Rex Harrison's good side was so much better than his bad side that entire film productions were oriented around shooting him only from the good side. Same with Norma Shearer (though that had to do more with her slightly crossed eyes).

For real? But....everyone I know looks good from either side.

I've never actually thought about it before, but it's got to be my right side. All my visible chicken pox scars, plus the scar from where I fell out of bed and hit the baseboard heater as a 2-year-old, are on the left, and my right eyebrow has a slightly better natural shape.

I thought the whole "good side" thing was a myth. People really have a "good" side?

While it is possible that all my pictures look as bad as those from that horrible INS angle, I refuse to consider them. They were consistently (and in the same way, if you see the semantic distinction) horrible to me, no matter who was taking them. Other pics I can dislike or like, but most of them don't horrify me the same way.

Of course, I never think of it when a camera's pointing at me, so it's not useful information.

I read something (I feel a google coming on) that Gael Garcia Bernal was purposefully filmed from different sides for one of his recent movies, because of the different effect each side gave.

I'll be back.

Any low angle is bad for me. It makes me look bloated and scary. And you can see the fact that my nostrils are not symmetrical (a small thing that drives me bugfuck about my nose).

I always look better when the camera is hovering just above my eye level.

Aha. Found it ...

What exactly do directors see in him? Almodovar thought he was perfect to play both male and female in Bad Education because of his modest height and slight stature. "His face gives two different profiles, one pure and the other side looks as if his nose had been broken. He can be a femme fatale, but also an enfant terrible, and he's sexy as a guy and as a girl. I think it's probably been the most difficult role he has confronted so far, and it was as much of a challenge for him as it was for me. I'm not saying he was always perfect but it's the end result that matters - and he's breathtaking." Salles has described him as "smart, cultured and very easy to work with. He's a seriously gifted actor."

For real? But....everyone I know looks good from either side.

I saw a fashion magazine once do a piece on the faces of models. They'd composite a picture of the right side of the face, then flip the negative and do the right side over on the left side. They'd show the regular face, two lefts, two rights and it was amazing how much somebody like Christy Turlington's face would change. Bilateral symmetry is one of the things we intuitively see as "beauty" - from an evolutionary standpoint it's understood because asymmetry often connotes disease or injury.

Anyway, perfectly symmetrical features are rare. Though she doesn't appeal to me much, Kim Basinger's features were legendarily symmetrical (among Hollywood makeup artists).

Almodovar thought he was perfect to play both male and female in Bad Education because of his modest height and slight stature.

Not to mention, HAWT. As either gender.

In order to get a perfectly symmetrical human face, you need Photoshop, and the results are creepy and unnatural looking. So it's not surprising that most people have a "good" side. I've got no idea which mine is, though.

Facial Symmetry

Another Face Flipping Example

I have no idea what my good side is, but I know my face is not symmetrical. One eye is larger than the other. I like to think it's not noticeable, but one of my more unfortunate former supervisors actually pointed it out to other people in a meeting.

Denzel was cited as symmetrical and beautiful in a 1996 Newsweek article -- unfortunately that transcript doesn't have pictures, so feel free to use this as a memory aid.