--- title: "Open Your Eyes" year: 1997 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/open-your-eyes" fi1m_id: "open-your-eyes" imdb_id: "tt0125659" tmdb_id: 1902 wikidata_id: "Q1136400" fi1m_score: 73 critics_score: 66 critics_reviews: 8 published: "2026-09-26T02:51:01.744250+00:00" updated: "2026-09-26T02:51:02.180784+00:00" region: "SG" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Open Your Eyes (1997) Directed by Alejandro Amenábar · 1h 57m · Drama, Thriller, Science Fiction ## Identity Open Your Eyes - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/open-your-eyes - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** open-your-eyes - **IMDb ID:** tt0125659 - **TMDB ID:** 1902 - **Wikidata ID:** Q1136400 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0125659/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1902, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1136400 **Fi1m score: 73** · Critics 66 from 8 reviews *In a sentence:* Eduardo Noriega keeps his composure while the plot makes that increasingly unreasonable > *Open Your Eyes* is an absorbing, overcomplicated thriller, held together by Eduardo Noriega’s controlled performance. Alejandro Amenábar makes uncertainty exciting, though the eventual explanations disappoint after so much ingenuity in keeping us guessing. ## Synopsis Eduardo Noriega plays a man who finds appearances and reality increasingly difficult to separate. Around him are Sofía (Penélope Cruz), Pelayo (Fele Martínez) and Nuria (Najwa Nimri), with Antonio (Chete Lera) also part of a story whose perspective keeps changing. He needs to work out what he can trust, but his own perceptions make that difficult. As his understanding of events changes, the film moves between drama, thriller and science fiction. His experience is the guide through a story concerned with identity, appearance and the difficulty of knowing which account of reality to accept. ## Review An unreliable reality gives a thriller considerable freedom to misbehave. *Open Your Eyes* earns that freedom for much of its running time, because Alejandro Amenábar keeps us interested in his central character even when following the story becomes work. This is a good, unsettling film with an overcomplicated script, worth the effort for those who enjoy having their perceptions challenged. The reservation matters: some of its complications merely delay what we need to know. Eduardo Noriega provides the reason to persist. His controlled performance gives his character a recognisable continuity as the film alters our understanding of him; without that steadiness, another shift in perception would quickly become tiresome. We felt uneasy watching him, because his composure makes the uncertainty around him harder to dismiss as a thriller’s trick. There is enough restraint in the acting to let us worry about the man without being told at every stage how much we should worry. That performance also exposes a weakness in the screenplay by Mateo Gil and Alejandro Amenábar. The central character commands so much of our attention that the people around him struggle to matter independently of his predicament. Penélope Cruz’s Sofía and Fele Martínez’s Pelayo deserve the same curiosity that the film brings to its central man, but the writing keeps drawing us back to him. The emotional narrowness becomes more noticeable as the plotting grows elaborate, because each new uncertainty needs us to care about the people involved. Hans Burmann’s cinematography gives those uncertainties a visual force that the dialogue cannot always supply. The images invite scrutiny, and paying attention to appearances feels worthwhile rather than merely compulsory. María Elena Sáinz de Rozas’s editing helps the shifts in perception retain their force, even when the story asks us to revise too much. We can appreciate how firmly the film controls our attention while wishing the screenplay would occasionally let an impression settle before complicating it again. The music by Mariano Marín and Alejandro Amenábar sustains the unease effectively, though it cannot supply all the feeling that the writing sometimes lacks. The film’s interest in appearance is most persuasive when it remains attached to the central character and our changing understanding of him. His predicament gives the subject enough weight without requiring further insistence on its importance. The broader speculation about reality occasionally becomes solemn in ways that make the film feel less curious about its own questions. For a thriller built around uncertain perceptions, *Open Your Eyes* has an important virtue: the confusion often creates suspense. We want the next scene because we want to understand the previous one, and Alejandro Amenábar usually makes that appetite worth indulging. The difficulty comes when the film has to account for itself. Its explanations feel hurried and disappointingly ordinary after the imagination spent preparing them, although that does not cancel the pleasure of getting there. There is enough invention here to forgive some unnecessary complication, and Eduardo Noriega gives us someone worth following through it. At 117 minutes, the film asks for sustained attention and mostly repays it. Its weaknesses become harder to overlook if we expect the relationships to be as carefully developed as the puzzle. Choose it for an evening when a demanding thriller sounds inviting, with the warning that its answers are unlikely to be the part we remember most fondly. *Fi1m score 73, published 26 September 2026.* ## What the critics say The reviews lean positive on Open Your Eyes, with praise centred on its shifting perceptions, visual ambition and Eduardo Noriega’s controlled performance. Admirers find the thriller demanding but compelling, crediting Amenábar with keeping its changes of direction purposeful and unsettling. Its blend of genres and questions about appearance and reality appeal particularly to those who regard the intricate plotting as evidence of control rather than needless complication. The spread is fairly wide, however, and the reservations concern how much that complexity delivers. Even favourable reviews find the resolution hurried or the ideas occasionally pretentious. Others describe an imaginative, stylish film whose plotting becomes confusing. Slant Magazine finds the journey hollow and preposterous despite admiring the final scene. The Guardian is more dismissive, finding the execution workmanlike and the film less rewarding than its resemblance to Buñuel and Georges Franju promises. ## Straight answers **Is Open Your Eyes worth watching?