Customer Reviews

The Three Faces of Eve

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

"The Three Faces of Eve" broke new ground when it was released. It was the first examination of multiple personality disorder in a dramatic setting. Joanne Woodward gives a stunning performance as Eve a southern housewife who suffers from migranes, seems in constant emotional turmoil and has memory lapses. Her psychiatrist Dr. Luther (played by the marvelous character actor Lee J. Cobb) believes he's treating a common form of depression but he's startled to discover during one of his sessions that he's not speaking with Eve but with a whole different person. Based on the famous book documenting the real case (and not a "novel" as per the DVD case) by Corbett Thigpen, MD and Harvey Cleckley MD, Nunnally Johnson's script may be a bit pedantric for audiences today but there's still powerful performances and sharp direction that makes it worthwhile.

This special edition from Fox part of its "Studio Classics" collection includes a commentary by film historian Aubrey Solomon. Solomon's commentary provides precise and fascinating tidbits about how the film varied from the book and from the real case in addition to the usual background on the production of the movie. There's also a Movietone News Reel included of the Academy Awards (Joanne Woodward won for Best Actress). The original theatrical trailer is included and the restored image and sound are quite good.

Well worth picking up for fans of classic Hollywood movies from the 50's. My only complaint is Fox should have done a featurette on the making of the movie with interviews of Woodward and others and/or an alternate commentary track from the actress discussing the making of the movie.

Joanne Woodward gets one of those roles that most actresses must dream about - the opportunity to play a character with three distinct personalities. The film centres on this woman's attempt to regain her life with the assistance of a psychiatrist played by Lee J. Cobb. Woodward does a very good job of creating various personalities and balancing the role. I wish I knew more about multiple personalities and psychiatry to know how accurate the film is, because I found parts of it hard to believe. The way the hypnosis is presented seems to me to be far too easy and simple, and to be honest, we don't actually get to see very much of how the doctor helped the young woman. If you look to the film less as a case study and more as a piece of drama, you will find much to enjoy about it. And regardless of how factual and accurate it is, The Three Faces of Eve was an important step in presenting mental illness to the public, and for that reason also, it deserves to be seen.

THE THREE FACES OF EVE remains to this day a riveting and fascinating glimpse into the mind of a person afflicted with multiple personality disorder, with Joanne Woodward in her Academy Award-winning tour-de-force.

The story concerns a meek young married woman called Eve White (Joanne Woodward) who begins to have regular consultations with Dr Luther (Lee J. Cobb) when she starts experiencing moments of blackout and amnesia, which are later discovered to be the manifestations of multiple personality disorder. When Eve White passes out, the more-seductive and confident Eve Black emerges and wreaks her own kind of havoc. Then there is the third personality, the well-grounded and assured Jane. All three fight for the ultimate and permanent control of Eve White's body, but only one will win...

Joanne Woodward's performance is truly phenomenal. She deserved her Oscar win and then some. Lee J. Cobb is fantastic as the patient Dr Luther with David Wayne as Eve White's bewildered husband. This was based on the well-documented medical case of Chris Costner-Sizemore, a woman with several fragmented personalities who later successfully recovered from her illness. The bulk of the dialogue comes verbatim from the original medical case-notes by Corbett H. Thigpen MD and Hervey M. Cleckley MD.

Also featuring Edwin Jerome, Nancy Kulp and Douglas Spencer. (Single-sided, dual-layer disc).

Yes, I love this little gem of a film that inspired my interest in the wonders of the human mind. Joanne Woodward has my vote for Best Actress with the only flaw in the film being parts of the script and the questionable casting of David Wayne as the dim-witted husband who refuses to accept his wife's disorder. It always earns rave reviews here on campus and several of my fellow students ask to see it and study it for psychology class and to get an introduction into the life of a multiple personality case. It's already a fave among the teachers and staff here. This is the perfect companion to the film "Sybil" and I hope it's released again on video soon.

The film is effective as an introduction into the realm of multiple personality disorder, but that's as far as it goes. Joanne Woodward is functional in the role, but I agree that it is in no way an Oscar performance. I have also witnessed multiple personality change under clinical conditions, and the person does not change in any dramatic fashion (like the lowering of the head). It's an imperceptible change at first. I read that Joanne Woodward studied film of Eve White's real life counterpart going through the change. She said there was no obvious physical punctuation whenever the other peronalities came out, and that she wanted to play it that way. According to the article, the studio wanted the lowering of the head, etc. so that the audience wouldn't become confused whenever a change occured. No faith in the public. David Wayne is superb in his role, and I feel he is underrated in the part. I've known people like his character, and he was right on the mark with his performance. His role is easy to get lost in the overall dramatic screenplay. It's a brave film that enters relative virgin territory. It held my interest.

