The Human Face (2001)

Maybe it's the influence of a mugging Charlie Callas on me at age 14 but I've loved John Cleese since finding him in college, even forgiving his slightly dated bits (of comedy not countenance). In fact, I can never think of the word "DVD" without hearing Cleese say it. I caught the fourth episode of this BBC special on TV a while back and found it so enjoyable that I finally circumvented some queue time by picking up The Human Face at my public library. Disc 1 carries all four 50-minute episodes; Disc 2 has (not very) extended versions of several interviews and a puffery of other bits. That said, Cleese worked on The Human Face for a year and it shows. Amidst excellent production values, every part of it bears the man's touch -- his personable narration and dialog as well as his personable mug, sometimes in costume and drag. Elizabeth Hurley plays his tetchy sidekick, including an entire episode where her supine face is the stage for a miniaturized Cleese's shenanigans (and hers back at him). If you are a Cleese fan, you should be amused by his peripatetic palaver and whimsical vignettes; even though a few of his bits date back to vaudeville, this is Cleese after all and a thoroughly likeable fellow (in a dry British humor kind of way). In short, he has the candor and can-do to bring this sort of thing off. The set's four episodes are titled Face to Face, What Are You Looking At?, Beauty, and Fame. Discussion begins with human facial recognition (a skill to which perhaps a third of our brain is devoted). It then ranges through congenital and postcongenital defects in the human face and the ability to recognize faces. Finally, we observe the selection of the next "it girl" and sit in on the casting evaluations of three hopeful male actors. What's amazing is how one cosmetic surgeon has developed a facial map based on and validating the geometrical symmetry of what the vast majority of people consider to be beautiful in a face -- any face. As always, Cleese personably and intelligently interviews such a variety of people and weaves the whole into a sensible, urbane, and informative seminar on the importance of the human face amidst human society. 4.5 stars.