The Potential of the Other “Me”: Representations of Alter Ego in The Face of Another (1966) and The Man Without a Map (1968)

Abstract

The Face of Another (1966) and The Man Without a Map (1968), both directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara, are adapted from novels and scripts written by Kōbō Abe. In both films, the protagonists suffer an identity crisis in their relationships with an identical other, commonly referred to as ‘him’.

In The Face of Another, the multidimensional perspective of face images combining the protagonist’s and the doctor’s faces (who replaces the role of the protagonist as the mask creator in the novel) visually represents the ambiguous boundary between the subject and the object. Teshigahara employs symmetrical compositions and reflective images metaphorically to depict their relationship, demonstrating an association with Lacan’s mirror-stage theory.

In The Man Without a Map, the wide-angle lens functions as a reversal of the relationship between the detective and the missing man (who symbolizes the detective’s second selves), which is based on the gaze through binoculars in the novel. Consequently, the detective’s subjective shot, appearing at the film’s end, becomes a symbol of the detective’s transition to another identity, that of the missing man.

This paper explores the possibility of alter ego representation in cinema by extracting the open alter ego scheme of ‘me’ and ‘him’=another ‘me’ in Teshigahara’s films.