Los ojos de Julia (2010)

The story of a woman who is slowly losing her sight whilst trying to investigate the mysterious death of her twin sister.

Director:

Guillem Morales

Writers:

Guillem Morales (screenplay), Oriol Paulo (screenplay)

Stars:

Belén Rueda, Lluís Homar, Pablo Derqui

11 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Belén Rueda	...	Julia Levin / Sara
Lluís Homar	...	Isaac
Pablo Derqui	...	Ángel
Francesc Orella	...	Inspector Dimas
Joan Dalmau	...	Créspulo
Julia Gutiérrez Caba	...	Soledad
Boris Ruiz	...	Blasco
Dani Codina	...	Iván
Andrea Hermosa	...	Lía
Daniel Grao	...	Dr. Román
Pere Ventura	...	Policía Aparcamiento 1
Oscar Foronda	...	Policía Aparcamiento 2
Ramón Moreno	...	Enfermero 1
José Sánchez Orosa	...	Enfermero 2 (as José Sánchez)
Carlus Fàbrega	...	Subinspector (as Carlus Fabrega)

Storyline

After the death of the blind Sara, who hanged herself in the basement of her house, her twin sister Julia suspects that she was actually murdered. Julia has a degenerative problem with her eyes and is losing her sight, and she temporarily moves with her husband Isaac to Sara's house to arrange her funeral. Julia goes to the Centro Baumann for the blind, which Sara frequented, and she learns from other members that Sara had a boyfriend. Julia is chased by a mysterious man, but police inspector Dimas does not believe her. Julia follows Sara's last steps trying to find the identity of her secret lover. Julia is surrounded by deaths and weird events while she loses her sight.

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Plot Keywords:

twin sisters | suicide | sister sister relationship | blindness | female protagonist | 

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Taglines:

En la oscuridad no puedes esconderte. [You can't hide in the dark.]

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

This is the second time that Belén Rueda plays a character named Julia, who coincidentally also suffers from a degenerative disease, after The Sea Inside (2004).

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Quotes

[first lines]
Sara: [Talking to someone hiding in the dark] Listen.
[pause]
Sara: Alright, you win. Could you at least stop that song? You know I hate it.
[she receives no answer. Only music playing in the background]
Sara: [nervous] Why are you so quiet?
[thunders strike, briefly lightning the living room]
Sara: Say something, for fuck sake!

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Connections

References The Invisible Man (1933)

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Soundtracks

The Look of Love
Written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David
Performed by Giulia y los Tellarini

User Reviews

Original idea with conventional pitfalls.

I watched the Julia's Eyes world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival a couple of days ago, and I have to say that although I was entertained, it did fall short of my expectations. Seeing how the film was produced by Guillermo del Toro, I was really hoping for a horror/thriller on par with Pans Labyrinth or The Orphanage.

Julia's Eyes does have an original idea at its core and that's what keeps you guessing and entertained through the duration of the film. Unfortunately the film does fall into some cliché horror jump scares and the plot does not completely come together. It feels as though the filmmaker started with a great idea but wasn't fully able to pull it all together cohesively in the end. I want to keep this review spoiler free so I'm not going to get into any plot details, but suffice to say that the antagonist's plot line does not come to a rewarding conclusion.

That said, I think there is a lot to like here, the acting is great, some wholly original ideas are explored and there is enough tense and truly scary scenes to keep most horror/thriller fans happy.

Julia's Eyes is a film I enjoyed on the whole and I think people should seek out.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Spain] Official site [France]

Country:

Spain Mexico

Language:

Spanish

Release Date:

29 October 2010 (Spain)

Also Known As:

Los ojos de Julia

Filming Locations:

Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Box Office

Budget:

EUR5,000,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$16,934,369

Company Credits

Production Co:

Antena 3 Films, Canal+ España, Catalan Films & TV

Technical Specs

Runtime:

118 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1