The Human Face |  | Directors: David Stewart, James Erskine
Actors: John Cleese, David Attenborough, Candice Bergen, Pierce Brosnan, Mali Finn
Studio: BBC Warner
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.98
Buy New: $22.59
as of 3/10/2010 10:50 EST details
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Rating:  20 reviews
Sales Rank: 30383
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Number Of Discs: 2
Running Time: 200 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.9
MPN: E1572
ISBN: 079076038X
UPC: 794051157225
EAN: 9780790760384
ASIN: B00005LC1B
Theatrical Release Date: August 26, 2001
Release Date: August 28, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | A four-part BBC series examining the science behind facial beauty, expression, and fame in lighthearted fashion.Running Time: 200 min. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DOCUMENTARIES Rating: NR Age: 794051157225 UPC: 794051157225 Manufacturer No: E1572 |
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Product Description
A four-part BBC series examining the science behind facial beauty expression and fame in lighthearted fashion.Running Time: 200 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DOCUMENTARIES/MISC. UPC: 794051157225
Amazon.com
Anthropology, psychology, cultural history, and biology provide key filters in this breezy but substantial exploration of the focal impact of the face. Produced by the BBC as a four-hour series and broadcast in the U.S. on the Learning Channel, The Human Face benefits from host, narrator, and cowriter John Cleese's signature blend of erudition, enthusiasm, and wit. Along the way, Cleese presents information on the evolution of human facial features, the face's role in sexuality (including the biological significance of "bedroom eyes"), communication through facial expressions, and the face's essential role in defining identity. Ideals of physical beauty, the reasons why visual development and artistic expression focus on the face, and the nature of celebrity are examined, as are medical anomalies such as Mobius syndrome, a condition that eliminates the ability to smile. The presenter gets strategic help from guest Elizabeth Hurley, who gamely lampoons her own celebrated beauty in various sketches, and Cleese's fellow Monty Python alumnus Michael Palin, who pops up in Python-esque skits during the program's fourth segment on fame. Comments from scientific sources are augmented by thoughtful interviews with Pierce Brosnan and Candice Bergen, who convincingly address the downside of being drop-dead gorgeous. --Sam Sutherland
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 20
 Worth EveryPenny! July 8, 2009
Mrs. Entity (Connecticut)
This documentary interweaves science, psychology, sociology, and humor to create a very accessible, informative, and entertaining program. Are we "hard-wired" to a particular standard of beauty? How do facial expressions get us through everyday life? How can you tell if someone is lying? What parts of the brain control facial recognition and emotional reaction? What happens if one of those parts is damaged? The answers are here, and a whole lot more fascinating stuff! I sat down to watch episode 1 one afternoon, and wound up watching the whole thing.
John Cleese is an engaging, entertaining host. Some humor, but he's clearly on an adventure and is happy to have the viewer along for the ride.
John Cleese introduces the human face November 19, 2008
Sara F. Thomason
A great series of hour-long episodes with host John Cleese introducing the human expression. It has some humor, but it is also factual with interviews with professionals and sad stories. This video is valuable for an artist to learn more about the reasons behind expression, but it is also a great video to watch for the sake of learning or information. A great tool for the classroom.
Very good, but before choose... September 17, 2008
Antonio Ney C. Braga (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
The product, this dvd, claims some type of "decode" software, if you want to see this in your PC, or a kind of domestic dvd machine capable of to read it format, from Englad, I suppose.
I live in Brazil, and now I had already solved the problem in PC, but I'm still in search of another kind of domestic dvd machine to substitute that I have.
In spite of all, I' glad with my purchase. To buy more I have to solve this problems.
 Fun at first - last episode boring September 10, 2007
VoteForTheLeastWorst (Somewhere, US United States)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
The first 3 episodes are pretty interesting and use a combination of animation and strange setups to make the points vivid and entertaining. There were demonstrations of the principles using things I had never seen before such as Indian laughter groups and the 1:1.618 golden ratio (ok I saw this in PI, but didn't know really how it connected to perfect beauty, and I had never studied otherwise).
(SPOILER - next paragraph)
In one part, a white woman who was raped by a black man helps to wrongly convict an innocent man for ELEVEN years and the worst thing about how she feels is EMBARRASSED? Wow! If I was responsible for something like that I would be devastated at taking away a part of someone's life. They used this to show how we can easily mistake faces and how we tend to lump other races into a prototype. The point was a good point, but a better example of a more regretful person would have been more poignant.
The last episode "Fame" was a big drag. There were some fun moments such as Cleese visiting his usual produce store, but a large part of the show was taken up by who this casting director was going pick. Where was the science for this episode? It was more like an expose in why some people are addicted to celebrities, and a reality TV contest. Ugh.
I would say watch it for the first 3 episodes and have fun with it, but don't expect this entire show to be a documentary into how our faces work, and don't expect it to be scientific.
entertaining and educational August 29, 2007
Matthew the Raven (Wisconsin)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I love good documentaries, and I really enjoyed this series. There was so much good and interesting information about the expression of emotions, beauty, fame, and a variety of other topics, and John Cleese brought a lot of humor into it that made it easier and more enjoyable to absorb. To anyone who likes psychology, sociology, or John Cleese, I would recommend this DVD highly.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 20
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