The Three Faces of Eve
The Three Faces of Eve
G | 23 December 1957 (USA)
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A doctor treats a woman suffering from multiple personality disorder.

Reviews
Interesteg What makes it different from others?
filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
Kodie Bird True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.
Jemima It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.
Dalbert Pringle I'm certainly no psychiatrist and I would never, ever say that I knew a hill of beans about something like Multiple Personality Disorder (M.P.D.) - But, with that said, I certainly found this film's over-simplified fast-tracking in regards to the complete cure of Eve White's obviously complicated, deep-rooted mental affliction to be just a tad too pat and easily remedied from this layman's puzzled point of view.With the way that Eve's psychological illness was treated in this somewhat pedestrian-level, little picture, all that was needed to fix Eve's screwed-up, little head was for the doc to subject her to but a few limp-wristed sessions of hypnotherapy - And before we knew it, Eve was suddenly emerging into that of a very well-rounded, level-headed, likable and intelligent woman who had not a care in the world (as well, she also had a hunky, understanding new beau waiting in the wings to love her to pieces).I don't know what most people think, but, when I took into serious consideration the fact that Eve's M.P.D. didn't just take place over night (it was an extremely rare, almost unheard of, mental disorder that had been with her, steadily becoming worse, since the very young age of 6), this over-simplified cure-all of using only hypnosis struck me square in the face as being downright ludicrous beyond words.I guess (considering that this "based-on-fact" story was a very clear product of the 1950s) its whole over-simplification of a very complex disorder of the mind was a deliberate attempt by its producers to present its subject matter as a marketable product, easily sold to the naive mind-set of "Mr. & Mrs. Joe Average" movie-goer from that particular era in American culture.Now, don't get me wrong here - I didn't in any way hate The Three Faces Of Eve. On the contrary, I found it to be entertaining, very well-scripted and its cast certainly convinced me that they were in complete earnest when it came to playing their parts - But, as a film dealing directly with very serious psychological issues, it just wasn't structured in a convincingly enough manner to hold even an ounce of water. - And, so, due to that argument, I rate it with only 5 stars.
AaronCapenBanner Joanne Woodward won a best actress Academy Award for her memorable performance as Eve White, an unassuming and shy housewife who has been suffering from headaches and blackouts. When she sees a psychiatrist(played by Lee J. Cobb) he puts her under hypnosis, and is shocked when a new and wholly dissimilar personality emerges who calls herself Eve Black, who is aware of Eve White, but hates her. A third personality(named Jane) later emerges, who seems like a balance between the two extreme Eves. Her husband(played by David Wayne) is totally bewildered and annoyed by this fuss, and can scarcely believe it. The doctor is determined to get to the root cause of this split, no matter how long it takes...Best remembered for Joanne Woodward's excellent performance, this Nunnally Johnson written and directed drama(based on a real case) is still reasonably compelling, though the outcome is a bit underwhelming. Still, the performances make up for any liabilities in this adaptation.
kenjha Based on a true story, this film looks at the case of woman with multiple personality disorder. Woodward, in only her third film and her first lead role, won an Oscar and became a star with her fine performance here. Also good are Cobb as her psychiatrist and Wayne as her less-than-understanding husband. After starting with an interesting premise, the film tends to bog down in psychoanalysis. Too much time is spent on conversations between psychiatrist and patient, yet little insight is provided into the nature of the disorder. Furthermore, a complex disorder is presented as too simple, as is the final resolution.
Chrysanthepop 'The Three Faces of Eve' tells the true story of a housewife who suffers from the condition recognized as dissociative identity disorder today. Nunnally Johnson's movie entirely focuses on the experience of Eve White, Eve Black and Jane during a period of a couple of years beginning from the time she started visiting her psychologist. This is unlike many of the 50s movies I've seen because it deals with several adult themes such as divorce, spousal abuse, sex and childhood trauma unlike the comparatively melodramatic films that were so popular at the time. Nunnally proves to be a fine storyteller as the meticulous writing is rich, tight and full of depth and the direction is great. I liked how he showed the 'treatment process'. It was cleverly downplayed in the story. The execution is done with skill. 'The Three Faces of Eve' has some outstanding nuanced performances. Lee J. Cobb is restrained as Eve's psychologist but it is Joanne Woodward who carries the film. She is simply sublime. Since then there have been numerous movies on dissociative identity disorder but 'The Three Faces of Eve' is the pioneer but that's not the reason why the movie ought to be watched because even as a stand alone, it works very well as a captivating character study.