The Three Faces of Eve

Released Sep 23, 1957

1h 31m

Drama

List

94%

Tomatometer

17 Reviews

77%

Audience Score

5,000+ Ratings

Suffering from headaches and inexplicable blackouts, timid housewife Eve White (Joanne Woodward) begins seeing a psychiatrist, Dr. Luther (Lee J. Cobb). He's stunned when she transforms before his eyes into the lascivious Eve Black, and diagnoses her as having multiple personalities. It's not long before a third, calling herself Jane, also appears. Through hypnosis and continued therapy, Luther struggles to help Eve recall the trauma that caused her identity to fracture.

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Zita Short

InSession Film

I simply adore the incredibly talented Joanne Woodward...

Feb 9, 2023

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Creative Loafing

In only her third silver-screen appearance, Joanne Woodward found gold -- Oscar gold -- via her Academy Award-winning performance in this psychological drama.

Rated: 3/4

Apr 18, 2014

Full Review

Eric Melin

Scene-Stealers.com

Woodward is solid and the entire film turns on her performance, which gets deeper and more convincing as the story opens up a bit.

Rated: 2.5/4

Nov 22, 2013

Full Review

Josh Larsen

LarsenOnFilm

...turns a psychological condition into a parlor trick.

Rated: 1.5/4

Feb 18, 2013

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

An early, too simplistic Hollywood melodrama about split personality, well acted by Joanne Woodward in an Oscar-winning performance.

Rated: B

May 7, 2011

Full Review

Betsy Bozdech

DVDJournal.com

Woodward's acting ... is amazing; not only does she behave differently depending on which Eve she's playing, but somehow she manages to look different, too.

Rated: 3/4

Oct 22, 2006

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Audience Member

Interesting true story and Joanne Woodward definitely carries this movie that otherwise wouldn't have made it.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/13/23

Full Review

steve d

Woodward gives a masterclass.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

matthew d

A versatile introduction to Joanne Woodward's greatness! Nunnally Johnson's psychological drama The Three Faces of Eve (1957) is a fascinating portrayal of multiple personality disorder far before films like Psycho, Primal Fear, or Split. Delving into the troubles women face in society Marnie or A Streetcar Named Desire, The Three Faces of Eve is a powerful depiction of feminist ideals for agency, independence, and individuality. Johnson's script is both thoughtful and gentle in his treatment of women and multiple personality disorder patients. His writing feels compassionate and informative as The Three Faces of Eve is a true story about a real women. I found The Three Faces of Eve absolutely riveting as an entertaining movie, beautiful in its striking black and white cinematography, and profound in its commentary on how poorly girls are treated by men. You will bear a great deal of sympathy for Eve as her trauma and abuse develop into a broken mind. Nunnally Johnson's direction is so lovely. He takes you from room to room like a play just to let the ravishing and adorable Joanne Woodward act her heart out. Johnson gives each personality a healthy amount of screen time, so that the viewer can immediately distinguish each lady. Renié's costumes and Ben Nye's make-up departments clearly went crazy themselves fashioning gorgeous dresses, pretty hairstyles, fancy make-up, dainty gloves, and stylish shoes to each of Woodward's memorable wardrobes. The Three Faces of Eve is only 91 minutes and feels like a complete and complex story is told briskly. Marjorie Fowler's editing is so seamless you don't even notice it with her subtle cuts. Stanley Cortez' cinematography is a marvel of black and white camerawork. His shots are so perfect in framing and classy with his close-ups. He shoots The Three Faces of Eve like it's a timeless masterclass in filmmaking akin to To Kill a Mockingbird in his shadowplay and lighting. Notably, Joanne Woodward delivers 3 diverse roles in The Three Faces of Eve that demonstrate her acting prowess and skillful versatility as an actress. Woodward is breathtaking as switches effortlessly between Eve White, Eve Black, and Jane. She earned herself a Best Actress Oscar for The Three Faces of Eve with a captivating performance portraying Eve as quiet and gentle, alluring and flirtatious, sensitive and rational alongside so many more nuanced traits. Joanne Woodward truly gives us her greatest role in The Three Faces of Eve. I also like Lee J. Cobb as the kind and patient doctor desperately trying to figure out what is going on with Eve. In an era like the 1950's wherein the general audiences did not understand multiple personality disorder. The Three Faces of Eve generously goes out of its way to explain it to the audience in easy to comprehend terms as is possible. I must mention the romantic and tragic score from Robert Emmett Dolan is dreamy and memorable. He composes a most apt score for Eve's ever shifting mindsets. In all, The Three Faces of Eve is a fantastic film featuring a phenomenal performance from Joanne Woodward.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

