Abre los ojos
Encyclopedia
Abre los ojos is a 1997 Spanish film directed by Alejandro Amenábar
which was written by himself and Mateo Gil
. It stars Eduardo Noriega
, Penélope Cruz
, Fele Martínez
and Najwa Nimri
. In 2002, Open Your Eyes was ranked #84 in the Top 100 Sci-Fi List by the Online Film Critics Society
.
, César (Eduardo Noriega
), a 25-year-old in a prosthetic mask, tells his story to psychiatrist
Antonio (Chete Lera). Flashbacks reveal the following events: good-looking César is attractive to women. At his birthday party, he flirts with Sofía (Penélope Cruz
), the girlfriend of his best friend Pelayo (Fele Martínez
). Later on, he takes her home and stays the night, although they don't sleep together. The next morning, César's obsessive ex-lover Nuria (Najwa Nimri
) pulls up outside Sofia's flat and when she spots César leaving in the morning, she offers him a ride back to her apartment to have sex. On the way there, however, she intentionally crashes the car, committing suicide, and César is horribly disfigured, beyond the help of cosmetic surgery. Sofía can't bear to see him like this and goes back to Pelayo.
After César's disfigurement, he begins to have a series of disorienting experiences. Drunk, César falls asleep in the street. On awakening, everything has changed: Sofía now claims to love him and the surgeons restore his lost looks. But as he makes love to Sofía one night, she apparently changes into Nuria. Horrified, César smothers her with a pillow, yet finds everyone else believes Nuria was indeed the woman everyone else calls Sofía.
While he is confined to the prison, fragments of his past return to him as if in a dream. It is gradually revealed that, shortly after his disfigurement, César contracted with Life Extension, a company specializing in cryonics
, to be cryogenically preserved and to experience extremely lucid and lifelike virtual reality
dreams. Returning to their headquarters, under supervision by prison officers, he discovers they specialise in cryonics with a twist: "artificial perception" or the provision of a fantasy based on the past to clients who are reborn in the future. He had committed suicide at home after sleeping drunk on the street, and was placed in cryonic suspension. His experiences from about the midpoint of the movie onward have been a dream, spliced retroactively into his actual life and replacing his true memories. At the end of the film he elects to wake up and be resurrected. Convinced his life since the drunken night in the street is simply a nightmarish vision created by Life Extension, César leaps from the roof of the company's high-rise headquarters, resolving to open his eyes once more to real life outside the cryonic fantasy.
of ReelViews gave the film three and a half stars (out of four), saying that movies "of this intelligence, audacity, and complexity come along so rarely that it's mandatory to cry out their arrival" and that "those who see it will not quickly forget the experience." Rob Blackwelder of SplicedWire gave the film four stars (out of four), calling it "a jaw-dropping psychological thriller" that's "beautifully orchestrated." Richard Scheib of The Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Film Review also gave Open Your Eyes four stars, calling it "quite a remarkable film." Holly E. Ordway of DVD Active said, "I don’t give out “perfect 10” ratings lightly, but Open Your Eyes earns one by all accounts." Aaron Beierle of DVD Talk gave a lukewarm review, saying that he "found most of Open Your Eyes interesting" but remarked that "there's something about the picture that kept me from being completely involved."
's film Vanilla Sky
(2001), is a remake of Open Your Eyes. It stars Tom Cruise
in the lead role (renamed David Aames), Penélope Cruz
reprising her role as Sofia, Cameron Diaz
as the girl who disfigures David (renamed Julianna Gianni), Jason Lee
as the friend (renamed Brian Shelby), and Kurt Russell
as the psychiatrist (renamed Curtis McCabe). The film also transplants the action from Madrid
to New York
. The film follows the original plot very closely but makes several changes to the ending.
Alejandro Amenábar
Alejandro Fernando Amenábar Cantos is a Spanish- Chilean film director. Amenábar was born in Santiago, Chile to a Spanish mother and Chilean father, but the family moved to Spain just one year after his birth...
which was written by himself and Mateo Gil
Mateo Gil
Mateo Gil Rodríguez is a Spanish screenplay writer and director.-Writer:*Agora *Mar adentro *Vanilla Sky...
