''Close Your Eyes'' ( es, Cerrar los ojos, links=no) is a 2023 Spanish-Argentine

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

film directed by

Víctor Erice Víctor Erice Aras (; born 30 June 1940) is a Spanish film director. He is best known for his two feature fiction films, ''The Spirit of the Beehive'' (1973), which many regard as one of the greatest Spanish films ever made, and '' El Sur'' (1983 ...

from a screenplay by Erice and Michel Gaztambide which stars

Manolo Solo Manuel Fernández Serrano (born 1964), better known as Manolo Solo, is a Spanish actor. Biography Born in Algeciras in 1964, Manuel Fernández Serrano (his real name) was raised in neighbouring Los Barrios until age 6, later moving to Sevill ...

José Coronado José María Coronado García (born 14 August 1957) is a Spanish film and television actor and former model. His performances playing (often corrupt and/or morally dubious) law enforcement officer roles have brought him some of the greatest succ ...

, and

Ana Torrent Ana Torrent Bertrán de Lis (born 12 July 1966) is a Spanish film actress. Early life and career Her debut came in 1973 with the starring role as "Ana" in the film ''El espíritu de la colmena'' (''The Spirit of the Beehive''), directed by V ...

. It had its world premiere in the Cannes Premiere section of the

76th Cannes Film Festival The 76th annual Cannes Film Festival was a film festival that took place from 16 to 27 May 2023. Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund served as jury president. With the French film '' Anatomy of a Fall'' winning the Palme d'Or, the festival's top p ...

on 22 May 2023.

Plot

In 2012, about twenty years after the mysterious disappearance near the sea of actor Julio Arenas while shooting a film titled ''The Farewell Gaze'' in the 1990s, a sensationalist television show revives the case, coming to involve film director and Arenas' close friend Miguel Garay, who talks to Julio's daughter Ana, movie's editor and archivist Max, and mutual friend and lover Lola.

Cast

Production

The project (marking Erice's first full-length picture since the 1992 docudrama '' The Quince Tree Sun'') was revealed upon the disclosure of the allocation of public funding to film productions by Andalusian regional broadcaster

Canal Sur Canal Sur ('South Channel') is part of Radio y Televisión de Andalucía (RTVA), the public broadcasting company of Andalusia. It was created by means of the devolved powers given to this region by an Act of Parliament in its statute of autono ...

in mid-2022. The screenplay was penned by Víctor Erice and Michel Gaztambide based on an original story by Erice. The film is a Pecado Films, Tandem Films, Nautilus Films, Pampa Films and La voz del adiós AIE production, with the participation of

RTVE The Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española, S.A. (; ), known as Radiotelevisión Española or RTVE, is the state-owned public corporation that assumed in 2007 the indirect management of the Spanish public radio and television service know ...

, Canal Sur, Vodafone, EiTB, Movistar Plus+,

Telemadrid Telemadrid is a public regional television station in the Community of Madrid, Spain, the flagship channel of the regional public broadcaster Radio Televisión Madrid (RTVM). It began its broadcast on 2 May 1989. History First years Telema ...

, and support of ICAA, the Andalusia and Madrid regional administrations and . Shooting locations included Castell de Ferro and Gualchos ( province of Granada) and Aguadulce ( province of Almería), as well as

Asturias Asturias (, ; ast, Asturies ), officially the Principality of Asturias ( es, Principado de Asturias; ast, Principáu d'Asturies; Galician-Asturian: ''Principao d'Asturias''), is an autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensiv ...

and

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

Release

The film was selected to be screened in the Cannes Premiere section of the

, where it had its world premiere on 22 May 2023. Erice declined to attend the premiere, explaining his absence in an open letter sent to '' El País'' on the basis of a reported lack of "dialogue and consultation" on the part of programming director

Thierry Frémaux Thierry Frémaux (; born 29 May 1960) is the director of the Institut Lumière, of the Lumière Film Festival and of the Cannes Film Festival. Education and career Frémaux has a '' diplôme d'études approfondies'' (equivalent to a Master of Ad ...

during the selection process. Having submitted a QuickTime format version of the film in March 2023 and later a DCP with the final color grading and sound mixes, Erice reportedly knew about the Cannes Premiere slate during the official press conference on the morning of 13 April 2023, with Frémaux reportedly ghosting Erice and failing to notify in due time whether the film would be entered into an official selection's competition slot, so Erice could not assess and choose among other alternatives that ''Close Your Eyes'' had, including an opening of Cannes' parallel section

Directors' Fortnight The Directors' Fortnight (french: Quinzaine des Réalisateurs) is an independent selection of the Cannes Film Festival. It was started in 1969 by the French Directors Guild after the events of May 1968 resulted in cancellation of the Cannes festiv ...