jim b

Laughably bad. Horrendous. Avoid at all costs.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I think that acting in three personalities is extremely challenging and Joanne Woodward does an excellent job of playing Eve White, Eve Black, and Jayne. It's no surprise that she won a best actress award for this movie.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/19/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Films purporting to be serious dramas informing the public about rare medical diseases that were essentially exploitation thrillers were commonplace in the 1950s and this movie falls prey to some of the worst conventions of the genre. The film is best known for winning the Best Actress Academy Award for Joanne Woodward and while I think that her performance is the best thing about the film I would say that Lana Turner gives a better performance in Peyton Place (1957) and would have been more deserving of the award. I wouldn't recommend that anyone see this film because it has aged terribly and isn't even entertaining in a cheesy way by today's standards. Demure housewife Eve White, Joanne Woodward, begins experience psychological breaks after having headaches impairing her ability to take care of her husband and children. Her cruel husband Ralph, David Wayne, takes her to a psychiatrist, Dr. Curtis Luther, Lee J. Cobb, who diagnoses her with multiple personality disorder as she is both Eve White, the wild and promiscuous Eve Black and the mentally well adjusted Jane. Jane develops after Eve White and Ralph break up but all three personalities fight for dominance over one another. We eventually find out about the tragic circumstances that led to this situation but by this point we are aware that Eve will be OK as Jane takes control and moves on with her life. None of the characters in the film seemed remotely believable from our zany main character to her thinly written semi-abusive husband and this was a major hindrance to my investing in the film. I wanted to feel sympathy for Eve White as she is crowded out by the stronger personalities both internal and external that surround her all day. I couldn't muster up any real emotion however because Eve White was such a false character, the perfect 1950s housewife, that you couldn't see the situation she was in as tragic but as an almost comical one. The sexy and alluring Eve Black feels like a male fantasy with just a touch of Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction (1987) while we spend so little time with the angelic Jane that we have no sense of who she really is at the end of the film. At least in Primal Fear (1996) you get a sense of what both sides of the villain's character are and you can appreciate how they change between them. Woodward is clearly trying to bring some oomph to this film as she uses all of the twitches and quick shifts in facial expressions that she can in order to make the character entertaining while pretending that she is Margot Kidder in Sisters (1972). When she is on screen she does bring some presence to the goings on and when she becomes Eve Black she gives an impressive physical performance as we see relatively subtle shifts in how she interacts with the men around her and see an almost feral facial expression cross her face. I appreciate the fact that she was nominated for Best Actress and her later work in Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams (1973) and Rachel, Rachel (1968) is brilliant but here I think she is overshadowed by a better performance. I would not call Turner a great actress but I think she gives very enjoyable performance in Peyton Place (1957) that really lifts up the film and stands out as a great melodramatic role. In terms of films about people with mental illnesses I would say that I was far more impressed with Sophie's Choice (1982), Lilith (1964) and David and Lisa (1962). Kevin Kline, Jean Seberg and Janet Margolin all give more nuanced performances than Woodward does in this film all the while being served by screenplays that feature fleshed out characters and fascinating stories. Obviously a film made in 1957 that focuses on a subject this touchy is probably not going to age well but I at least wanted some campy entertainment value if the film was going to be ridiculous. This film's Academy Award wins are not a reason to go see it because it's a very dull affair without telling you anything of substance and it does not earn the acclaim it received.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

02/01/23

Full Review

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Nunnally Johnson

Director

Joanne Woodward

Eve White

Lee J. Cobb

Doctor Curtis Luther

David Wayne

Ralph White

Edwin Jerome

Doctor Francis Day

Alena Murray

Secretary

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Synopsis

Suffering from headaches and inexplicable blackouts, timid housewife Eve White (Joanne Woodward) begins seeing a psychiatrist, Dr. Luther (Lee J. Cobb). He's stunned when she transforms before his eyes into the lascivious Eve Black, and diagnoses her as having multiple personalities. It's not long before a third, calling herself Jane, also appears. Through hypnosis and continued therapy, Luther struggles to help Eve recall the trauma that caused her identity to fracture.

Director: Nunnally Johnson
Screenwriter: Nunnally Johnson
Distributor: CBS/Fox, 20th Century Fox
Production Co: 20th Century Fox
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 23, 1957, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 18, 2012
Runtime: 1h 31m

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