https:/.../twilightzone_eyeofthebeholder.mp4

You're traveling
through another dimension-

a dimension not only of sight
and sound, but of mind.

A journey into a wondrous land

whose boundaries
are that of imagination.

That's the signpost up ahead.

Your next stop,
the twilight zone.

Nurse?

Time for your sleeping medicine,
honey.

Is it night already?

It's 9:30.

Oh. What about the day?

Oh, what about it?

Well, was it
a beautiful day?

Was it warm?

Was the sun out?

It was kind of warm.

Yes... and clouds?

Were there clouds in the sky?

I suppose there were.

I never was much

for staring up at the sky.

No?

I used to like to
look at the clouds.

If you stare at them long
enough, they become things.

You know what i mean?

People, ships,
anything you want, really.

It's time to take
your temperature now.

Oh, please, one
more thing, nurse.

Well?

When will they take
the bandages off?

How long, nurse?

Until they decide

whether or not they
can fix your face.

Oh, i guess it's...
pretty bad, isn't it?

I've seen worse.

Well, yes, but... it's
pretty bad, isn't it?

Oh, i know it's pretty bad.

Ever since i can remember-

ever since i was a little girl-

people have turned away
when they looked at me.

Funny...

the very first thing
i can remember

is another little child
screaming when she looked at me.

I... i never really wanted
to be beautiful, you know.

I mean, i never wanted
to look like a painting.

I never even wanted
to be loved, really.

I just wanted
people not to scream

when they looked at me.

When, nurse? When? When?

When will they take
the bandages off?

Maybe tomorrow.

Maybe the next day.

Now hush.

You've been waiting so long now.

It doesn't really
make much difference

whether it's two weeks
or days now.

Does it?

Dr. Bernardi, evening
report on patient 307:

No temperature change,
resting comfortably.

Thank you, nurse.
I'll be down later.

Ever see her face- 307?

Indeed i have.

If it were mine,

i'd bury myself
in a grave someplace.

Poor thing.

Some people want to
live no matter what.

Cigarette?

Suspended in time and space
for a moment,

your introduction
to miss janet tyler,

who lives in a very private
world of darkness,

a universe whose dimensions

are the size, thickness, length
of the swath of bandages

that cover her face.

In a moment, we'll go
back into this room.

And also, in a moment,
we'll look under those bandages,

keeping in mind, of course,

that we're not to be surprised
by what we see

because this isn't
just a hospital,

and this patient 307
is not just a woman.

This happens
to be the twilight zone,

and miss janet tyler, with you,
is about to enter it.

Blood pressure and
temperature are normal, doctor.

There's been no change.

All right. Come back
about 11:00, nurse.

Give her
the usual sedative then.

All right,doctor.

Well, it's warm this
evening, miss tyler.

Yes, i thought it was,
but i couldn't be sure.

Well,
it's very warm.

Take my word for that.

We'll have those bandages
off you very soon.

I expect you're pretty uncomfortable.

Well, i'm used to
bandages on my face.

I have no doubt.

It's your ninth
visit here.

It is the ninth?

The 11th.

You know, sometimes i...

i think i've lived my whole
life inside of a dark cave

with walls of gauze,

and the wind that blows
into the mouth of the cave

smells of ether
and disinfectant.

Of course there's a...

there's a kind of a comfort
living inside this cave-

wonderfully private.

Nobody can ever see you.

It's hopeless,
isn't it, doctor?

I'll never look any
different than now.

Well, that's hard to say.

Up to now, you haven't responded
to the shots, the medications-

any of the proven techniques.

Frankly, you've stumped us, miss tyler.

Nothing we've done
so far has made

any difference at all.

However, we're very hopeful

for what this last treatment
may have accomplished.

There's no telling, of course,
till we get the bandages off.

I'm sorry your case is not one

that we could have
handled with plastic surgery,

but your bone structure,

flesh type...

many factors prohibit
the surgical approach.

Your 11th visit.

No more after this, doctor.

No more tries.

11 is the mandatory number
of experiments.

We're not permitted
to do any more after 11.

Now what, doctor?

Well, you're kind of jumping
the gun, aren't you, miss tyler?

You may very well have responded
to these last injections.

There's no way of telling
till we get the bandages off.

And, if i haven't
responded, then what?

Well, there
are alternatives.

Like?

Don't you know?

Yes, i know.

You realize, of course, miss tyler,

why these rules
are in effect.

Each of us is afforded

as much opportunity as possible
to fit in with society.

