The handsome and wealthy César (Eduardo Noriega) is very successful with women and is having difficulties to get rid off Nuria (Najwa Nimri) that is his last affair. His best friend is Pelayo (Fele Martínez), who is unlucky with women and jealous of his friend. On his birthday party, César meets the gorgeous and sexy Sofia (Penélope Cruz) that is dating Pelayo and they have a crush on each other and spend the night together in her apartment. On the next morning, César finds Nuria stalking him in front of Sofia's building and he accepts her ride home. However, she commits suicide crashing her car against a wall and César survives the crash, but with his face completely destroyed. The doctors do not have technology to restore his face and César is absolutely depressed and missing Sofia. One night, César meets Sofia and Pelayo in a bar and he drinks too much, falling on the street. However, on the next morning, Sofia finds César on the street and kisses him telling that she loves him. Then the doctors tell him that they are able to fix his face. Out of the blue, César's happiness changes and he finds that he is trapped in a nightmare.
"Abre los Ojos" is an intriguing and fascinating thriller with a journey to paranoia. The twenty-five year-old genius Alejandro Amenábar wrote and directed this masterpiece that is certainly the source of inspiration of "The Matrix", with the concept of virtual reality. This film is among my top-ten ever and the last three times that I watched it was on 16 November 2001, 26 October 2002 and yesterday, but the impact is never reduced with the awesome story and screenplay. The American cinema industry once again decided to destroy this piece-of –art with the ridiculous remake "Vanilla Sky" that is only a shadow of "Abre los Ojos". My vote is ten.
Title (Brazil): "Preso na Escuridão" ("Imprisoned in the Darkness")
"Abre los Ojos" is an intriguing and fascinating thriller with a journey to paranoia. The twenty-five year-old genius Alejandro Amenábar wrote and directed this masterpiece that is certainly the source of inspiration of "The Matrix", with the concept of virtual reality. This film is among my top-ten ever and the last three times that I watched it was on 16 November 2001, 26 October 2002 and yesterday, but the impact is never reduced with the awesome story and screenplay. The American cinema industry once again decided to destroy this piece-of –art with the ridiculous remake "Vanilla Sky" that is only a shadow of "Abre los Ojos". My vote is ten.
Title (Brazil): "Preso na Escuridão" ("Imprisoned in the Darkness")