Abre Los Ojos (Open Your Eyes) (1997)

Here is a film that really went places I never expected. Alejandro Amenábar's twisted Abre Los Ojos combines aspects of drama, thriller, science-fiction, and romance to create something really interesting and surprising. Most of the story is told by César (Eduardo Noriega), a mysterious masked figure held in a mental institution, being questioned by psychiatrist Antonio (Chete Lera) for an unexplained murder. César starts out a laid back and quite wealthy womanizer who looks exactly like a younger, handsomer Peter Gallagher. He's been sleeping with the fiery Nuria (Najwa Nimri), but feels she's getting too attached and wants to move on. She crashes his big birthday party, so he uses new acquaintance Sofia (Penélope Cruz) as cover from her advances. César finds himself really liking the beautiful actress and ends up hanging out with her at her apartment all night, despite the fact that his best friend Pelayo (Fele Martínez) is interested in her. The next morning he goes to leave, only to find Nuria parked outside.

She convinces him to get into the car, so she can show him something at her apartment. Obsessed with him and angered that he should want to stop seeing her, she intentionally crashes the car and is killed on impact. César survives, but his face is severely disfigured. His lifelong self-confidence from his good looks is shattered. He spares no expense (he inherited his family's successful business when his parents passed away years earlier) on reconstructive surgery, but nothing can be done to completely restore it. He tries to go after Sofia again, hoping to re-establish their connection from months before, but feels so self-conscious and fearful of his impact on those around him that he instead lashes out at her and Pelayo. After passing out drunk in the street, hoping to die, his luck takes a turn for the better, awoken by an apologetic and loving Sofia and soon contacted by surgeons to undergo revolutionary reconstructive surgery. But of course all is not what it seems.

I really liked Abre Los Ojos. It's very engaging, with the story constantly changing and adding more unexpected and mysterious elements. It was nice to be consistently surprised- no matter how much I tried to predict what was happening, I was never quite on target. However, I think that this fluxuating aspect of the narrative caused it to feel a bit uneven. The tone completely shifted multiple times, which gave it a lack of cohesion. I liked the fact that it just got weirder and weirder as the story progressed, but the change to total sci-fi was so sudden it felt a bit untrue- like it didn't quite fit with the rest of the film. It's not a huge problem, and probably not one that would affect most viewers. I think it's more the way I personally experienced the movie.

The cast is excellent, with Penélope Cruz bringing vibrancy to a role that could have been flat. I also really liked Chete Lera as the psychiatrist. He doesn't get a lot of screen time, but he does a great job as a regular guy realizing his place in the world, and instantly denying it. I have mixed feelings about Eduardo Noriega. He turned in a varied and dynamic performance, but a lot of his reactions were too extreme. César never become wholly sympathetic to me: he is too full of himself, or too furious, or too needy, or too dramatic. Perhaps that's how the character was written. Either way, it's frustrating to be unable to connect with a character who is completely central to the story. He isn't despicable or anything, but just sort of selfish and rude, and didn't feel real to me.

I feel like I'm only talking about negative aspects of the film. Really, it's quite good: incredibly imaginative and gripping in its narrative, and generally well-acted and paced with a lovely, slightly surreal visual style. At once terrifying, suspenseful, and touching. Definitely an "expect the unexpected" kind of movie. I can see why it has had such a strong affect on so many people.

4/5