Simple but engaging filming. Honest but some would say plain style of cinematography. Really strong story and direction. The concept plays with the mind. It is far more charming than the remake. There are a few slow moments that weren't needed. Not as good as other rubber-reality movie. So glad that the star was not Tom Cruise who is impossible to like. They speak fast which means that you have to read fast but so long as you can concentrate it's not a problem. I totally fell in love with Penélope Cruz. It plays on your mind making multiple viewing pointless but still very enjoyable.

I must have forgotten that the absolutely terrible Cameron Crowe/Tom Cruise film Vanilla Sky was a remake of this, the original Spanish film, and it is funny that the actress reprised her role as well, but anyway, I was hoping this original version would deserve it's place in the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die book. Basically in Madrid, twenty five year old wealthy playboy César (Eduardo Noriega) used to be a good looking young man attractive to women, but now he wears a prosthetic mask due to his hideously disfigured face, he is talking to psychiatrist Antonio (Chete Lera) and telling his story of how he came to be the way he is, in the hope to find some kind of closure. Flashbacks see that at his birthday party he met and flirted with the girlfriend of his best friend Pelayo (Fele Martínez), the beautiful Sofía (Penélope Cruz), he later takes her home, but they do not sleep together, and the next morning his obsessive ex-lover Nuria (Najwa Nimri) spots him leaving her house. Nuria offers César a ride back to her apartment for sex, but on the way she instead intentionally crashes the car to commit suicide, he however survives with the horrible disfigurements that cosmetic surgery cannot solve, Sofía is no longer able to look at him and goes back to Pelayo. Following his disfigurement César has a series of disorienting experiences, including falling asleep drunk in the middle of the street, and when he wakes up he finds that everything is changing for the better, Sofía is claiming now to love him, and surgeons are in fact able to restore his face and good looks, but he finds, when making love to Sofía, she changes into Nuria, he smothers her in panic with a pillow, but everyone claims that the woman he has done it to is in fact named Sofía. He is sent to prison, and while in there bits and pieces of his past come in the form of dreams, he finds out that after he was disfigured he went to Life Extension, a company specialising in cryonics, to preserve a longer, more peaceful and realistic seeming virtual reality of life, in dreams, and returning to their headquarters he finds out they specialise in "artificial perception", where he relives the past when being reborn in the future. When César was drunk on the street, he had in fact committed suicide, and this is the moment he entered cryonic suspension, everything after has been a dream, spliced together with reality and replacing his real memories. The end sees him wanting to wake himself up and be resurrected in the real world, he is convinced the drunken street moment was just a vision created by the company, psychiatrist Antonio tries to convince him he is in the real world, but in the end César leaps off the company's building, hoping he will finally open his eyes and end the fantasy. Also starring Gérard Barray as Duvernois and Jorge De Juan as Encargado L.E. This is a really thought provoking film, I paid absolute attention to everything that was going on because of how fascinating the concept of trying to escape reality and enter a better alternative fantasy was played out, the relationship between Noriega and Cruz is great, the makeup to disfigure Noriega's face is terrific, the murder mystery and twists along the way are clever, and you can recognise the mixes of Eyes without a Face and Vertigo, it is a fantastic psychological thriller. Very good!

I originally wanted to see this just because Penelope Cruz is just about the hottest girl ever. When I finally did, I was blown away - definitely the best movie I have seen in several years. Makes you think about how we define reality, what we base love and our perception of others on, the trappings of society and our own minds, etc. And it's not just cerebral, it keeps you on the edge and involved until the end. You don't have to work to think about it like in many intellectually significant movies, it's so well thought out and executed that it just shakes it into you - you don't think the stuff, you feel it, then let all the thinking come later. Incredible movie. Not to mention that Penelope Cruz has to be the most beautiful girl ever to walk the face of the Earth and can act, as well. I can say without absolutely certainty you should see this and with fair certainty that you'll find it worth owning.

Abre los ojos (Open your eyes), 1997, which most people might know better in its American remake Vanilla Sky (with Tom Cruise and Penélope Cruz) by Cameron Crowe. I'm glad I haven't seen the remake when I had the chance some years ago - my mother's been a huge fan of Tom though gladly her interest declined with his Scientology and Katie deliriums - cause it would have spoiled this very nice movie.The story ? Handsome and rich guy César (Eduardo Noriega) leads an epicurean life of one-night stands until one of them, Nuria, wants - not just a little crave for chicken at 2 in the morning - no she really wants him for more than one night. Of course, our womanizer doesn't give a damn and while trying to escape from her at his party, he comes to meet the beautiful Sofia (Penélope Cruz) and.. obviously she turns the Don Juan into a lovestruck Prince Charming. It would have ended there and you had the classical New-York - ahem Madrid - based romantic comedy. You can stop here if you don't want to be spoiled.But, here comes Nuria again. She offers him a lift in her car, and tired Don Juan accepts. He doesn't freak out when his driver swallows a bunch of pills and begin to talk about happiness. He does when she drives faster and faster. Caramba, we're out of the road. She dies. He lives. His handsome face looks more like the Elephant man's now. But it's not the worst. The flash forwards sequences of our protagonist show that he is now in an asylum, accused of murder.I'm not saying more. Only that the movie is one of these thrillers that keep you breathless.