Sightlines · reception

How The Face of Another was received

1966 · Hiroshi Teshigahara · The Face of Another on Sightlines

The arc

Long overshadowed by Woman in the Dunes — the middle sibling of the Teshigahara–Abe collaborations got a cooler reception at home and abroad — it's been steadily reappraised since Criterion's 2007 'Three Films by Hiroshi Teshigahara' box, and plenty of cinephiles now argue it's the trilogy's peak.

What’s debated

The perennial fan debate: is this actually better than Woman in the Dunes, or the colder, more cerebral lesser sibling?

Its footprint

Its clinic set — glass panels, floating body parts, that wall of sculpted ears — is one of the most screenshotted interiors in 1960s cinema, and the film is a fixture in the beloved '1966 identity-crisis' trifecta fans build with Persona and Seconds.

Where it stands

A canon climber: once a footnote to Woman in the Dunes, now a Letterboxd darling and a 'you must see the whole trilogy' film.

Did you know? The film's iconic, surreal clinic interiors were designed by Arata Isozaki — the architect who would go on to win the Pritzker Prize in 2019.