The Face of Another (1966)

Mikijirô Hira: Psychiatrist

Photos 

Quotes 

• Psychiatrist : You're not the only lonely man. Being free always involves being lonely. Just there is a mask you can peel off and another you can not.

• Psychiatrist : Sadly, this is not only a finger. It's an inferiority complex in the shape of a finger. It's not that I specialize in treating fingers. I'm a psychiatrist, in fact. Inferiority complexes dig holes in the psyche, and I fill them in.

• Psychiatrist : There are limits in life. Men don't have wings. No matter how high they rise, they always fall back to earth.

• Psychiatrist : Try to understand. Perhaps I'm unduly worried. I sincerely hope so. But if my fears prove true, masks like this could destroy all human morality. Think about it: name, position, occupation -- such labels would no longer matter. We would all be perfect strangers to one another. Constant solitude would become our normal condition. We'd no longer be ashamed of this modern illness of isolation.

• Psychiatrist : You'll feel better soon. Once you're used to the mask, you'll be a new man -- one with no records, no past. A mind invisible to the world.

  Mr. Okuyama : I'm me!

• Psychiatrist : What if the mask lives on by taking over your body?

  Mr. Okuyama : So I'm a guinea pig after all.

  Psychiatrist : I could mass-produce them. A face, easily removed. A world without family, friends or enemies. There'd be no criminals, hence crime itself would disappear. Unbound freedom, hence no yearning for it. No such thing as home, hence no dreams of escaping from it. Loneliness and friendship would bleed into one another. Trust among people, now so richly prized, would become obsolete. Suspicion and betrayal would no longer be possible.

• [first lines] 

  Psychiatrist : Recognize these? You know what they are? You don't, do you?

• Psychiatrist : I see I'm beginning to bother you. Is it because I know your true self?

  Mr. Okuyama : I just want to try being alone.

  Psychiatrist : The mask wants to take on a life of its own.

  Mr. Okuyama : I want to be alone, without being judged.

• Psychiatrist : Relax. Laugh. Whistle. Yield to the mask. Accept it.

• Psychiatrist : The retarded girl's sense of smell may be as keen as a dog's.