| Julia's Eyes | |
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Promotional film poster |
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| Directed by | Guillem Morales |
| Produced by |
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| Written by |
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| Starring |
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| Music by | Fernando Velázquez |
| Cinematography | Óscar Faura |
| Editing by | Joan Manel Vilaseca |
| Studio |
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| Distributed by | DeAPlaneta |
| Release date(s) | 11 September 2010 (TIFF) 20 October 2010 (Spain) |
| Running time | 117 minutes |
| Country | Spain |
| Language | Spanish |
Julia's Eyes (Spanish: Los ojos de Julia) is a critically acclaimed 2010 Spanish thriller film directed by Guillem Morales[1] and written by Morales and Oriol Paulo.[2]
Contents |
The film begins with the death of the blind Sara, who appears to be being tormented by an unseen stranger. Heading to her basement to attempt suicide, she curses the hidden tormentor and refuses to give them the satisfaction of seeing her hang herself; but as she tries to remove the noose from her neck, the stool beneath her is kicked away, leaving her to die. Miles away, Sara's twin sister Julia collapses at work, sensing something amiss with her sister.
After driving to Sara's house, Julia and her husband Isaac find Sara hanged. The police suspect no foul play, deciding that Sara was depressed after turning blind due to a degenerative eye disease that is slowly robbing Julia's vision as well. Julia, however, is unconvinced, believing that somebody else was in the house at the time of Sara's death, after finding Dusty Springfield's 'The Look of Love' in Sara's record player, a song her sister apparently hated. After feeling a hand that was not Isaac's on her shoulder while laying flowers on Sara's grave at her funeral, Julia becomes paranoid that the 'invisible man' who played a hand in Sara's death is nearby.
After speaking to Sara's blind neighbour, Soledad, Julia visits the Baumann Centre for the blind to learn more about Sara's life shortly before her death. Hearing a group of women discussing her sister, she accidentally wanders into a women's locker room where she hears that Sara had a boyfriend with whom she had spent the weekend in a hotel. When the blind women sense her presence in their midst and surround her, they ask who is the man that entered with her: confused, she tells them she came alone, to which the women respond that a man came with her and is standing behind her. Only glimpsing the man's shadow as he flees, Julia chases him through the dark basement, but he escapes her and the stress causes an attack of blindness.
Returning to Sara's house, she finds a mysterious key and the receipt for Sara's stay in the Hotel Bella Vista before being confronted by Isaac, who berates her for 'chasing ghosts' and is concerned that the stress will cause her sight to deteriorate faster. Julia persuades him to spend the night in a hotel with her, claiming that she wants to take their minds off what has happened, and they travel to the Hotel Bella Vista. There, Julia finds that the details of Sara's boyfriend have been apparently cleared from the hotel's records, though a waiter mistakes her for Sara and lets slip that her sister's eyes were covered by bandages during her stay. Julia confronts Isaac, who tells her that their doctor had confided in him that the operation Julia believed Sara was waiting for in the hopes of regaining her sight -thereby ruling out suicide, since her sister was waiting for an eye donor - had failed. During their argument, Julia suffers another attack of blindness and is nearly hit by a car; at which Isaac is distraught as he realises his wife's vision is rapidly failing her. They reconcile and make love.
The following morning, Julia is approached by a janitor who warns her of 'men who live in shadows' and informs her that the parking lot where Sara's mysterious boyfriend kept his van was under 24-hour surveillance. Julia's eyes are examined, and her doctor informs her that she may only have weeks or months left before she goes blind. Despite his exasperation, Julia persuades Isaac to go to the parking lot where Sara's boyfriend's van was kept in the hope of catching him on tape. Julia waits in the car as Isaac goes to collect the tape; however, he does not return and Julia ventures into the dark parking lot alone. The guard confirms that Isaac entered and took the tape, but he has not been seen since. A sudden power cut plunges them into darkness, and when the lights come back on the security camera cables have been slashed.
Julia is convinced that the 'invisible man' stole the tape, sabotaged the cameras and has kidnapped Isaac, though the police are skeptical. Returning to the Hotel Romero to question the janitor, they find him electrocuted in the bath from a fallen light above the water: however, the police declare it accidental. Isaac's credit card is found to have been used in a nearby hotel, however, when Julia and the inspector return to the house to look for any sign of his return; another power cut sends Julia stumbling through the darkness, brushing against what appears to be a man in the basement where Sara died. Upstairs, the inspector finds a note left on the bed, before being alerted by Julia's screams. When he arrives with his torch, Isaac's corpse is found swinging from the spot where Sara died; with Julia cowering, unable to see at all - her vision has gone completely.
