There’s only a few holes in me, I’ll be fine!
The bodies begin piling up early and fast in The Naked Face (1984), a story about a Chicago psychoanalyst, Dr. Stevens, who suddenly loses a patient, a secretary, and then nearly his own life to a mystery killer. Another pair show up in a nearby (?) building. In response, the cops send a detective with a grudge against Stevens, along with his assistant, but there are plots within plots here, as the grudge-carrier discusses the potentiality of a fake resignation with his boss – but the assistant is merely informed that the resignation letter has been delivered.
Meanwhile, Steven ducks his way through more attempts on his life, loses a private detective, and eventually delays his own death just long enough to be rescued.
It’s not a particularly great movie, although information is withheld quite nicely. What struck me the most was the clashing moralities of the killer and society at large. This has been explored in other movies as well, but it’s always worth being reminded that not everyone shares the basic morality that encloses most of American society – and it’s worth considering how to make the case that such should be binding on everyone in such a way as to be persuasive. The attempt to make that argument can often be revealing about one’s own biases – and gaps in knowledge.
But otherwise, this is a fairly forgettable story.
