THE THREE FACES OF EVE

This is yet another film I had been avoiding for no good reason, I just thought it was going to be a silly bit of sub-Freudian psycho-nonsense.

But I was reassured from the outset - the makers of this film are not content with simply a caption telling us that this is a real story, they have distinguished broadcaster and journalist Alistair Cooke on screen to tell us directly that this is the case, and have him provide voiceover narration throughout complete with the dates of each important event.

The unfortunate person at the centre of the drama is a timid housewife and mother Eve White (played by Joanne Woodward) who, suffering from headaches and blackouts, becomes a patient of a psychiatrist with the sinister name of Dr Luther (played by Lee J Cobb).

He uncovers a second personality hiding within Eve White, who is her opposite - extrovert, outspoken, flirtatious, etc, who is dubbed Eve Black (see what they did there?).

Whilst Dr Luther is trying to find a way of "curing" Eve (whatever that might mean) she suffers dreadfully.  She can't risk being alone with her daughter, because at any moment Eve Black might take over, and indeed on one occasion she did so and tried to strangle the child. 

Her husband Ralph struggles to believe that she isn't faking the whole thing, and in the end divorces her.  

Throughout all this Dr Luther doesn't come across as very sympathetic - to him she's just a fascinating case study (it doesn't help that Cobb is not the warmest of actors).

Thankfully the prospect of a resolution appears when a third personality (Jane) emerges who seem well balanced compared with the two Eves, the only problem being that she has very little memory of her past.

Dr Luther (to be fair to him) restores Jane's memory by getting her to remember a childhood trauma: being made to kiss the corpse of her grandmother (ugh!).  

This was the trauma that created the multiple personalities, and now that this trauma has been brought to the surface (in a very effective scene), the two Eves can disappear, and Jane can go on to live a fulfilling life.

So it's a happy ending, except that both Eves have had to 'die'.  The scene where each of them talks to Dr Luther for the last time is a surprisingly moving one.

Coming back to the question of authenticity, Alistair Cooke claims at the start that the dialogue in the film is based on Dr Luther's notes.  That's as may be, but that can't easily apply to scenes between Eve and Ralph.  

In particular there's an unnecessary scene between Ralph and Eve Black, where she amuses herself by seducing him, which I am doubtful actually happened. It seems to be there for some comedic relief which sits uneasily with the rest of the film.  

I also don't believe that Dr Luther was able to summon up first one personality then another as easily as is shown here, but I guess that's acceptable artistic licence.

This film is very moving at times, thanks to Woodward's extraordinary performance - she's able to make Eve White a totally believable and sympathetic person, whilst having the versatility to portray the other two personalities.  

It's the reason to watch this film and it's no surprise she won an Oscar for it.

The film is directed by Nunnally Johnson who, judging by his Wikipedia entry, was something of a workaholic: a prolific director, producer, screenwriter, playwright, journalist and short story writer.  He certainly does a competent directorial job here.

RATING: ✓✓ Good Times