Faces

1968 drama

Rating: 16/20

Plot: Wealthy married couple Richard and Jeanie laugh and gossip and laugh and tease and laugh and don't laugh. Richard falls for a prostitute, and after Jeanie fails to laugh at his lame jokes, announces that he wants a divorce. Jeanie goes clubbing with her other middle-aged friends and seduced by a younger man named Chet. Drunken stupors and much tomfoolery abound as lives threaten to fall completely apart.

I really thought I was going to have trouble getting through this after the first thirty minutes. Indeed, there are moments when scenes or conversations in this almost entirely dialogue-driven drama seem like they're going on far too long. When I really think about it though, any word taken out of this would disrupt the ultra-real and exceptionally natural tension created in these extended moments between the characters. Words pile upon words until a single line (always a single line) is just too much for a character to take. Snap! This acting is among the best I've ever seen, and the way Cassavetes shoots close-ups of the characters' faces, it forces you to concentrate to the point where it feels like you're about to see their souls. I've not seen anything else like this; in description, it doesn't seem like there's enough to sustain interest, but the characters become so real and the tension created is so dense that it's impossible not to let the thing absorb you. It feels almost like a play, but one where you get to leave your seat and walk around on stage and stroke the characters. The final shots involving a staircase are so lackadaisically moving. Gripping stuff.

Recommended (director, at least) by Winter Rates.

Here I am watching one of the five Cassavetes movie included in a box set: