The Three Faces of Eve, made in 1958, is one of the earliest films to deal with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). Despite being tied to its time, the movie handles the illness with intelligence and sympathy. In a time when movies were censored for content, how did this movie get made?
The so-called Golden Age of Hollywood (the late 1920s to the early 1970s) is a fascinating time for movies and their influence on culture. Movie cameras were invented in the 1880s, and full length movies became popular around 1900. The first movie with sound came out in 1927. Almost immediately, their influence was immeasurable, as was the influence of its stars. At the same time, studios rigidly controlled their stars lives and images, and the federal government controlled what people saw. In 1930, the Motion Picture Production Code (commonly known as the Hays Code) restricted what stories could be told through film and how they could be told. Restrictions on sex, language, violence and other themes considered taboo against “traditional family values” were censored by studio heads and the government. The code was officially in effect until 1967, and some would argue it still is, as it led to the creation of the ratings system sponsored by the Motion Picture Association of America.
In The Three Faces of Eve, Alastair Cooke (famously the host of Masterpiece Theater) takes the viewer through the diagnosis and treatment of Eve White, a timid, self-effacing young wife and mother with DID. At first, she has a single alter personality, Eve Black, a party girl who knows about Eve White, even though Eve White doesn’t know about her. The disorder causes strain in her marriage, and eventually her husband leaves, taking their daughter. Eve White attempts suicide, but Eve Black stops her. She spends some time in the nicest mental hospital ever put on film, and after her release, a new stable alter named Jane appears. By the end of the film, the trauma that caused the fracturing of her personality is identified, and all three personalities merge into Jane. We see her happy with her daughter and new husband at the end of the film.
After learning much more about DID for Do No Harm, I was sure I would find information about the Hays Code’s influence on The Three Faces of Eve. Severe, repeated abuse, often in childhood, is believed to be the cause of DID. I assumed that there was no way that was getting into film. I was right about that, but I was wrong about the rest of it. According to her psychiatrists initially, and then by Eve herself, there was no abuse. The doctors believed witnessing a few incidents, namely a traumatic death, caused Eve’s personality to fracture. Eve herself (self-identified as Chris Costner Sizemore in 1988) believes she was born with three personalities. She did not see the movie when it first came out, but later, would say that it was a simplified version of her life. Unlike the movie, she wouldn’t be cured in two years. She would eventually have up to 20 alters before she unified them into her current personality in 1974.
The movie reflects 1950 values.. She and her doctors want to help her become a good housewife, even though her first husband is obviously abusive. He’s always saying he’s going to smack her (seriously, he says it about four times), and he eventually does it an hour into the movie after Eve Black goes out dancing. He’s not above trying to sleep with his wife’s alter though, and eventually takes away her daughter. Eve White, the first personality the audience meets, is a meek, self-effacing woman that can barely stand up for herself, and this is the personality is the primary personality. In addition, the only treatment option is unifying the personalities, which is in keeping with the understanding of the illness at the time. The patronizing is strong all the way through the movie, though the doctors are sympathetic and actively trying to cure her.
This movie feels like an educational video of the era. Cooke’s narration gives it the feeling of an unusually well-acted video you’d watch in health class. It also gives it that paternalistic feeling a lot of movies from that time have. You feel as though nothing bad will happen because a strong father figure is taking you through the action. Knowing that DID was almost unknown to the general public, I’m sure having that character in the movie helped make it more believable and more enjoyable.
The Three Faces of Eve holds up as a solid movie, considering the time when it was made. Once you get past the “Doctor knows best” attitude, the movie makes its point with sympathy for its main character. Joanne Woodward, who played Eve, deserved her Academy Award, and her performance is sensational. Once again, this is a much rosier look at mental health than most people may realize, but I would definitely recommend watching it.
There are two interesting notes on the movie. The first is that Chris Costner Sizemore—Eve herself—wrote three books on her life, Strangers in My Body: The Final Face of Eve, I'm Eve and A Mind Of My Own. The first was written before her doctor’s book, The Three Faces of Eve, and would be used to fill in details in the movie. The second interesting note is that one of her doctors, Dr. Hervey M. Cleckley, M.D., would go on to study people with psychopathic tendencies, coining the term “sociopath.” His second book, The Mask of Sanity, would influence the culture’s views on psychopaths, eventually leading to Hannibal Lector and American Psycho.
Next week, we’re heading to the library to take a look at Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” and women’s mental health at the end of the 1800s.
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