The Face of Another (Tanin no kao) (1966)

dir. Hiroshi Teshigahara
writ. Kobo Abe (novel and screenplay)
feat. Tatsuya Nakadai, Machiko Kyo, Mikijiro Hira, Kyoko Kishida

The Face of Another explores questions of identity and fidelity through the eyes of a man badly disfigured in a fire. His doctor gives him a lifelike mask with which he can fool even his wife, living a second life, unknown to the world. The film benefits from stunning sets including glass walls covered in anatomical illustrations and projected imagery, lending an experimental quality that corresponds with the heavy, often redundant philosophizing that flows between doctor and patient. Sadly, this pondering bogs down the film, straying from any central point, throwing every idea at those walls and letting it all stick, without a needed editor to trim the fat.

Still, as Nakadai's character seduces his wife in his alternate persona, then condemning her for cheating, the story throws a neat twist as she claims to have known all along, recognizing him immediately as her husband, and playing along in some twisted role play. The audience can never be sure if she is telling the truth, and this doubt, along with the many other unanswered questions lends the film a satisfying sense of discomfort, leaving identity undefined and hinting at the impossibility of such resolution.