Faces

Experimental filmmaker James Benning created a radical, dialogue-free remake of John Cassavetes’ marriage crisis film Faces (1968). He based his eponymous ‘reconstruction’ on three rules:
1) Only close-ups of the faces of the actors in Faces, who included Gena Rowlands, Seymour Cassel and John Marley.
2) Every actor should be on screen the same length of time that they were in the original.
3) Every scene should last as long as it did in Cassavetes’ film.
So if the original features Gena Rowlands for 15 minutes in a 30-minute scene, then Benning will have her on screen for 15 minutes in his version. To this end, Benning sometimes had to really slow down shots, giving free reign to the human fascination with faces. Unhampered by story or dialogue, viewers can concentrate fully on the faces and study and clarify the various expressions at their leisure.