Faces
A privileged marriage fractures across one brutal night of infidelity, drinking, sexual need, and exposed emotional emptiness.
Overview
A poignant exploration of love and betrayal among the affluent, revealing the emptiness beneath their glamorous lives.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- None
- abrasive
- intimate
- melancholic
- serious film night
- classic cinema viewing
What critics said
Critics broadly regard the film as a universally acclaimed, uncompromising examination of affluent relationship dysfunction, driven by intense performances and emotionally revealing confrontations.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The film builds through lengthy encounters among Richard, Maria, Jeannie, Chet, and their associates rather than conventional plot turns.
The cast's abrasive, vulnerable, and improvisational-feeling performances create the film's distinctive emotional excess.
Richard and Maria's marriage crisis unfolds within a privileged social circle marked by drinking, infidelity, and existential dissatisfaction.
Richard's affair and Maria's encounter with Chet unfold as parallel strands within the same collapsing marriage and social milieu.
Films like Faces, and why
A Woman Under the Influence
raw relationship drama, improvisational performances, and emotionally volatile marital conflict
Husbands
male friendship, marital disillusionment, and extended confrontational performances in the cinema of John Cassavetes
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
intimate infidelity drama centered on class privilege, emotional alienation, and psychological realism
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant
modernist relationship drama using sustained dialogue, adultery, and social performance to expose emotional emptiness
Movie Details
- Director
- John Cassavetes
- Release Date
- 1968-11-24
- Runtime
- 130 min
- Rating
- 7.1 / 10 (225)
Cast
- John Marley
- Gena Rowlands
- Lynn Carlin
- Fred Draper
- Seymour Cassel
- Val Avery
- Dorothy Gulliver
- Joanne Moore Jordan
- Darlene Conley
- Gene Darfler
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- HBO Max Amazon Channel, Criterion Channel, Sun Nxt, HBO Max
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Faces about?
- A privileged marriage fractures across one brutal night of infidelity, drinking, sexual need, and exposed emotional emptiness.
- What is Faces like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Faces as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Faces violent?
- No — Ember's analysis finds no violence in Faces.
- What did critics think of Faces?
- Critics broadly regard the film as a universally acclaimed, uncompromising examination of affluent relationship dysfunction, driven by intense performances and emotionally revealing confrontations.
- Which films are like Faces?
- Films with a similar feel include A Woman Under the Influence, Husbands, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant.
- How long is Faces?
- Faces runs 130 minutes.
- Where can I watch Faces?
- In United States, Faces streams on HBO Max Amazon Channel, Criterion Channel, Sun Nxt, HBO Max.
