Notes on films

LES YEUX SANS VISAGE (Franju, 1960) - I’m going to see LA PIEL QUE HABITO tomorrow, so I thought watching this might be good preparation. What I wasn’t prepared for is just how graphic this one gets. It starts off creepy, but stylish and french and everything, so you expect it to use suggestion more than anything else. But then. There’s a scene that starts bit by bit. And you keep expecting the director to cut away to a reaction shot - and he does, from time to time, but he returns to the main event. And stays on it, while the scene goes on an on waaaaay past the point where most directors would allow our imaginations to take over. I watched through my fingers, but I still saw enough to make me shudder. Oddly enough, after that scene, the film gets much milder - until a comeuppance rather similar to the one in THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU. I’m curious if Almodovar’s film will be as gruesome - probably not - and the addition of his saturated use of color should be interesting.