"The Three Faces of Eve" is by far one of the best movies about people with multiple personalities (Alfed Hitchcock's "Psycho" being the other). Joanne Woodward gives an incredible performance as Eve White, a typical housewife with a little daughter who seems to fall under these little "spells" during which she can't remember a thing. Her husband, Ralph, takes her to see a psychiatrist (played brilliantly by Lee J. Cobb) and after a few sessions they find that Mrs. White is home to not one, but two very different personalities - Mrs. Eve White and Miss Eve Black. Eve Black is a fun-loving young woman who enjoys living life - while destroying Eve White's. Soon Eve Black and Eve White both get "spells" and a third personality who calls herself Jane appears. This story is absolutely incredible as in the end only one personality can stay around. I am truly impressed with Joanne Woodward's ability to change between personalities with the drop of a pin, but the most amazing thing to me is that this is a true story.

I find this film a classic gem. It stars Lee J. Cobb (psychiatrist), Joanne Woodward (Eve White, Eve Black, and Jane), and David Wayne (Eve White's Husband) in some of their finest work. Joanne deserves best-actress Oscar 1957 for this performance.

David Wayne gave a strong performance as the long-suffering husband. He reminds me of my father, a retired career sergeant. Today, and only in the United States, men are almost totally opposite this character, and much less (he's been beaten beyond recognition by political correctness).

This movie is remarkable in its treatment of a true story of a woman named Eve White, traumatized as a child, who split into two alternate personalities named Eve Black and later Jane. Thus, we have Eve White, Eve Black, and Jane, respectively: a bland, docile girl; a party girl; and a normal girl (or rather a balance of the former two). But, it turns out, it was really the personality Jane, who was the real Eve White/Eve Black.

Through the care and expertise (particularly hypnosis) of the doctor (Lee Cobb), the psychotic trio resolved the maddening issue of whose body it is when Jane "remembered" the childhood that neither Eve White nor Eve Black could. It was Jane, as the child Eve, being forced to kiss the dead maternal grandmother that precipitated all this evil. Eve White attempted sublimation with each new personality; it just only got worse.

Simply put, Jane (Eve's real ego) was the one who suffered the pivotal trauma. Then the real ego buried itself first under Eve Black, then under Jane. Haply, Jane, the real ego, outlived them all.

A must see for film aficionados. Although, this is a verified true story, it is also "fictionalized" by Hollywood to reach the masses. As a clinical study, it would not have gotten made. But as roman a clef, it won a best-actress Oscar, and brought mental illness and women's issues to the light. If you are skeptical, watch the DVD commentary, it'll fill in gaps in credibility.

I just wanted to clear one thing up. An earlier review was titled something like "Groundbreaking Hollywood treatment of schizophrenia". I'm sorry if I quoted that incorrectly. However, this movie is about multiple personalities, not schizophrenia. They are two entirely different mental illnesses and should not be confused. This show is about a woman with mulitple personalities. Wonderful acting and a very engrossing movie!

This compelling drama centers around superb performances by Joanne Woodward and Lee J. Cobb. The unusual nature of the story is introduced and explained by (a very young!) Alistair Cooke, and that setting prepares viewers for what is to come. Because this presentation is art, not news reporting, the film may not always be exactly true to the "real story." Fine art takes purposeful liberties with reality, and this film is certainly a fine example of cinema art. Engrossing, entertaining, and enlightening! Highly recommended.

Based on an actual case, "Eve" is a distant precursor to the TV drama "Sybil" (also featuring Joanne Woodward) and broke new ground in Hollywood's treatment of mental illness, while also taking a hard look at prescribed gender roles for women in the 1950s. Few actresses have made a more impressive acting debut than Woodward, starring opposite veteran Cobb, especially since she had three roles to juggle: a dowdy Southern housewife, a libertine, and a pragmatic, cultured woman. She brought off this complex, nuanced characterization with such finesse that she walked away with a Best Actress Oscar.