The Three Faces of Eve

The 1957 film The Three Faces of Eve, directed by Nunnally Johnson, is a relatively good film that demonstrates a degree of sensitivity toward the mentally ill not necessarily common in Hollywood. Joanne Woodward performs magnificently, but I found her more convincing as the psychiatrist in another, more powerful film about multiple personality disorder: Sybil, the 1976 TV movie starring Sally Field in an absolutely stunning performance. The difference in time periods can perhaps excuse the rather shallow, sensationalistic portrayal in Eve, whose personalities are caricatures of deviance or abnormality - except, of course, Jane, the personality that wins out in the end. The manner in which the movement between personalities is depicted is similarly unconvincing. Furthermore, the incident of rupture from Eve's childhood is revealed and wiped away rather quickly in the film, thereby failing to portray the psychological intensity of that defining moment. 

The most interesting moment of the film is perhaps the interaction between Eve Black and Ralph, Eve White's husband. He has just scolded his timid wife, only to face her "alter-ego" in full va-va-voom mode, attempting to seduce and control him as his own wife never had. What makes this such a thought-provoking sequence is its relevance for the general portrayal (and understanding?) of the power dynamics and personality performance between men and women who are romantically or sexually involved. At first, Ralph is threatened and angered by this forward, barely-clothed woman whose make-up nearly hides her other personality; however, he is soon drawn to her, and consents to buy her things in order to bring her home - and to his bed. Of course, the control dynamic remains as it was as soon as they are home again. This instance also relates to an interesting aspect of the film, in that for most of its duration, as the audience is allowed to see, Eve's personality disorder seems to be perhaps an expression of repressed disappointment and boredom in the face of her controlling husband and banal domesticity. A risky move, to be sure.