At the hospital, the police inform a grieving Julia that the note found on the bed was written in Isaac's hand, declaring that he could not live without 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 for two weeks, and returns to Sara's house despite her doctor's protests with a day carer, Iván, to assist her. Strangely, the key she found, which she believes was left by Sara's boyfriend, has disappeared. At first, Julia is plagued by disorientation and nightmares while convinced that somebody is lurking in the house; but Iván's patience and coaching help her regain her independence. Four days before Julia is due to remove her bandages, a starlit dinner culminates in a kiss, after which Iván leaves hurriedly, uncomfortable. That night, an unseen man almost succeeds in drugging Julia while she sleeps; however, she wakes, panicked, and accidentally hits the intruder as she sits upright. Terrified, she flees to the house of Sara's neighbour, Señor Blasco, who makes advances on her: as she turns to escape his house, she finds the key she had lost hanging on the wall - believing that Blasco is the 'invisible man', she escapes, paging Iván, who finds her hiding outside in the rain and escorts her to his apartment.
In Iván's home, while he goes to get his spare bed for him to sleep in, Julia hears the voice of Blasco's shy daughter Lía, who tells her that her nurse - Iván - is the 'invisible man' who tormented Sara, has walls covered with photographs of Julia and her twin, and now seeks to drug her with sedatives slipped into her tea. Lía tells Julia to meet her in the bathroom moments before Iván returns. Conflicted, Julia goes to the bathroom where, four days early, she tears off her bandages, desperate to see for herself if Lía's word is true. A sudden bang causes Iván to come looking for her - Julia exits the bathroom sobbing, pretending that her operation has failed and she is totally blind. Lía's bloodied body is held to the wall with a kitchen knife through her mouth and Iván's walls are covered with photographs of the twins, but Julia forces herself not to react to maintain her lie. Behind Iván's back, she swaps her drugged tea for his; however, he guesses what has happened and leads her to a chest freezer where the body of the real nurse Iván is hidden. Julia's scream betrays the fact that she can see the corpse, and her ruse is over. Terrified, Julia suffers another attack of blindness.
When her vision returns, Iván has driven Julia back to Sara's house, where she escapes and flees to the house of Señora Soledad. 'Iván' pursues her into the house and addresses Soledad as 'Máma', revealing himself as her missing son Ángel. A candle and pair of reading glasses betray the fact that Soledad is not in fact blind as she knocks Julia out, at which an enraged Ángel almost strangles his mother and injects her eye with a substance designed to break down the optic nerve and render her blind again. Julia awakens in the basement of Sara's house, where Ángel tells her he loves her and wants them to be together as long as her sight is gone; since blind people are the only ones who sense the existence of a man who lives in shadows. Julia steals his knife and stabs him as he kisses her, before fleeing. As he chases her, Julia finds all the doors and windows locked - however, she cuts the fuse and plunges the house into darkness as Ángel breaks free of the locked basement. By the flashbulb of his camera, Ángel hunts Julia through the house, cutting the telephone cable as she calls the inspector and finally pinning her down to strangle her, while Julia desperately reaches for his discarded knife. The police arrive as Julia breaks free, a bloodied Ángel hiding in a corner of the room and finally visible - defeated, he slits his own throat while begging the police not to look at him.
At the hospital once more, Julia is told that having removed her bandages too early, the damage to her new eyes is irreversible and she will not see the dawn: using her last few hours of vision, she goes to say goodbye to Isaac's corpse, where it is revealed that he donated his eyes to her.
Guillermo del Toro worked a second time as producer for a Spanish genre production[3] and co-produced the film with Joaquín Padró and Mar Targarona for Rodar y Rodar Cine y Televisión.[4] The film starred Belen Rueda and Lluis Homar.[5] Guillem Morales wrote the screenplay co-authored with Oriol Paulo.[6] The film was co-financed by Focus Features International.[7]
The score was created by Barcelona based film composer Fernando Velázquez.[8]
The film premiered on 20 October 2010 in Spain.[9] It was released in the United Kingdom as Julia's Eyes by Optimum Releasing.[10] In Australia it was released as Julia's Eyes by Umbrella Entertainment on 2 June 2011.[11]
As of November 2011, Julia's Eyes has received a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes with 32 positive reviews and two negative reviews. [12] The IMDb score is also 6.6/10.[13]