When Tom Cruise first saw Alejandro Amenábar's film Abre los Ojos (Open Your Eyes) at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, he and his producing partner Paula Wagner immediately optioned the rights for an English-language remake, recruiting director Cameron Crowe for what would later become Vanilla Sky. But, like most English-language remakes, Vanilla Sky falls short of the original. Following his Goya Award-winning feature debut, Thesis, Amenábar's second feature film, Open Your Eyes, is a dizzying psychological thriller about an attractive, wealthy young man whose life is upended after a car accident that leaves him disfigured. Open Your Eyes explores the depths of the human consciousness, and dreams intertwine with reality as César (Eduardo Noriega) pursues the beautiful Sofía (Penélope Cruz) and tries to remember a crime he swears he didn't commit.
What Is 'Open Your Eyes' About?
Co-written by Amenábar and Mateo Gil, Open Your Eyes follows César, a handsome 25-year-old living off the wealth of his deceased parents. Known for his good looks, César's best friend Pelayo (Fele Martínez) marvels at the fact that he can seemingly get any girl he wants, including Sofía, his date to César's birthday party. César and Sofía hit it off, but the following morning, César's obsessive ex-lover Nuria (Najwa Nimri) gives him a ride and intentionally crashes the car, killing Nuria and leaving César's face severely disfigured. Nearly unrecognizable, César cannot bear to look at himself in the mirror, but no amount of plastic surgery can fully restore his looks, so he covers his face with a realistic—but still unnerving—mask. Open Your Eyes flashes back and forth between different timelines, and César recounts his story to his psychiatrist, Antonio (Chete Lera), from a prison cell, after he's arrested for a murder he doesn't remember committing.
'Open Your Eyes' Is a Dizzying Psychological Thriller That Will Leave You Questioning Reality
Fans of films like Mulholland Drive and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind will enjoy parsing through the events of Open Your Eyes, as César’s dreams and reality are muddled together. Confusion is an integral part of the viewing experience, and César is often just as confused as we are. His highs are high, but his lows are even lower, and César’s story is largely a tragic one. In Open Your Eyes, César's dreams are depicted as manifestations of his fears, regrets, and deepest desires, and hearing Cruz whisper "open your eyes" at different points throughout the film reminds us that we can never really be sure if what we're watching is real or a dream. Striking cinematography by Hans Burmann and a haunting score composed by Mariano Marín and Amenábar himself amplify the film's hazy, dreamlike quality and bring a sense of beauty to César's self-destruction.
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Aside from its fascination with dreams and the human subconscious, Open Your Eyes also examines the nature of wealth, vanity, and jealousy, as well as how physical beauty impacts the way people view and treat others. As a wealthy, attractive playboy, Cesar doesn’t realize how much these aspects define him until his face is disfigured. Before the accident, people either wanted to be him or be with him, but after the crash, César is treated like a burden, and he turns to alcohol to cope with the judgmental looks and snide comments he receives on a night out. Money can’t buy the kind of reconstructive plastic surgery that doesn’t exist yet, and Cesar is driven mad by his appearance and can’t stand to look at himself in the mirror or be seen in public without his mask. The crash cost César his good looks, which in turn messes with his self-perception, and he goes to extreme measures to piece his life back together.
How Does 'Open Your Eyes' Compare to 'Vanilla Sky?'
Cameron Crowe's remake is very faithful to its original source material, though Vanilla Sky swaps Madrid for New York City and Eduardo Noriega for Tom Cruise. Penélope Cruz, however, notably appears in both films, reprising her role as Sofía in Vanilla Sky four years after the release of Open Your Eyes. Open Your Eyes was far more well-regarded by critics than Vanilla Sky was, and the latter leans more into humor, both intentional and unintentional, thanks to Cruise's theatricality and the supporting performances of Cameron Diaz and Jason Lee. It has its appeal, but Vanilla Sky ramps up the melodrama and feels more like a star vehicle for Cruise more than anything else, and Amenábar's Open Your Eyes easily surpasses it.
Open Your Eyes is available to stream on Max in the U.S.
