Les trois visages d'Eve

Joanne Woodward is simply amazing as a woman who suffers from Multiple Personality Disorder. She is very believable, and is fantastic in all three personalities, Eve White/Eve Black/Jane. Lee J Cobb is also great as the doctor who treats her. In my opinion one of the greatest "Best Actress Academy Award" winning performances that I have watched. She deserves all the critical acclaim and awards that she won. 10 out of 10.

I read Paul Newman's biography this summer. And early in the book, they mentioned the 3 faces of Eve and the Oscar Mrs Woodward won for her portray of the personality troubled character. From that moment, I wanted to see the movie. I have watched it lately and I must admit this is one of the best movie I have seen so far. She was capable to play three different characters and at the same time understand the subtlety of this disease (as I happen to study mental diseases). The ensemble has a good rhythm. The other characters are good and take just the necessary room without trying to impose. I enjoyed the tension that rises as we approach the end of the movie. There is no bloodshed yet it is quite terrifying. I recommend this feature to any movie lover.

Wow! Woodward is amazing in this film as Eve White, Eve Black and Jane. She plays them all to perfection. It has to be hard to switch and do all these different characters right after one another but she did it wonderfully. It's no surprise she won the oscar for best actress. Great film, if you havent seen this one yet do ASAP!

'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.

In 1951, in Georgia, the submissive housewife and mother Eve White (Joanne Woodward) is brought by her husband Ralph White (David Wayne) to a consultation with Doctor Curtis Luther (Lee J. Cobb) since she has painful headaches followed by blackouts with no recollections of what she did. The rude Ralph tells that she bought expensive clothing and hurt their daughter Bonnie during one of these blackouts. Dr. Luther begins her therapy and soon Eve shows a new personality, the reckless and wild Eve Black that hates Ralph and loves to drink and dance with other men, and Dr. Luther diagnoses a case of multiple personality to his colleague Doctor Francis Day (Edwin Jerome).

Ralph moves with Bonnie to Jacksonville and Eve continues her treatment. She tells that she is hearing voices, and Dr. Luther uses hypnosis to disclose more about her trauma. Out of the blue, a third personality emerges and tells that she is Jane that shows that is a balanced personality. Dr. Luther questions which personality should be the predominant.

"The Three Faces of Eve" is based on a true story and based on a book written by two medical doctors about a case of multiple personality in Georgia. I do not know the impact of Nunnally Johnson's movie in 1957 since it is dated in the present days. But it is still a good docudrama, especially because of the magnificent performance of Joanne Woodward in the role of three different women. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "As Três Máscaras de Eva" ("The Three Masks of Eve")