This is portraits 101. If you have been taking portraits for a while this post probably isn't for you.
Eye contact is a fundamental part of social interaction. Our brains are wired to assess other beings through their eyes. Our brains believe instinctively that the eyes give us information about the being before us.
Thus we want to see clearly the eyes of the people we look at.
When people see a portrait, they get drawn to the eyes for the same reason.
If a portrait is to come alive, it must give the viewer a sense that he is looking at a good approximation of the real thing.
Therefore the subject's eyes need to be in focus. If not, the viewer will not be drawn in, subconsciously dismissing the photograph as having no depth, no clarity.
This is why camera makers these days market the fact their cameras can autofocus on your subjects' eyes.
If your camera does not have this function, you need to do your best to manually ensure the sharpest focus is on the subject's eye.
I shoot with vintage manual lenses and have found that the magnifying function in my Sony Alpha 7ii allows me to zoom in on the eye for this purpose, with good results.
The above photo was shot with a vintage Voigtlander Colorultron 55mm f1.4 on Sony Alpha 7ii.
Unfortunately, when using vintage film cameras, there is no such luxury and you simply have to do your best.
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