Independent Films, Film Profiles

Faces (film)
by John_Cassavetes

Faces was a 1968 movie, directed by John Cassavetes and starring John Marley, Cassavetes' wife Gena Rowlands, Seymour Cassel and Lynn Carlin, who both received Academy Award nominations for this film.The movie, shot in cinéma vérité-style, depicts the final stages of the disintegrated marriage of a middle-aged couple. In one night we are introduced to various groups and individuals the couple interacts with after a tense argument and the husband's statement of his desire for a divorce. Afterwards he spends the night in the company of brash businessmen and whores, the wife with her middle aged female friends and a young hippie they've picked up from a bar. The night proceeds as a series of tense conversations and confrontations occur, illustrating where the modern American lifestyle has failed to nourish the interests, love lives, and emotional/spiritual fulfillment of these characters. Nearly everyone we meet expresses deep dissatisfaction with their lives and also a resigned attitude to this malaise. The film offers little hope, only a suggestion that in this world merely understanding that we're unhappy or dissatisfied is a revelation. The film was shot in high contrast 16 mm black and white film stock.