In your case,
think of the time

and the money and the effort

expended to make you look...

look like what, doctor?

Normal. The way
you'd like to look.

Doctor...

doctor...

may i walk outside?

Please, may i?

May i just go and...
and sit in the garden?

Just... just for a little while.

Just...just to feel the air.

Just... just to smell the flowers.

Just... just
to make believe i am normal?

If... if i sit out there
in the darkness,

then the whole world is dark,

and i'm more a part of it
like that, not just...

one grotesque, ugly woman
with a bandage on her face

with a special darkness
all around.

I want to belong.

I want to be like everybody.

Please, doctor.

Please help me.

There are many others
who share your misfortune-

people who look much as you do.

Now, one of the alternatives...

just in the event

that this last treatment
is not successful,

is simply to allow you

to move into a special area

in which people of your kind
have been congregated.

People of my kind?

Congregated.

Oh, you mean segregated!

You mean imprisoned,
don't you, doctor?

You're talking about
a ghetto, aren't you?

A ghetto designed for freaks!

Miss tyler!

Now, the state is
not unsympathetic.

Your presence here
in this hospital is proof of that.

It's doing all
it can for you.

But you're not being rational,
miss tyler.

Now, you know you can't expect

to live any kind
of a life among...

normal people.

I could try.

I...

i could wear a mask
or this bandage or...

i wouldn't bother anybody.

I'd just go my own way.

I'd get a job. Any job!

I...

who are you people anyway?

What is this state?

Who makes all these rules
and conditions and statutes:

The people who are different
have to stay away

from the people who are normal.

The state isn't god, doctor.

Miss tyler,
please, please.

The state is not god!

It hasn't the right
to penalize somebody

for an accident of birth!

It hasn't the right to make
ugliness a crime!

Miss tyler! Miss tyler,
stop this immediately.

I feel the night
out there.

I feel the air.

I can smell the flowers.

Oh...

1oh, please.

2Please, please take this off me, .

3Please, take this off me.

4Oh, please, take this off me!

5Oh, please, take this off me!
Take it off me!

Take it off me!

Help! Somebody, help me!

Help!

No, no, no.

Let me go.

Please, let me go.

Let me go, please.

Oh, please.

Please, let me go.

Please, please, let me...

all right, then.
I will take the bandages off.

Get the anesthetist.

Yes, doctor.

You look tired, doctor.

Do i? Well, i hadn't
thought about it.

I suppose i am.

You've been
under a great deal of tension.

I know how much
it means to you-

this case in 307.

Well, you try to be
impersonal about these things.

You do everything
medically possible,

everything humanly possible

and then, in the end,
you cross your fingers

and you hope for a miracle.

You know, once in a while,

a miracle does happen
just often enough

to let you know
that you're not wrong

or foolish
to hope for one.

But you're destroying
yourself this way.

Forgive me, but you mustn't

let yourself get
personally involved here.

I know. You think
i haven't told myself that?

But you see, nurse,

i've... i've looked
underneath those bandages.

So have i.
It's horrible.

No, i mean deeper than that.

Deeper than that pitiful,
twisted lump of flesh-

deeper even than that
misshapen skeletal mask.

I've seen that woman's
real face, nurse-

the face of her real self.

It's a good face.

It's a human face.

I understand,

but i must confess,

it's easier for me to
think of her as human

when her face is covered up.

But why?

Why must we feel
that way, nurse?

What is the dimensional
difference

between beauty and
something repellant?

Is it skin deep?

Oh, less than that.

Why, nurse?

Why shouldn't people be
allowed to be different?

Why?

Doctor, careful.

What you're talking is...

treason.

Oh, this case has
upset your balance-

your sense of values.

Well, i suppose.

Don't be concerned,
nurse.

I'll be all right once
the bandages are off.

Once i know one way
or the other.

Leader's speaking tonight.

He goes on in
just a few minutes.

And now, ladies and gentlemen,
our leader.

Good evening,
ladies and gentlemen.

Tonight, i shall talk to you
about glorious conformity.

About the delight
and the ultimate pleasure

of our unified society.

Now, i have to ask you
once again, miss tyler.

And i must insist
that you promise

you'll
remain rational,

no tantrums, no
temperament, and no violence.

You understand?

Now, i'll tell
you precisely

what i'm going to do.

I'm going to
cut the bandages

a section at a time,

then i'm going to unwrap
the bandages very gradually.

The process
has to be slow,

so that your eyes can become
accustomed to the light.

