Review of The Three Faces of Eve (1957) by Christina G — 16 Jun 2012

Joanne Woodward won an Oscar for her portrayal of a woman with multiple personality disorder, and she wholly deserved it. Her triple turns as the three different personalities (the meek and defeated housewife Eve White; the wild and sexual Eve Black; the intelligent and grounded Jane) is nothing short of astounding.

Unfortunately, this further perpetuates the stereotype that Best Actress performances are great performances in bad movies, and that's basically what this is. The film was considered daring in 1957 when it was released, but under the heavy-handed direction of Nunnally Johnson, the film comes close to collapsing.

Whereas Woodward was given a difficult, adequately-written part, the other two primary actors are given the short end of the stick. Both great actors in their own rights, they are given next to nothing to work with here.

David Wayne's Ralph is little more than a caricature, a slow-witted southern man who doesn't understand his wife's disease. Lee J. Cobb's Dr. Luther plays God on this whole affair, calling each of the three personalities at will, and with "of course," Eve obeys.

The score is simply distracting, with harsh string tremolos every time a personality takes over. A wild and dirty clarinet plays whenever Eve Black takes over, and high, weeping strings accompany Eve White.

The script is broad to a fault--first off, the names of the personalities. Of course, the dowdy housewife is Eve WHITE, and the wild and slutty one is Eve BLACK, and the one with literally no personality is given the filler name JANE.

The script draws thick black lines down a sensitive topic, and the film as a whole suffers for it. If for anything, see this for Joanne Woodward. She is truly terrific.