Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)The Human Face is a fascinating but scattershot approach to the topic. John Cleese's approach is sure to delight his fans and annoy his detractors. He manages in his own unique way (while ripping Elizabeth Hurley's face off and shooting fellow Monty Python alum Michael Palin not once, but twice! Pythons always were excessive!) to convey many interesting and pertinent facts concerning the human face and our reactions to it.
Several sections were absolutely fascinating. The discussion on the evolution of the face claims that humankind's move toward an upright posture created an emphasis toward the eyes and visual stimuli and away from the nose and the sense of smell. Our profound reactions to facial expressivity are demonstrated in MRI brain scans that reveal activity deep in the amygdala as a reaction to faces showing fear although no conscious reaction was felt. Several curiosities reminiscent of "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" are explored, including a man who, following an automobile accident, wholeheartedly believed that his parents had been replaced by other people who looked exactly like them--he was able to recognize their physical appearance but had lost the emotional attachment that allowed him to recognize their relationship. Most heartening was a young woman with an exceptionally large jaw who had not only come to accept her looks but further to find her unique appearance a source of pride.
The series closes with an examination of fame, and here it seems to go astray--so much so that Cleese resorts to acts of gratuitous violence against Palin. The focus shifted rather unsettlingly away from the face to the idea of fame. The linking premise, of course, is that in the modern day it is our faces which make us famous (or not), while in the past it was our actions, and before the days of photography and portraiture particular faces were unknown. This departure is not enough to spoil an otherwise excellent and wildly quirky series, though.
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A four-part BBC series examining the science behind facial beauty expression and fame in lighthearted fashion.Running Time: 200 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre:DOCUMENTARIES/MISC. UPC:794051157225
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