As you know,
these injections

may have had some
effect on your vision.

I understand.

So now, as i unwrap, i want
you to keep your eyes open,

and i want you to
describe to me

the various shadings of
light as you perceive it.

All right.

Now, if you make
any movement,

or if you start getting
emotional on us, miss tyler,

i'm going to have to have
the nurses hold you down,

and have the anesthetist

put you under sedation,
you understand.

I promise i won't.

All right, then.

Do you see any light
now, miss tyler?

Oh, just a little.

It looks gray.

All right, now.

Just be very quiet.

Now,
miss tyler?

Oh, it... it's much brighter.

Good, good.

Look- look up toward the light.

How about now,
miss tyler?

Oh, yes, it...it's very bright.

Good, good.

Now...

i'm at the last layer
of bandages, miss tyler.

Oh...

i, i can just see you.

I can just distinguish
your outline vaguely,

but i can just see you.

Good.

All right, miss tyler,

i'm going to remove
the last of the bandages now.

Would you like a mirror?

No.

No, thank you.
No mirror.

All right, then.

I want you to remember
this, please.

Miss tyler, are you listening?

Yes, i'm listening.

Now, we have done
all we could do.

If we've been successful,

well and good.
There are no problems.

But if,
on the other hand,

this final treatment has not achieved
the desired result,

please remember,
miss tyler,

that you can still live
a long and fruitful life

among people of...
your own kind.

Now, as soon as we
discover the results,

we'll either release you or...

doctor?

Yes?

If i'm still terribly ugly...

well, is there
any other alternative?

Could i please be put away?

Well, under certain
circumstances, miss tyler,

the state does provide for
the extermination of undesirables.

However, there are many factors
to be considered in the decision.

Under the present
circumstances, i...

i doubt very much whether
we would be permitted

to do anything
but... transfer you

to a communal group of people
with your disability.

They'll make me go, then?

That would probably
be the case.

Now, remain very quiet.

Keep your eyes open.

All right, miss tyler...

here comes
the last of it.

I wish you
every good luck.

No change.

No change at all.

I was afraid of this.

Turn on the light.

Needle, please.

Life at the...

stop that patient!

Stop her!

We know now that there must be
a single purpose,

a single norm,
a single approach,

a single entity of people,
a single virtue,

a single morality,

a single frame of reference,

a single philosophy
of government.

We must cut out
all that is different

like a cancerous filth!

It is essential,
in this society,

that we not only have a norm

but that we conform
to that norm!

Differences weaken us!

Variations destroy us!

...this norm is what
has ended nations

and brought them
to their knees!

Conformity, we must worship
in all interests!

Conformity is
the key to survival!

Miss tyler.

Miss tyler,
don't be afraid.

He's... he's only
a representative

from the group you're
going to live with.

Oddly enough, you've
come right to him.

Now, come on now.

Don't be afraid.

He's not going to hurt you.

He won't hurt you.

Don't be afraid.

It's all right.

It's all right, miss tyler.

Now, this is mr. Smith.

Mr. Walter smith.

Mr. Smith is in charge

of the village group
in the north.

He'll take you there tonight.

It's the only way now.

Miss tyler, we have a lovely village
and wonderful people.

I think you're
going to like it

where i'm going to take you.

You'll, uh... you'll
be with your own kind,

and in a little while-

oh, you'll be amazed
how little a while-

you'll feel a sense
of great belonging.

You'll feel a sense
of being loved...

and you will be loved,
miss tyler.

Miss tyler...

...would you get
your things now?

We can leave anytime.

Mr. Smith?

Yes?

Why do we have
to look like this?

I don't know, miss tyler;
i really don't know.

But you know something?
It doesn't matter.

There's an old saying...
a very, very old saying:

"Beauty is in the eye
of the beholder."

When we leave here,
when we go to the village,

try to think of that,
miss tyler.

Say it over and over
to yourself.

Beauty is in the eye
of the beholder.

Come on now.

We'll get your things
and we'll leave.

Good-bye, miss tyler.

Now the questions
that come to mind:

Where is this place
and when is it?

What kind of world
where ugliness is the norm

and beauty the deviation
from that norm?

You want an answer?

The answer is:
It doesn't make any difference

because the old saying
happens to be true-

beauty is
in the eye of the beholder,

in this year
or a hundred years hence,

on this planet or wherever
there is human life,

perhaps out amongst the stars.

Beauty is
in the eye of the beholder.

Lesson to be learned
in the twilight zone.