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Julia's Eyes
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Wikipedia article
'Julia's Eyes' is a 2010 Spanish horror and psychological thriller film directed by Guillem Morales and written by Morales and Oriol Paulo. It was produced by Guillermo del Toro, Joaqun Padr and Mar Targarona.
Plot
Tormented by an unseen presence, a blind woman, Sara, prepares to hang herself in her basement, but changes her mind. As she tries to remove the noose, the stool beneath her is kicked away, leaving her to die. Miles away, Sara's twin sister, Julia, collapses, sensing something amiss.
Julia, who has the same degenerative disease but can still see, is tormented by Sara's death and by the feeling of another presence nearby. She insists Sara was not depressed as she was awaiting surgery to restore her vision. Her husband, Isaac, insists she stop investigating, and as her doctor has informed him that Sara had eye surgery that was not successful.
Julia meets Sara's elderly blind neighbor Soledad, who has a pessimistic view that Isaac will leave her, as even Soledad's own son, ngel, abandoned her after she went blind. After hearing that Sara had a boyfriend and they visited a hotel nearby, Julia goes there with Isaac. She is approached by an elderly janitor, Crspulo, who warns her of "men who live in shadows," who are dangerous because they are tired of being ignored.
Isaac disappears and Julia is convinced that the "invisible man" has kidnapped him, though the police are skeptical. Someone kills Crspulo, but police rule it an accident. Julia's eyesight continues to deteriorate. When Julia and the inspector return to Sara's house, the inspector discovers a suicide note and Isaac's body. Julia, now fully blind, cannot see anything.
A grieving Julia learns Isaac's suicide note declared he loved Sara, with whom he had been having an affair for six months. However, an eye donor is found, so the operation to save Julia's sight goes ahead. She is told she must wear bandages to protect her eyes from light for two weeks, and the morgue agrees to keep Isaac's body so she can see him to say goodbye. She returns to Sara's house with the daily help of a home nursing aid, Ivn.
Julia is plagued by disorientation and convinced that somebody is lurking in the house; but Ivn's patience helps her regain her independence. Four days before Julia is due to remove her bandages, an unseen man almost succeeds in drugging her while she sleeps; however, she wakes, panicked, and accidentally hits the intruder. She flees to a neighbour, Blasco, who makes advances on her. She escapes, calling Ivn, who finds her hiding outside in the rain and escorts her to his apartment.
While Ivn is out, Julia hears the voice of Blasco's shy daughter, La, who tells her that Ivn is the "invisible man" who tormented and blinded Sara by ruining her operation, forced Isaac to write the fake suicide note before killing him, and has walls covered with photographs of Julia and Sara. Julia hides in the bathroom where, four days early, she tears off her bandages, desperate to see. Julia exits the bathroom and sees Ivn's walls covered with photographs of the twins as well as La's bloodied body.
Ivn returns to the apartment, where Julia pretends that she is crying because her operation has failed. He believes her momentarily before leading her to the body of the real Ivn; Julia's scream betrays the fact that she can see. "Ivn" tells her he loves her and wants them to be together as long as her sight is gone, since blind women are the only ones who need him.
"Ivn" drives Julia back to Sara's, where she flees to Soledad's. "Ivn" chases her and addresses Soledad as Mom, revealing himself as her missing son, ngel. A candle and glasses betray the fact that Soledad is not really blind as she knocks Julia out, at which point an enraged ngel attacks his mother and blinds her. Julia escapes and manages to contact the police. She uses a flashlight to show the police a bloodied ngel hiding in a corner of the room. Finally visible, he slits his own throat.
At the hospital, Julia is told the damage to her new eyes is irreversible. Using her last few hours of vision, she finally says goodbye to Isaac's corpse, as it is revealed that he donated his eyes to her.
Cast
Production
Guillermo del Toro worked a second time as producer for a Spanish genre production[https://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/17018 Del Toro Comes on to Produce 'Julia's Eyes'] and co-produced the film with Joaqun Padr and Mar Targarona for Rodar y Rodar Cine y Televisin.[https://www.variety.com/article/VR1118015568.html?categoryid=3534&cs=1&query=Julia%27s+Eyes U.K.'s Optimum catches 'Julia's Eyes' Psycho thriller goes to Scandi, Poland, Greece] The film starred Beln Rueda and Llus Homar.[https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/32934/another-new-del-toro-project-julias-eyes Another New del Toro Project: Julia's Eyes] Guillem Morales wrote the screenplay co-authored with Oriol Paulo.[https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/37506/%C2%BFhabla-espa%C3%B1ol Habla Espaol? First Trailer for Julia's Eyes] The film was co-financed by Focus Features International.[https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/37611/international-poster-debut-julias-eyes International Poster Debut: Julia's Eyes]
Soundtrack
The score was created by Barcelona-based film composer Fernando Velzquez.[https://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/20207 Spanish Trailer for Guillermo Del Toro Produced 'Julia's Eyes']
Release
The film premiered on 20 October 2010 in Spain.[https://www.dreadcentral.com/story/horror-spreading-across-spain Horror Spreading Across Spain] It was released in the United Kingdom as 'Julia's Eyes' by Optimum Releasing.[https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/36060/uks-optimum-releasing-focuses-julias-eyes UK's Optimum Releasing Focuses on Julia's Eyes] In Australia it was released as 'Julia's Eyes' by Umbrella Entertainment on 2 June 2011.[http://www.ag.gov.au/www/cob/find.nsf/3ee9cf339ddee09eca2575ca000be1e3/ae10f9502424a697ca25783a0057f08d!OpenDocument Umbrella Entertainment releases Julia's Eyes]
Reception
'Julia's Eyes' received mostly positive reviews. , it holds a 90% approval rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 40 reviews, with an average rating of 6.54/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Smart, suspenseful, and visually distinctive, 'Julia's Eyes' marks another modern Spanish thriller that quickens the pulse while engaging the mind."
Philip French of 'The Guardian' wrote, "Using blindness as a plot device, a metaphor for social awareness and as a numinous experience that romantically links minds, it's a fascinating, broken-backed picture full of riveting twists and dubious psychology." Charlotte O'Sullivan of the London Evening Standard praised the film and Rueda in particular, writing, "Rueda is a fantastic actress, tightly wound, but never brittle. From the minute she's on screen we identify with Julia's plight."
Philippa Hawker of 'The Age' wrote, "'Julia's Eyes' becomes a little incoherent as it plunges towards resolution, but it's unerringly stylish and whole-heartedly suspenseful along the way. Morales toys with red herrings, references Hitchcock, amps up the tension, spills blood; he also plays with the camera's ability to reveal and conceal simultaneously. In the end, although the film takes on the traits of a classic 'don't go back inside the house' slasher movie, it's the quiet, slowly-building confrontations, one on one, that linger in the memory."
See also
* List of Spanish films of 2010
References
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