. It stars Eduardo Noriega
Eduardo Noriega (Spanish actor)
Eduardo Noriega Gómez is a Spanish film actor, perhaps best known for his roles in two Alejandro Amenábar films, the multiple Goya Award-winning Tesis and Open Your Eyes . He also starred in The Wolf...
, Penélope Cruz
Penélope Cruz
Penélope Cruz Sánchez is a Spanish actress. Signed by an agent at age 15, she made her acting debut at 16 on television and her feature film debut the following year in Jamón, jamón , to critical acclaim...
, Fele Martínez
Fele Martínez
Fele Martínez is a Goya Award-winning Spanish actor.-Early years:Martínez was born in Alicante, Spain. A product of the Escuela Superior de Arte Dramático in Madrid, he began to act and direct theater at an early age...
and Najwa Nimri
Najwa Nimri
Najwa Nimri Urrutikoetxea is a Spanish actress and singer of Jordanian descent.-Early life:...
. In 2002, Open Your Eyes was ranked #84 in the Top 100 Sci-Fi List by the Online Film Critics Society
Online Film Critics Society
The Online Film Critics Society is a professional association for film critics who publish their reviews, interviews, and essays on the Internet.The OFCS was founded in 1997...
.
Plot
From a prison cell in MadridMadrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, César (Eduardo Noriega
Eduardo Noriega (Spanish actor)
Eduardo Noriega Gómez is a Spanish film actor, perhaps best known for his roles in two Alejandro Amenábar films, the multiple Goya Award-winning Tesis and Open Your Eyes . He also starred in The Wolf...
), a 25-year-old in a prosthetic mask, tells his story to psychiatrist
Psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...
Antonio (Chete Lera). Flashbacks reveal the following events: good-looking César is attractive to women. At his birthday party, he flirts with Sofía (Penélope Cruz
Penélope Cruz
Penélope Cruz Sánchez is a Spanish actress. Signed by an agent at age 15, she made her acting debut at 16 on television and her feature film debut the following year in Jamón, jamón , to critical acclaim...
), the girlfriend of his best friend Pelayo (Fele Martínez
Fele Martínez
Fele Martínez is a Goya Award-winning Spanish actor.-Early years:Martínez was born in Alicante, Spain. A product of the Escuela Superior de Arte Dramático in Madrid, he began to act and direct theater at an early age...
). Later on, he takes her home and stays the night, although they don't sleep together. The next morning, César's obsessive ex-lover Nuria (Najwa Nimri
Najwa Nimri
Najwa Nimri Urrutikoetxea is a Spanish actress and singer of Jordanian descent.-Early life:...
) pulls up outside Sofia's flat and when she spots César leaving in the morning, she offers him a ride back to her apartment to have sex. On the way there, however, she intentionally crashes the car, committing suicide, and César is horribly disfigured, beyond the help of cosmetic surgery. Sofía can't bear to see him like this and goes back to Pelayo.
After César's disfigurement, he begins to have a series of disorienting experiences. Drunk, César falls asleep in the street. On awakening, everything has changed: Sofía now claims to love him and the surgeons restore his lost looks. But as he makes love to Sofía one night, she apparently changes into Nuria. Horrified, César smothers her with a pillow, yet finds everyone else believes Nuria was indeed the woman everyone else calls Sofía.
While he is confined to the prison, fragments of his past return to him as if in a dream. It is gradually revealed that, shortly after his disfigurement, César contracted with Life Extension, a company specializing in cryonics
Cryonics
Cryonics is the low-temperature preservation of humans and animals who can no longer be sustained by contemporary medicine, with the hope that healing and resuscitation may be possible in the future. Cryopreservation of people or large animals is not reversible with current technology...
