The Three Faces of Eve
Encyclopedia
The Three Faces of Eve is a 1957 American film adaptation of a case study by Corbett H. Thigpen
and Hervey M. Cleckley
. It was based on the true story of Chris Costner Sizemore, also known as Eve White, a woman who suffered from Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) formerly known as multiple personality disorder. Sizemore's identity was concealed in interviews and this film, and was not revealed to the public until 1975.
Joanne Woodward
won the Academy Award for Best Actress
, making her the first actress to win an acting award at Oscar for portraying three different personalities (Eve White, Eve Black and Jane). The Three Faces of Eve also became the first film to win the Best Actress award without getting nominated in another category, and the last for nearly 31 years until Jodie Foster
won the award for The Accused, the film's sole nomination.
Dr. Luther, and while having a conversation, her "alter personality", wild, fun-loving Eve Black, discloses herself. Eve Black knows everything about Eve White, but Eve White is unaware of Eve Black. With Eve Black on the loose, Eve White's husband leaves her and abandons their daughter, Bonnie. Eve White is sent to an asylum after Eve Black tries to kill Eve White's daughter.
Dr. Luther considers both Eve White and Eve Black to be incomplete and inadequate personalities.
Most of the film depicts Luther's attempts to understand and deal with these two faces of Eve.
He eventually prompts her to remember a traumatic event in Eve’s childhood. Her beloved grandmother had died when she was six, and according to family custom relatives were supposed to kiss the dead person at the viewing, making it easier for them to let go. Eve's grief and terror led to her "splitting off" into two distinctly different personalities.
Under hypnosis at one session, a third personality appears, the relatively stable Jane. After discovering the cause of her disorder, Jane is gradually able to remember everything that has ever happened to all three personalities. When Luther asks to speak with Eve White, they discover that Eve White and Eve Black no longer exist. All three personalities are once again a single whole. She marries a man named Earl whom she met when she was Jane and reunites with her daughter Bonnie.
in 1957, apparently to capitalize on public interest in multiple personalities following the publication of Shirley Jackson
's 1954 novel, The Birds' Nest, which was also made into a film in 1957 titled Lizzie
.
, and later went on to play Dr. Cornelia Wilbur in the film Sybil.
Corbett H. Thigpen
Dr. Corbett H. Thigpen was an American psychiatrist and co-author of the internationally-popular, nonfictional book The Three Faces of Eve....
and Hervey M. Cleckley
Hervey M. Cleckley
Dr. Hervey Milton Cleckley was an American psychiatrist and pioneer in the field of psychopathy. His book, The Mask of Sanity, originally published in 1941, provided the most influential clinical description of psychopathy in the 20th Century...
. It was based on the true story of Chris Costner Sizemore, also known as Eve White, a woman who suffered from Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) formerly known as multiple personality disorder. Sizemore's identity was concealed in interviews and this film, and was not revealed to the public until 1975.
Joanne Woodward
Joanne Woodward
Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward is an American actress, television and theatrical producer, and widow of Paul Newman...
won the Academy Award for Best Actress
Academy Award for Best Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
, making her the first actress to win an acting award at Oscar for portraying three different personalities (Eve White, Eve Black and Jane). The Three Faces of Eve also became the first film to win the Best Actress award without getting nominated in another category, and the last for nearly 31 years until Jodie Foster
Jodie Foster
Alicia Christian "Jodie" Foster is an American actress, film director, producer as well as a former child actress....
won the award for The Accused, the film's sole nomination.
Plot
Eve White is a timid, self-effacing wife and mother who has severe and blinding headaches and occasional blackouts. Eventually she is sent to see a personality psychiatristPsychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...
Dr. Luther, and while having a conversation, her "alter personality", wild, fun-loving Eve Black, discloses herself. Eve Black knows everything about Eve White, but Eve White is unaware of Eve Black. With Eve Black on the loose, Eve White's husband leaves her and abandons their daughter, Bonnie. Eve White is sent to an asylum after Eve Black tries to kill Eve White's daughter.
Dr. Luther considers both Eve White and Eve Black to be incomplete and inadequate personalities.
Most of the film depicts Luther's attempts to understand and deal with these two faces of Eve.
He eventually prompts her to remember a traumatic event in Eve’s childhood. Her beloved grandmother had died when she was six, and according to family custom relatives were supposed to kiss the dead person at the viewing, making it easier for them to let go. Eve's grief and terror led to her "splitting off" into two distinctly different personalities.
Under hypnosis at one session, a third personality appears, the relatively stable Jane. After discovering the cause of her disorder, Jane is gradually able to remember everything that has ever happened to all three personalities. When Luther asks to speak with Eve White, they discover that Eve White and Eve Black no longer exist. All three personalities are once again a single whole. She marries a man named Earl whom she met when she was Jane and reunites with her daughter Bonnie.
Original book
The book by Thigpen and Cleckley was rushed into publication, and the film rights were immediately sold to director Nunnally JohnsonNunnally Johnson
Nunnally Hunter Johnson was an American filmmaker who wrote, produced, and directed motion pictures.Johnson was born in Columbus, Georgia. He began his career as a journalist, writing for the Columbus Enquirer Sun, the Savannah Press, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, and the New York Herald Tribune...
in 1957, apparently to capitalize on public interest in multiple personalities following the publication of Shirley Jackson
Shirley Jackson
Shirley Jackson was an American author. A popular writer in her time, her work has received increasing attention from literary critics in recent years...
's 1954 novel, The Birds' Nest, which was also made into a film in 1957 titled Lizzie
Lizzie (film)
Lizzie is a 1957 drama film directed by Hugo Haas. The movie is based on the novel The Bird's Nest by Shirley Jackson and stars Eleanor Parker, Richard Boone, and Joan Blondell. The popular songs "It's Not for Me to Say" and "Warm and Tender" were written for this film, and performed by Johnny...
.
The real Eve
Chris Costner Sizemore has written at some length about her experiences as the real "Eve." In her 1958 book, The Final Face of Eve, she used the pseudonym Evelyn Lancaster. In her 1977 book I'm Eve, she revealed her true identity. She has also written a follow-up book, A Mind Of My Own.Awards and honors
Woodward — at the time a relative unknown in Hollywood — won the Academy Award for Best ActressAcademy Award for Best Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
, and later went on to play Dr. Cornelia Wilbur in the film Sybil.
See also
- Mental illness in filmsMental illness in filmsMental illness has appeared frequently as a major theme or background element in film.-Characteristics:A striking feature of the overwhelming majority of fictional film presentations of psychiatric disorders is their gross distortion of the phenomena ostensibly portrayed...
- Multiple Personality: Reality and IllusionMultiple Personality: Reality and IllusionMultiple Personality: Reality and Illusion is a 1999 documentary film that explores Dissociative identity disorder, formally known as Multiple Personality Disorder...
- Fact based docu-drama that delves into the lives of four women with Multiple Personality Disorder including the life of Chris Costner-SizemoreChris Costner-SizemoreChris Costner Sizemore is a woman who, in the 1950s, was diagnosed with Multiple Personality Disorder, now known as dissociative identity disorder. Her case, with a pseudonym used, was depicted in the 1950s book and film The Three Faces of Eve by her psychiatrists, Corbett H. Thigpen and Hervey M....