Films involving Disfigurement

Disfigurement: Major Films

Title	Open Your Eyes (1997)
Alternative/Original Title	Abre los ojos
Disability	Disfigurement
Country	Spain
Length	117
Genre	Drama/Horror
Rating	4
Director	Alejandro Amenbar
Cast	Eduardo Noriega Penelope Cruz Chete Lera Fele Martinez
Notes	A good looking young man, Cesar, breezes through women until at a party he meets one who might be something more than a one-night stand. But he has to contend with the last woman. Reluctantly getting into her car she drives over a bank and into a wall. She is killed and his face is badly disfigured. The injuries to his facial bones are so bad his face has to be re-contruscted. But when we first encounter him after the accident he is in prison wearing a mask. It is at this point one should say that telling the story in no way explains the film. From this point we never know whether a scene is a dream or reality. Cesar is in a pyschiatric prison charged with murder. Who, we don't know at this time. The woman, Sofia (Cruz), at first appears to reject but later it appears his face has been miraculously (through high tech methods) restored to its original and he and Sofia are in love. But then he begins to imagine that Sofia has been replaced by the woman who crashed the car and we are faced by a mystery. Suffice to say that this film tackles head-on and obliquely the emotional and mental consequences of what has happened to Cesar. On a single viewing I couldn't follow or understand all that was going on but I highly recommend this film. Remade as Vanilla Sky (2001) with Penelope Cruz and Tom Cruise.

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