The Three Faces of Eve

A doctor treats a woman suffering from Multiple Personality Disorder.

• Director:Nunnally Johnson
• Genre:Drama / Mystery
• Runtime:88 minutes

Cast

Joanne Woodward : Eve White / Eve Black / Jane
David Wayne : Ralph White

Lee J. Cobb : Doctor Curtis Luther
Edwin Jerome : Doctor Francis Day
Alena Murray : Secretary

Eve White is a timid, self-effacing wife and mother who has headaches and occasional blackouts. Eventually she is sent to see a personality psychiatrist Dr. Luther, and while under hypnosis 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 continued therapy, 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. 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. Read more