Open Your Eyes (1997)
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Open Your Eyes Movie Review
Open Your Eyes (Abre los ojos) is a 1997 Spanish science fiction psychological thriller film directed by Alejandro Amenabar and starring Eduardo Noriega and Penelope Cruz. It’s superb.
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“Open your eyes“
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Handsome 25-year-old Cesar had it all – a successful career, expensive cars, a swank bachelor’s pad, and an endless string of beautiful and willing women. He is then thrown into a strange psychological mystery after a car accident scars his face and lands him in prison.
I wholeheartedly disagree with many critics that this movie is difficult to categorize. It remains a brilliant film, but it’s very clearly a sci-fi psychological thriller with romantic elements as well. And it succeeds wildly in both of those genres. It’s intense, very tumultuous in its character’s inner journey and thus highly chilling.
But it’s also brilliant SF concept that influenced many other Hollywood films in its wake, particularly overrated ‘The Matrix’. It’s thus a very influential, highly copied movie for all the obvious reasons – it’s original, it’s wildly entertaining and it’s incredibly memorable too.
Eduardo Noriega here gave such a terrific performance in the main role, and I found this character superbly developed. Yes, he’s too unlikable at times, but that only made him more realistic and also more relatable in his frustrations after the accident. His journey here is so emotional, and the actor pulled it off completely.
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Pelayo is a great friend to the protagonist, and Nubia serves as a terrific female villain of sorts. I also really liked Antonio the psychologist and watching him struggle to accept the reality of this situation was simultaneously amusing and sad.
As for Penelope Cruz, this is undoubtedly one of her greatest performances. Her Sofia is so wonderful and the right mix of sometimes warm and at times very cold that she remains a very mysterious, sexy presence. Cruz is wonderful in this great role. And the romance between the two is absolutely fantastic.
Open Your Eyes is not as twisty nor as unpredictable as many would say. Watching so many movies, I could see some plot points coming through, but still they were all very well crafted and executed with the highlights being that awesome ending that’s very moving, otherworldly and dreamlike.
The film plays with the ideas of dreams and reality so well. It mixes the two deftly while never being too enigmatic, but just the right amount of mysterious. I also loved the exploration of vainness in people and how the physical remains the most important side to humans. That was heartbreakingly, but very honestly portrayed here. I really appreciated the film’s honesty in that regard as this is how it unfortunately goes in real life.
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Abre los ojos is thus superb in its psychology, especially the protagonist’s journey, but it’s also romantic, very emotional and ultimately even intense, though the SF elements in my opinion worked the best as the film was groundbreaking in that regard.
The dialogue is phenomenal and one of the film’s highlights while the direction from Amenabar is stellar. This is undoubtedly his magnum opus and it’s a shame that he never made another truly great movie such as this one. Visually speaking, it also delivers as the cinematography and some imagery in particular are so memorable whereas the score is also terrific.
Open Your Eyes (Abre los ojos) is a terrific science fiction psychological thriller that’s both intense and brilliant in its concept. It’s an influential movie about dreams and reality that is such a memorable cinematic experience as it’s technically stupendous and fascinating in dialogue and themes. This is Alejandro Amenabar’s finest picture that is also a terrific showcase for Eduardo Noriega and Penelope Cruz who both delivered stupendous performances in very interesting roles.