, to be cryogenically preserved and to experience extremely lucid and lifelike virtual reality
Virtual reality
Virtual reality , also known as virtuality, is a term that applies to computer-simulated environments that can simulate physical presence in places in the real world, as well as in imaginary worlds...
dreams. Returning to their headquarters, under supervision by prison officers, he discovers they specialise in cryonics with a twist: "artificial perception" or the provision of a fantasy based on the past to clients who are reborn in the future. He had committed suicide at home after sleeping drunk on the street, and was placed in cryonic suspension. His experiences from about the midpoint of the movie onward have been a dream, spliced retroactively into his actual life and replacing his true memories. At the end of the film he elects to wake up and be resurrected. Convinced his life since the drunken night in the street is simply a nightmarish vision created by Life Extension, César leaps from the roof of the company's high-rise headquarters, resolving to open his eyes once more to real life outside the cryonic fantasy.
Cast
- Eduardo NoriegaEduardo Noriega (Spanish actor)Eduardo Noriega Gómez is a Spanish film actor, perhaps best known for his roles in two Alejandro Amenábar films, the multiple Goya Award-winning Tesis and Open Your Eyes . He also starred in The Wolf...
as César - Fele MartínezFele MartínezFele Martínez is a Goya Award-winning Spanish actor.-Early years:Martínez was born in Alicante, Spain. A product of the Escuela Superior de Arte Dramático in Madrid, he began to act and direct theater at an early age...
as Pelayo - Penélope CruzPenélope CruzPenélope Cruz Sánchez is a Spanish actress. Signed by an agent at age 15, she made her acting debut at 16 on television and her feature film debut the following year in Jamón, jamón , to critical acclaim...
as Sofia - Najwa NimriNajwa NimriNajwa Nimri Urrutikoetxea is a Spanish actress and singer of Jordanian descent.-Early life:...
as Nuria - Chete Lera as Antonio
Reception
Critical reaction to Open Your Eyes has been mostly positive. James BerardinelliJames Berardinelli
James Berardinelli is an American online film critic.-Personal life:Berardinelli was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey and spent his early childhood in Morristown, New Jersey. At the age of nine years, he relocated to the township of Cherry Hill, New Jersey...
of ReelViews gave the film three and a half stars (out of four), saying that movies "of this intelligence, audacity, and complexity come along so rarely that it's mandatory to cry out their arrival" and that "those who see it will not quickly forget the experience." Rob Blackwelder of SplicedWire gave the film four stars (out of four), calling it "a jaw-dropping psychological thriller" that's "beautifully orchestrated." Richard Scheib of The Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Film Review also gave Open Your Eyes four stars, calling it "quite a remarkable film." Holly E. Ordway of DVD Active said, "I don’t give out “perfect 10” ratings lightly, but Open Your Eyes earns one by all accounts." Aaron Beierle of DVD Talk gave a lukewarm review, saying that he "found most of Open Your Eyes interesting" but remarked that "there's something about the picture that kept me from being completely involved."
Other media
Director Cameron CroweCameron Crowe
Cameron Bruce Crowe is an American screenwriter and film director. Before moving into the film industry, Crowe was a contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine, for which he still frequently writes....
's film Vanilla Sky
Vanilla Sky
Vanilla Sky is a 2001 American psychological thriller film directed, co-produced and co-written by Cameron Crowe. The film is an English-language remake of the 1997 Spanish movie Abre los ojos , the screenplay for which was written by Alejandro Amenábar and Mateo Gil...
(2001), is a remake of Open Your Eyes. It stars Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
in the lead role (renamed David Aames), Penélope Cruz
Penélope Cruz
Penélope Cruz Sánchez is a Spanish actress. Signed by an agent at age 15, she made her acting debut at 16 on television and her feature film debut the following year in Jamón, jamón , to critical acclaim...
reprising her role as Sofia, Cameron Diaz
Cameron Diaz
Cameron Michelle Diaz is an American actress and former model. She became famous during the 1990s with roles in the movies The Mask, My Best Friend's Wedding, and There's Something About Mary. Other high-profile credits include the two Charlie's Angels films, voicing the character Princess Fiona...
as the girl who disfigures David (renamed Julianna Gianni), Jason Lee
Jason Lee (actor)
Jason Michael Lee is an American actor and skateboarder known for his role as the title character on the NBC television series My Name is Earl, his portrayal of Syndrome in the film The Incredibles, his role as Dave Seville in the Alvin and the Chipmunks films, and his work with director Kevin...
as the friend (renamed Brian Shelby), and Kurt Russell
Kurt Russell
Kurt Vogel Russell is an American television and film actor. His first acting roles were as a child in television series, including a lead role in the Western series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters...
as the psychiatrist (renamed Curtis McCabe). The film also transplants the action from Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
to New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. The film follows the original plot very closely but makes several changes to the ending.
