The Three Faces of Eve

This is a true story.

How often have you seen that statement

at the beginning of a picture?

It sometimes means

that there was a man named Napoleon,

but that any similarity between what he did

in life and what he's going to do in this movie

is strictly miraculous.

Well, this is a true story,

about a sweet,

rather baffled young housewife,

who, in 1951, in her hometown in Georgia,

suddenly frightened her husband

by behaving very unlike herself.

There's nothing unique in that.

We all have moods.

We all have a secret yen to behave

like somebody we particularly admire.

A modern writer has said that inside every

fat man, a thin man is struggling to get out.

Well, in a literal and terrifying sense,

inside this demure young woman

two very vivid and different personalities

were battling for the mastery of her character.

She was, in fact, a case of what is called

"multiple personality",

something that all psychiatrists have

read about and very few have ever seen.

Certainly not Dr Thigpen and Dr Cleckley,

of the Medical College of Georgia,

who one day were confronted with a woman

who had one personality more than Dr Jekyll.

Their account of the case was delivered to

the American Psychiatric Association in 1953,

and it's already a classic

of psychiatric literature.

So this movie needed no help

from the imagination of a fiction writer.

The truth itself was fabulous enough.

And all the episodes you're going to see

happened to this girl they call Eve White,

and much of the dialogue is taken from the

clinical record of the doctor we call Dr Luther.

The date is August 20th, 1951.

(woman) Come in.

- Mrs White?

- Yes, ma'am.

- Dr Luther.

- Yes?

Mrs White is here. The lady

Dr Watkins wrote to you about.

- Ask her to come in, will you?

- Yes, Doctor.

Will you come in, please?

- How do you do, Mrs White?

- How do you do?

- Come in. Sit here, will you?

- Thank you.

Mr White.

Let's see.

Thank you.

Dr Watkins is a very old friend of mine.

How long have you known him?

He's the doctor we go to.

He's a very able man. Very able.

Let's see. He says you've been troubled

with very bad headaches.

Yes, sir, terrible ones.

- And some sort of spells?

- Yes, sir.

What kind of spell?

I don't know. l'm not exactly sure.

What happens when you have one?

Is it, uh, what they say, uh... amnesia?

Well, amnesia means loss of memory.

Is that what happens to you?

Yes, I guess that's it.

- How often does this happen?

- Sometimes twice a week now.

- And the headaches, what about them?

- Same thing.

- They happen at the same time?

- Yes, sir.

First I get this terrible headache

and then I get this spell.

Now, when you say "spell",

do you mean you faint or anything like that?

No, sir, it's not like faintin'. It's more like...

Well, it's like the other day I was playing

out in the back yard with Bonnie

and all of a sudden I got this splitting

headache and then the next thing I knew,

I mean, the next thing I was conscious of,

it was the next morning.

- Who's Bonnie?

- Oh, that's my little girl.

- How old is she?

- She's four and a half.

- Your only child?

- Yes, sir.

- I lost another baby about four months ago.

- I see.

And you have no recollection

at all of what happened?

Where you were or what you did between

the time you were playing in the back yard

and the next morning?

No, sir, I don't.

Were you at home at the time?

I was there as soon as

I come home from work.

Yes?

I didn't see much different in her.

Well, did you see any difference?

I guess not. Nothing you could say

was really different.

For several weeks Mrs White was

greatly helped by the psychiatric treatment.

She had fewer headaches

and they were less severe.

She had no more blackout spells -

at least, none that she was aware of.

But not quite a year later,

several things happened that showed her

to be in urgent need of help.

The first alarm was sounded

around noontime of a spring day in 1952.

Anybody home?

Oh, hey. Just a minute

while I hang out the wash.

- Where's Bonnie?

- Here I am.

- Hi, sugar.

- l'm wearing Mom's shoes.

Mommy will tan your britches

if she finds you.

This one hurts.

- Where'd you get these?

- They're Mommy's.

- Where'd she get'em?

- The postman brought them today

- with the dresses.

- What dresses?

On the bed.

Evie?

- Let me have them.

- No! I wanna wear 'em. Mommy said I could!

Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!

What's the idea of all this?

Didn't you buy'em?

What do you mean, didn't I buy'em?

Didn't you?

No, I thought you did.

I thought it was sweet, but I...

It's got your name on it.

You know I wouldn't buy

anything like that, Ralph.

- $218.

- That's what I mean, they cost that much.

- Where'd they get your name?

- I don't know. I thought you did it.

I mean, I thought you bought 'em for me.

But I was gonna make you take 'em back

because I knew it was too much.

l'll say it's too much.

You had me scared there for a minute.

I guess they just must have made

some kind of mistake, that's all.

Well, l'll call'em.

- Is this the Beehive Store?

- Yes, sir. Is there anrthing I can do for you?

- Is this Miss Effie?

- Who is this?

It's Ralph White.

For goodness sakes, I thought you and Evie

would be on your way to Hollywood by now.

- Hollywood?

- With all those pretty things Evie bought.

You ought to be proud of

how she looks in those dresses.

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