, and screenings in

Locarno , neighboring_municipalities= Ascona, Avegno, Cadenazzo, Cugnasco, Gerra (Verzasca), Gambarogno, Gordola, Lavertezzo, Losone, Minusio, Muralto, Orselina, Tegna, Tenero-Contra , twintowns =* Gagra, Georgia * Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic ...

and

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

. The Cannes Film Festival issued a statement in response claiming that the selection of the film took place under usual conditions, explaining that they were "above all proud and happy to have welcomed ''Close Your Eyes'' by Víctor Erice to its 76th edition". The film also made it to the 'Centrepiece' programme of the

2023 Toronto International Film Festival The 48th annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from September 7 to 17, 2023.Victoria Ahearn"TIFF reveals new programmers and other 2023 festival details" '' Playback'', April 20, 2023. The most noted change from past years was tha ...

, to the 'Icon' section of the

28th Busan International Film Festival 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

, to the 'Create' section of the 2023 BFI London Film Festival, and to the main slate of the 2023 New York Film Festival. Distributed by Avalon, it was released theatrically in Spain on 29 September 2023. acquired distribution rights in France, where a 16 August 2023 theatrical release date was set. New Wave Films acquired United Kingdom and Ireland distribution rights. On 7 September 2023, ahead of its Spanish theatrical premiere, the film was announced to be in the shortlist for Spain's submission to the 96th Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film, competing with ''

20,000 Species of Bees ''20,000 Species of Bees'' ( es, 20.000 especies de abejas) is a 2023 Spanish drama film written and directed by Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren in her debut feature and starring Sofía Otero, Patricia López Arnaiz, Ane Gabarain and Itziar Lazk ...

'', and '' Society of the Snow''.

Reception

According to the American

review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, ''Close Your Eyes'' has a 93% approval rating based on 28 reviews from critics, with an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...

rating of 8.60/10. Manu Yáñez of ''

Fotogramas ''Fotogramas'' is Spanish digital and print film magazine which has been in circulation since 1946. It is one of the early film magazines in Spain. History Founded in Barcelona, it was first published on 15 November 1946 by Antonio Nadal-Rodó a ...

'' rated ''Close Your Eyes'' 5 out of 5 stars, highlighting the final stretch of the story as the best thing about the film. Jordan Mintzer of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...

'' underscored the film to be "a poignant cinematic swan song".

Peter Bradshaw Peter Bradshaw (born 19 June 1962) is a British writer and film critic. He has been chief film critic at ''The Guardian'' since 1999, and is a contributing editor at ''Esquire''. Early life and education Bradshaw was educated at Haberdasher ...

of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' rated the film 4 out of 5 stars describing it as "expansive, garrulous and yet also downbeat and pessimistic", considering that "there is something deeply civilised and gentle about this film". Daniel de Partearroyo of ''

Cinemanía ''Cinemanía'' is a Spanish language monthly film magazine based in Madrid, Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin) ...

'' rated the film 4½ out of 5 stars, stressing in the verdict "the return of the king", and how Erice "is awe-inspiring with his gaze from another time".

Accolades

, - , rowspan = "2" , , , rowspan = "2" , 29th Forqué Awards , , colspan = "2" ,

Best Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

, , , , rowspan = "2" , , - , Best Actor in a Film , , Manolo Solo , , , - , rowspan = "9" , , , rowspan = "9" , 11th Feroz Awards , , colspan = "2" , Best Drama Film , , , , rowspan = "9" , , - ,

Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to: Film awards * AACTA Award for Best Direction * Academy Award for Best Director * BA ...

, , Víctor Erice , , , - , Best Screenplay , , Víctor Erice, Michel Gaztambide , , , - , Best Actor in a Film , , Manolo Solo , , , - , Best Supporting Actress in a Film , , Ana Torrent , , , - , Best Supporting Actor in a Film , , José Coronado , , , - , Best Original Soundtrack , , Federico Jusid , , , - , Best Poster , , Sergio Pozas, Manolo Pavón , , , - , Best Trailer , , Elena Gutiérrez , ,

References

External links

* {{authority control 2023 films 2023 drama films Films directed by Víctor Erice Films shot in the province of Granada Films shot in the province of Almería Films shot in Asturias Films shot in Madrid Films about film directors and producers Films about actors Films scored by Federico Jusid 2020s Spanish-language films Spanish drama films Argentine drama films Films set in 2012 2020s Spanish films 2020s Argentine films