Review of The Three Faces of Eve (1957) by Devon B — 06 Mar 2009
House wife "Eve" (Joanne Woodward in an oscar-winning role) buys alot of expensive "hollywood" dresses without remembering she had ever done so, then suddenly tries to strangle her child.
Her redneck husband thinks she's batty and takes her to the doctors. It turns out Eve has multiple personality disorder, a disease which causes her to take up drinking alcohol and dancing in bars til all hours of the night.
Her husband (played to the hilt by David Wayne) tells her "a good whoopin'" will knock some sense into her (he's quite a lowlife here), but in truth only her doctors can save her now.
She's very polite when it comes to switching personalities, always able to do so at an instant, whenever demanded of her (even though she seems to have no control over it herself). Narrated like a docu-drama, Three Faces of Eve is still a 1950s handling of multiple personalities disorder.
It maybe revolutionary for it's time, but the plot moves too slowly and what was once considered taboo (drinking in bars, oh my!) or shocking is now pretty blase. The only scenes of real greatness were the ones dealing with repressed memories, and these were handled with great artistry.
I can see why Woodward won the oscar, she puts in a hell of a performance, its just too bad the movie itself seems so dated.
This review of The Three Faces of Eve (1957) was written by Devon B on 06 Mar 2009.
The Three Faces of Eve has generally received positive reviews.
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