Soundtrack
- Vol. #1
- "Glamour" - Amphetamine Discharge (6:03)
- "Risingson" - Massive AttackMassive AttackMassive Attack are an English DJ and trip hop duo from Bristol, England consisting of Robert "3D" Del Naja and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall. Working with co-producers, as well as various session musicians and guest vocalists, they make records and tour live. The duo are considered to be of the trip...
(5:29) - "El detonador EMX-3" - Chucho (5:17)
- "How do" - Sneaker PimpsSneaker PimpsSneaker Pimps were a British trip-hop band formed in Hartlepool, England in 1994. They are best known for their first album Becoming X and particularly the singles "6 Underground", "Spin Spin Sugar", and "Tesko Suicide" from the same album...
(5:04) - "Sick of you" - OnionOnionThe onion , also known as the bulb onion, common onion and garden onion, is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. The genus Allium also contains a number of other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion The onion...
(4:28) - "T-sebo" - Side EffectsSide EffectsSide Effects is an anthology of 17 comical short stories written by Woody Allen between 1975 and 1980, all but one of which were previously published in, variously, The New Republic, The New York Times, The New Yorker, and The Kenyon Review. It includes Allen's 1978 O...
(5:44) - "Flying away" - Smoke CitySmoke CitySmoke City were an English band, who blended acid jazz and trip hop, borrowing from Brazilian styles such as samba and bossa nova. They are best known for their single "Underwater Love", which was a major hit in 1997, after being used in a Levi's television advertisement, "Mermaids" .In 1997, the...
(3:50) - "Arrecife" - Los Coronas (3:11)
- "Yo mismo" - IfIfIf is a conjunction that can introduce a conditional clause.If may also refer to:-Music:* If , a 1951 hit song by Perry Como.* If , 1970s British progressive jazz-rock band* If...
(3:37) - "Tremble (goes the night)" - The WalkaboutsThe WalkaboutsThe Walkabouts is an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1984. The core members are vocalist Carla Torgerson and vocalist and songwriter Chris Eckman...
(5:02) - "El detonador remix" – Chucho / Side EffectsSide EffectsSide Effects is an anthology of 17 comical short stories written by Woody Allen between 1975 and 1980, all but one of which were previously published in, variously, The New Republic, The New York Times, The New Yorker, and The Kenyon Review. It includes Allen's 1978 O...
(5:01)
- Vol. #2 (Instrumental)
- "Abre los ojos" (2:28)
- "Sofía" (1:12)
- "Soñar es una mierda" (1:04)
- "La operación" (1:33)
- "¿Dónde está Sofía?" (0:54)
- "El parque" (3:08)
- "Hipnosis" (2:20)
- "Quítate la careta" (2:56)
- "Eres mi mejor amigo" (2:41)
- "La única explicación" (2:05)
- "Quiero verte" (6:38)
- "Esa sonrisa" (0:53)
- "Deja vu" (1:51)
- "Excarcelación" (4:28)
- "La vida" (1:46)
- "La azotea" (5:21)
- "Créditos finales" (3:31)
See also
- Lucid dream
- Simulated realitySimulated realitySimulated reality is the proposition that reality could be simulated—perhaps by computer simulation—to a degree indistinguishable from "true" reality. It could contain conscious minds which may or may not be fully aware that they are living inside a simulation....
- Twist ending
- UbikUbikUbik is a 1969 science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick. Critic Lev Grossman described it as "a deeply unsettling existential horror story, a nightmare you'll never be sure you've woken up from."-Plot synopsis:...