hehe
i was convinced the chorus sang something like:
"flashing from your eyes"
the more we learn..

auch!
thanks for link.
this is weird as movie itself:
Idol's memories of the video are painful ones. His contact lenses dried out during the shoot, and when he fell asleep on a flight to his next gig in Arizona, they fused to his eyes. He had to get his corneas scraped at a hospital and wear bandages on his eyes for three days.

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=2821

hair spiked, fist clenched, sitting on the couch in leather, sneering thru he whole thing?

I really can't picture Billy Idol watching this film.

Billy Idol talks about how the film inspired him on his "Storytellers" DVD.

Wow, I never realised she was singing "les yeux sans visage". I even knew that was the French title of the film, but I never put it together.

He's surprisingly cultured. He's also a big fan of Emily Dickinson's writing.

He absolutely was. He saw it and was haunted by the movie which inspired the song. And ironically in a full circle, I first heard the song in a haunted house video I have, found the song, then the movie which is a horror movie. And still a truly haunting and beautiful poetic horror movie..
Thank you, Criterion collection.

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You can't find "yeux" in a dictionary because it is the plural of "oeil", which means eye.

But I can't find the word "yeux' in any French dictionary. i'm assuming it means "eyes", but why isn't it listed? Anyone know?
I know this post is 10 years old, but in case anyone is wondering about the answer to this question: "yeux" is the plural form of the singular word for "eye," which is "oeil" (but with a joined character for "oe"). There is no separate dictionary entry for "yeux" for the same reason there would be no separate dictionary entry for "eyes" (plural) in an English dictionaryit is a subentry or just a subnote under the main singular entry.
il
(j, j )
Word forms: plural yeux
masculine noun
"eye"" Elle a les yeux verts." "She has green eyes."" J'ai quelque chose dans l'il." "I've got something in my eye."
http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/french-english/œil

Merci! The best post I've seen on this site for a very long time.

Ever since knowing of the film (which is some time AFTER first knowing the SONG), I've wondered if those were the background singers' words. I'm glad someone finally cleared that up.

lantno.your English is fine.It's better than alot of American's, LOL. And how many American's and English speak French as well as you do English?
Viva la France!

that seems like a great interpretation of the song and movie. I have herd the song many times but now will soon watch the film for the first time
Rob Zombie is one of the greatest directors today

Always liked that songit's both sad and lovely, like the film itself.

The lyrics not only contain a reference to the film title, they also brilliantly capture the film's essence.
I'm all out of hope
Christiane is all out of hope that her face will ever be restored.
One more bad dream could bring a fall
One more bad surgery, they'll go totally mad. Their whole situation is a horrific dream that makes them fall into madness.
When I'm far from home
Don't call me on the phone
To tell me you're alone
Christiane calls her lover Jacques, but cannot say anything to him. Metaphorically speaking, she's far from home, she can no longer be with him. He senses it's herhe tells the unknown caller to not call himthey're both alone.
It's easy to deceive
Father and daughter deceive each other throughout the film.
It's easy to tease
The surgery will work, the surgery will work, her father teases her with a promise that she knows is impossible to keep.
But hard to get release
Of course Billy idol is referring to orgasm, but it also refers to Christiane breaking free, releasing herself from hysteria
Les yeux sans visage eyes without a face
Exactly
Got no human grace, you're eyes without a face.
That perfectly describes Doctor Gnessier, he has no human grace, he has no face.
I spend so much time
Believing all the lies
To keep the dream alive
Perfectly describes Christiane and Gnessier.
Now it makes me sad
It makes me mad at truth
For loving what was you
Perfectly describes Christiane, she hated herself for loving what her father had become. It also describes Gnessier, he hated himself because of what he had become.
Now I close my eyes
And I wonder why
I don't despise
Christiane and her father are left with no emotions, no feelings, no hatred, no pain, only emptiness
Now all I can do
Is love what was once
So alive and new
By the end of the film, that is all Christiane can do. Christiane can only love what her father once was. Also, she only loves herself as she once was. Even though she breaks free, it's unknown whether or not she will be able to love herself as she is.
But it's gone from your eyes
I'd better realise
Gnessier realizes his daughter loves him for what he was, not for what he turned himself into. He realizes that his quest to restore her face has made her lose her love for him, and for life.
And now it's getting worse.
Although she frees herself, she enters the world alone, empty, eyes without a face

the lyrics of the song "eyes without a face" :
(chorus)
Les yeux sans visage eyes without a face
Les yeux sans visage eyes without a face
Les yeux sans visage eyes without a face
Got no human grace your eyes without a face.
So the billy's backup girls sings in french "les yeux sans visage"
Billy sings "eyes without a face"
The translation :
les yeux = eyes
sans = without
visage = a face
In french the translation of the word "eyes" or "eye" is complicated :
Plurial :
eyeS = les yeux
Singular :
an eye = un oeil
Indeed it's strange that the title song is the same that the title movie
I never seen the movie : "les yeux sans visage". but i like the billy idol's song
I'm french so my english is not very good

I've always wondered what Billy's backup girls were saying, too. But I can't find the word "yeux' in any French dictionary. i'm assuming it means "eyes", but why isn't it listed? Anyone know?
I think Rasputin put it best when he said,
"Man, those pastries gave me indigestion."

ditto. not unlike the backup in peter gabriel's "games without frontiers" (the backup is "jeux sans frontiers")

I have no idea, but thanks to you I now know what the hell the backup singers were saying in that song. Thanks
Exterminate all rational thought. That is the conclusion I have come to