** *Open Your Eyes* is worth watching if we want a demanding, unsettling thriller, and we score it 73 out of 100. Eduardo Noriega’s controlled performance keeps the shifting reality involving, but the plotting becomes unnecessarily complicated and the explanations disappoint; it suits an evening when following a puzzle sounds more inviting than relaxing. **How long is Open Your Eyes, and what is it rated?** *Open Your Eyes* runs 1h 57m. It is a drama and thriller film. **Where can I watch Open Your Eyes in Singapore?** *Open Your Eyes* is not on any streaming or rental service in Singapore at the moment. It is available in 10 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily. **How violent or frightening is Open Your Eyes, and is it suitable for children?** *Open Your Eyes* has a US R certificate, making it an adult viewing choice rather than a film for children; no UK certificate is supplied. We find its shifting perceptions unsettling, with Noriega’s composure making the uncertainty harder to dismiss, but cannot offer a specific warning about violence or gore from the information available. **How does Open Your Eyes compare to The Double Life of Véronique?** *Open Your Eyes* offers a more suspense-driven puzzle about identity than [*The Double Life of Véronique*](https://film.one/film/the-double-life-of-veronique), which approaches uncertainty with greater patience and tenderness. We favour the latter for emotional involvement and attention to its characters, despite some overworked symbolism; choose *Open Your Eyes* when elaborate plotting matters more than carefully developed relationships. **What should I watch after Open Your Eyes?** After *Open Your Eyes*, try [*The Double Life of Véronique*](https://film.one/film/the-double-life-of-veronique) (1991, Fi1m 86): For uncertainty about identity, approached with greater patience and much more tenderness. Then [*Perfect Blue*](https://film.one/film/perfect-blue) (1997, Fi1m 82): A performer’s anxious sense of self makes another demanding, tightly constructed thriller. ### Reviews we read (8) - **Radio Times**, David Parkinson (4/5): Parkinson regards the film as a dazzling, delirious work that demands close attention. He praises Eduardo Noriega’s controlled performance and the film’s unsettling blend of genres and ideas about appearance and reality. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-9edmee/open-your-eyes) - **Time Out**, TJ (80/100, inferred): The accessible description presents the film as a dazzling thriller that toys with perception. It praises the film’s skillful, tortuous handling of those perceptions. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/open-your-eyes) - **Empire**, David Parkinson (75/100, inferred): Parkinson regards the film as a visually and structurally audacious success, though its hurried, trite resolution disappoints. He particularly praises Amenábar’s control of its shifting perceptions and Eduardo Noriega’s performance across César’s transformations. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/open-eyes-review/) - **Variety**, Jonathan Holland (70/100, inferred): The critic finds the thriller ambitious and compelling, though potentially perplexing and occasionally pretentious. He singles out its strong script, fierce directorial intelligence, and striking visual design for praise. [Read](https://variety.com/1998/film/reviews/open-your-eyes-1200452625/) - **The New York Times** (64/100, inferred): The article text is unavailable, so the critic’s verdict and specific praise or complaint cannot be established. The page returned only an access message rather than review content. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/16/movies/film-review-complicated-mind-games-life-is-good-then-goes-bad.html) - **Slant Magazine**, Ed Gonzalez (2.5/4): The critic finds the existential thriller more teasing and perplexing than genuinely provocative. He praises its riveting final scene but says the events leading up to it feel hollow and preposterous. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/open-your-eyes/) - **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (40/100, inferred): Bradshaw finds the film workmanlike and says it never quite comes to life. He singles out its resemblance to the work of Buñuel and Georges Franju, while finding that comparison more promising than the film itself. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/movie/80907/open.your.eyes) - **Eye for Film**, Angus Wolfe Murray (50/100, inferred): The critic finds the film imaginative and seductive, but ultimately too ambitious and confusing. Its energetic, stylish thriller filmmaking is singled out for praise, while its convoluted reality-bending plot leaves the audience baffled. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/open-your-eyes-film-review-by-angus-wolfe-murray) ## Details - **Director:** Alejandro Amenábar - **Director:** Alejandro Amenábar - **Screenplay:** Alejandro Amenábar, Mateo Gil - **Cinematography:** Hans Burmann - **Editor:** María Elena Sáinz de Rozas - **Music:** Mariano Marín, Alejandro Amenábar - **Costume design:** Concha Solera - **Producer:** José Luis Cuerda - **Cast:** Eduardo Noriega as César; Penélope Cruz as Sofía; Chete Lera as Antonio; Fele Martínez as Pelayo; Najwa Nimri as Nuria; Gérard Barray as Duvernois; Jorge de Juan as Encargado L.E.; Miguel Palenzuela as Comisario - **Runtime:** 1h 57m - **First release (Spain):** 19 December 1997 - **Genres:** Drama, Thriller, Science Fiction - **Budget:** $3 million - **Box office:** $370,720 ## Where to watch in Singapore Not streaming, renting or buying in Singapore at the last check. Also available in: AT, BE, BR, CA, CH, ES, FR, IT, JP, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Ignotus Award for Best Audiovisual Production 1998: Ignotus Award for Best Audiovisual Production (won) ## If you liked this - *Seconds* (1966): Another unsettling attempt to start again, with appearance making matters worse. - *The Double Life of Véronique* (1991), Fi1m 86: For uncertainty about identity, approached with greater patience and much more tenderness. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-double-life-of-veronique.md) - *Perfect Blue* (1997), Fi1m 82: A performer’s anxious sense of self makes another demanding, tightly constructed thriller. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/perfect-blue.md) - *The Bothersome Man* (2006): For an unsettling reality whose tidy surfaces become increasingly difficult to accept. - *The Skin I Live In* (2011): Another controlled thriller that makes outward appearance a source of profound discomfort. --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/open-your-eyes