I get it: The premise of a man whose face is disfigured in an accident and then covered by a life-like mask serves as a plot device to explore the relationship between external appearance and character. Contrived and pretentious is how this theme is handled in the film, starting with the opening narration that is so clever it makes no sense at all. Things do not get better as the film plods on. The character of the psychiatrist (!!!) who developed the mask is particularly annoying: his incessant pseudo philosophical drivel was driving me crazy. No wonder his human guinea pig suffers a breakdown and eventually does him in (we are expected to believe that - just as the psychiatrist had predicted - the new handsome face changed the man's personality and made him do nasty things).
But what personality change are we talking about when the main character is obnoxious to begin with? While his face is still all bandaged up, all he does is self loathing and accusing his wife of rejection. To prove himself right he then uses the fancy mask to seduce his wife only to call her out how easily she gave in to another man. Predictably she says she knew it was him all along. That is actually one of the few plausible ideas in an otherwise vacuous script: after all his body, voice and mannerisms have not changed. But why did not she say so upfront? Ah, right, then there would be no dramatic conflict!
I know, it is all supposed to be very profound, symbolic and what have you, but the film tries so hard to be high-brow that it ended up having the opposite effect on me. The much celebrated aesthetics felt calculated and ostentatious, a mere display of visual gimmickery. Then perhaps evoking the feelings of anger and alienation in the viewer was the whole point.
But what personality change are we talking about when the main character is obnoxious to begin with? While his face is still all bandaged up, all he does is self loathing and accusing his wife of rejection. To prove himself right he then uses the fancy mask to seduce his wife only to call her out how easily she gave in to another man. Predictably she says she knew it was him all along. That is actually one of the few plausible ideas in an otherwise vacuous script: after all his body, voice and mannerisms have not changed. But why did not she say so upfront? Ah, right, then there would be no dramatic conflict!
I know, it is all supposed to be very profound, symbolic and what have you, but the film tries so hard to be high-brow that it ended up having the opposite effect on me. The much celebrated aesthetics felt calculated and ostentatious, a mere display of visual gimmickery. Then perhaps evoking the feelings of anger and alienation in the viewer was the whole point.