Faces

IN KINO VERITAS

Richard, an elderly businessman, suddenly leaves his wife and begins an affair with a younger woman. Meanwhile Maria, Richard’s wife, also meets and spends a night with a younger man. However, their attitudes towards what happened are radically different. The film creates a tense atmosphere that occasionally boils up to a point of emotional explosion, reinforced by the use of handheld camera filming technique and, as it seems, unintentional solutions to framing. ‘Faces’ is a brilliant example the best cinematic approaches developed by the legendary American. Cassavetes, together with friends and associates, including his wife Gena Rowlands, had been working on the film for three years, investing their personal financial resources in the process. Like his later films ‘Husbands’ (1970), ‘A Woman Under the Influence’ (1974), and ‘Love Streams’ (1984), ‘Faces’ belongs to the golden standard of independent filmmaking.