A Woman’s Face (1941) is a Film Noir melodrama directed by George Cukor, starring Joan Crawford, Melvyn Douglas, and Conrad Veidt.
Anna Holm (Crawford) has been disfigured since she was five years old. This disfigurement has left her bitter; the world has treated her horribly and made her a social outcast. So, she begins a life of crime, mainly blackmailing rich women, caring little and doing little to make people care for her.
However, when she meets Torsten Barring (Veidt), he is not repulsed by her disfigurement, and she falls deeply in love.
At the same time, she meets Dr. Gustaf Sergert (Douglas), a plastic surgeon, who is intrigued by her mix of anger and vulnerability and offers to fix her face. Anna jumps at the chance and soon finds the world a different place but her love for Torsten leads her into a deep web of darkness.
The film is a remake of the 1938 Swedish film, En kvinnas ansikte, starring a 23 year old upcoming Swedish actress, Ingrid Bergman.
This film shows the following tropes:
- Bandaged Face: Naturally, we see Anna this way after her plastic surgery.
- Beauty Equals Goodness: Once Anna becomes beautiful, she gains a conscience she never had before her disfigurement (or was it there all along?).
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Vera Sergert is a conniving housewife who cheats on her husband and makes fun of Anna's disfigurement as seen in the header photo above.
- Blackmail: Anna’s stock and trade. She targets rich women, most who she blackmails for having affairs. She meets Gustaf by trying to blackmail his wife but gets caught.
- Butt-Monkey: All of Anna’s bad posse constantly make fun of her looks. A bad idea given Anna’s Hair-Trigger Temper when discussing that subject.
- Chiaroscuro: The film is chock full of deep shadows and plays between lightness and dark.
- Chick Flick: A disfigured woman becomes beautiful and must choose between evil or good.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Anna’s slow transformation after her surgery reveals that she can no longer be that bitter woman she once was.
- Domestic Abuser: Torsten to a horrifying T. In his "Reason You Suck" Speech (see below), he’s holding and literally wringing Anna’s neck. It’s obvious that he knows his power over Anna and uses it to his advantage.
- Dramatic Unmask: After Anna’s surgery, she’s slowly de-bandaged for dramatic effect.
- Flashback: The events are told at a court proceeding where they’re deciding whether Anna is guilty of murder.
- Facial Horror: Anna’s disfigurement, and no one lets her forget it.
- Getting Crap Past the Radar: Torsten ogles two women dancing with each other during a very drunk get together. The Hays Code expressly forbade "[d]ances which emphasize indecent movements"
- I Just Want to Be Beautiful: Anna just wants to be accepted by society, and that acceptance comes from being beautiful.
- Inheritance Murder: Torsten was to inherit his uncle’s fortune, but then Lars-Erik was born and took the inheritance. His plan is to kill him, make it look like an accident, and he wants Anna to do it for him.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Torsten gets tough when Anna refuses to kill Lars-Erik.I thought you were something different, something stronger, rare, exciting, not a stupid, ugly, commonplace woman. [...] You fool, you coward. Do you want to go back to a mild, safe mediocrity? Is that what you want, safety? Is that what happens when the scars heal?
- Sex Is Evil: It drives Anna to almost commit murder.
- Two-Faced: One side of Anna is Joan Crawford (i.e. beautiful), and the other side is disfigured and scared. Not quite as complete as other two-faced individuals (as the disfigurement is mostly her cheek and some of her eye).
- Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Anna has a change of conscience and decides not to push little Lars-Erik into the river. The same can’t be said for Torsten.
