A slap in the "Faces"

Ever watch a movie that deliberately tries to get under your skin and make you feel downright uncomfortable? It takes a filmmaker with a lot of guts (and ample gumption) to attempt such a feat, considering how unappealing such a picture would likely be commercially. "Faces," by John Cassavetes, could be a textbook example of this kind of film. While it didn't exactly garner a "thumbs-up" consensus from our CineVerse group, it did provoke some cogent analysis and discussion. Here are some of the conclusions we reached about "Faces":

WHAT WOULD HAVE BEEN SURPRISING AND UNEXPECTED ABOUT “FACES” FOR 1968 AUDIENCES?

• The story/plot is not conventional, like a three-act play: it begins suddenly with a 20-minute scene into which we’re thrust with three characters who aren’t properly introduced; it is after this prologue of sorts that the plot, if there is one, begins.
• There is a frankness and freshness to the dialogue and situations; keep in mind that this period was a turning point in movies toward more candid sexuality, violence and adult situations. “Faces” gives us realistic conversations, settings and confrontations about real adult issues like having sex, cheating, divorce and more.
• This is a film that deliberately tries to make you feel uncomfortable and exhausted: The volume is literally and figuratively amped up in this picture: we hear and see a lot of laughing, singing, screaming and emotional confrontation that would have been raw for viewers.
• The film feels unscripted, improvisational and documentary-like in how the characters are introduced, how the tone and character’s words and actions can suddenly change, how the story unfolds, and how it is filmed (in cinema verite style, using grainy 16 mm black-and-white film, often with a handheld camera, as if we’re a fly on the wall in a very private setting). Yet, amazingly, none of the dialogue or plot was ad libbed: this was a carefully choreographed story with meticulously scripted words.
• The film’s setups primarily employ tight close-ups: the value of this is that we literally focus on the “faces” of the characters and how they emote, act and react, and we are given an intimate if not smothering, too-close-for-comfort look at their personal business and uncomfortable secrets.
• The overall vibe and tone of the film is pessimistic and dark, which is risky for filmmakers seeking to attract an audience; also, nothing is neatly resolved by the conclusion, and the characters don’t appear to have grown, matured or learned a lesson; perhaps the insinuation is that, despite the hopelessness of the situation and the world we live in, acknowledging our dissatisfaction and ennui is honest and therapeutic.
• Cassavetes’ style with actors/characters is quite innovative and unique. Ponder what Slant Magazine writer Jeremiah Kipp wrote of this film: “Cassavetes's characters entertain each other as a way of fending off melancholy, which is why they're often singing, telling stupid jokes, mimicking other people's voices, screaming, giggling, always chattering away, and we get the sense they're terrified to stop because then they'd have to face up to the loneliness of their lives. If they weren't in a constant state of gasbag yammering, I think all of the characters in Faces would overdose on sleeping pills. What's more, for all their avoidance of saying anything of true significance in marathon-style scenes of drinking and sloppy conduct within the confines of their spacious homes (made claustrophobic by having a camera shoved into their pore-riddled faces), they seem aching to express something more, yet when they do, it comes out in all the wrong ways. "You're a whore!" or "I want a divorce!" are typical outbursts, conveyed by Cassavetes's actors through conflict-stretching improvisations.”
• It’s a film split into two clear halves: we follow Dickie and Jeannie’s tryst primarily throughout the first half; the movie shifts to Maria and Chet’s dalliance; Dickie and Maria are paired up again at the conclusion.

THIS FILM IS CHOCK FULL OF THEMES AND MESSAGES. WHAT ARE SOME OF THEM?

• We each wear a mask—a false face that we show to others, especially lovers/partners. Eventually, the masks must be removed and we see the real faces underneath, which can be ugly and shocking.
• The awful despair and depths of a midlife crisis and middle-age conformity and how damaging it can be to a couple and to each individual.
• Life is often chaotic, vapid, and meaningless
• How petty and insensitive people will act when they feel threatened or vulnerable—especially men, who can verbalize some very negative messages when they feel emasculated, which other men would have felt at this time, the dawn of the women’s lib movement.
• How taking a closer, privileged, inside look at the private lives of troubled individuals like these can you feel claustrophobic and disgusted as well as fascinated.
• As reviewer Bill Gibron wrote: “Faces is about confrontation and openness, about living the life you’ve always imagined versus the situation you’re stuck in.”
• Gibron also suggests that a major morale to the story is that nothing is quite as it appears to be. Consider that the film opens with a question; we see men sit down to watch a movie in a theater—the word “Faces” appears. Is the movie we’re watching the rest of the way the same movie they see? Is this a movie within a movie
• The inability of couples to communicate, compromise, nurture and comprehend each other’s feelings
• Betrayal and infidelity: we see two comparable yet opposite betrayals—Dickie is unfaithful to Maria, while Maria cheats on him later

STUART KLAWANS, IN HIS ESSAY FOR THE CRITERION COLLECTION, POSITS THAT THE FILM CONTAINS UNIQUE MOMENTS OF UNMASKING—SPECIAL TURNING POINTS THAT “STAND OUT FOR THEIR SUDDEN CHANGE IN TONE AND FOR THEIR MOTIVATION”. CAN YOU CITE ANY EXAMPLES OF “UNMASKING”?

• When Freddie grows jealous of Dickie, he unexpectedly and rudely asks Jeannie to name her price as a prostitute.
• Suddenly, Dickie boils over bitterly and asks for a divorce after earlier laughing and bantering playfully.
• One of Jeannie’s male customers without warning shouts out “What the hell do we care about two whores?”
• Later, Chet suddenly says “I think we’re making fools of ourselves” following a drunken celebration.
• Chet panics after Maria lies helpless on the floor after overdosing on sleeping pills.

DO ANY OTHER MOVIES COME TO MIND AFTER VIEWING “FACES”?

• Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

OTHER FILMS DIRECTED BY JOHN CASSAVETES

• Shadows
• Husbands
• Minnie and Moskowitz
• A Woman Under the Influence
• The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
• Gloria
• Love Streams