---
title: "Open Your Eyes: the reviews"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/open-your-eyes/reviews"
title_page: "https://film.one/film/open-your-eyes"
critics_score: 66
critics_reviews: 8
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): what the critics said

Critics' score 66 from 8 reviews: 4 positive, 3 mixed, 1 negative.

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.

## Radio Times — David Parkinson

Rating 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 the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-9edmee/open-your-eyes)

## Time Out — TJ

Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 

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 the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/open-your-eyes)

## Empire — David Parkinson

Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. 

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 the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/open-eyes-review/)

## Variety — Jonathan Holland

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 12 January 1998. Festival review. 

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 the review](https://variety.com/1998/film/reviews/open-your-eyes-1200452625/)

## The New York Times

Fi1m's normalised score 64/100 (inferred from the text). 16 April 1999. 

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 the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/16/movies/film-review-complicated-mind-games-life-is-good-then-goes-bad.html)

## Slant Magazine — Ed Gonzalez

Rating 2.5/4. 18 August 2001. 

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 the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/open-your-eyes/)

## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw

Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 

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 the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/movie/80907/open.your.eyes)

## Eye for Film — Angus Wolfe Murray

Fi1m's normalised score 50/100 (inferred from the text). 19 January 2001. 

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 the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/open-your-eyes-film-review-by-angus-wolfe-murray)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/open-your-eyes.md