationship with others. Strangely enough, his personality seemingly begins to change after he puts on the mask as if the mask has influenced his personality. And, he comes to realize that his new identity does not enable him to reintegrate into society after all.

    The film also has a touching subplot. A good-natured young woman (Miki Irie, now Mrs. Seiji Ozawa), the left side of whose face is beautiful, but the right side of which is disfigured, has been hurt by others' inquisitive eyes and insults. She has been shunned and never been treated as a lady by any man other than her older brother. One day, she and her brother take a trip to a seaside resort, and in the hotel, she asks him to make love to her, hiding from him the intention of killing herself the next morning. He accepts her surprising request. During the lovemaking, he kisses her on the right side of her face. Her brother is the only man who can understand her pain and solitude and who can love the ugliest part of her appearance because of his deep love for her.

    After seeing this film, questions arise. What is Identity? How is it established? What is the relationship among Identity, Personality, and Physical Appearance? Does Personality determine Physical Appearance? Or, does Physical Appearance determine Personality? Abe and Teshigahara seem to challenge our common beliefs about this.

    The story is easy to follow, unlike "Woman in the Dunes." The dialogue is sophisticated enough as to be quotable.

    Takemitsu's musical score is outstanding. He has created a sharp contrast between sweet, sad music, which represents dance music for the masquerade, and deep, eerie "music," which represents the reality of faceless people.

    I hope this film will enjoy a revival and come to video or DVD in the near future.
    helpful•71
    5
    • Prion
    • Feb 12, 1999

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    Details

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    • Release date
      • June 9, 1967 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • Japan
    • Languages
      • Japanese
      • German
    • Also known as
      • I Have a Stranger's Face
    • Filming locations
      • Train Station, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan
    • Production companies
      • Teshigahara Productions
      • Tokyo Eiga Co Ltd.
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    • Gross worldwide
      • $35,185
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • Runtime
      2 hours 4 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.33 : 1

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