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Julia’s Eyes is the story of a woman played by the stunning Belén Rueda who is slowly losing her sight whilst trying to investigate the mysterious death of her twin sister, Sara, played by the same actress. As the film begins, we see Sara hanging herself in the basement of her house, or is it her carrying out the action? Either way, she’s brown bread.
At the same time, Julia collapses at work, sensing something is wrong, even more concerned that she can’t get through to her on the phone and sets off to go round to Sara’s house, driven by her husband, Isaac (Lluís Homar). All that said, it’s notable that they haven’t seen each other in six months. Julia presses to know the truth, but is told by Isaac that stress can make you go blind and that she has already lost 20% of her vision. There’s a potential operation that might be able to restore her sight, but the downside is that if it doesn’t work, her sight will diminish at a more rapid rate.
Before too long she goes to speak to Sara’s neighbour, Senora Soledad (Julia Gutiérrez Caba), an old lady who helped Sara when she went blind, and who recounts her backstory about how her husband died many years ago and her son, Angel, looked after her for a long time and then suddenly disappeared.
Questions are abound such as – did Sara have a boyfriend? And is there really someone following Julia about, or is it all in her mind? Either way, cue lots of spooky moments, along with interjections from next door neighbour Blasco (Boris Ruiz) and Créspulo (Joan Dalmau). And all the while, Julia heads inexorably into total blindness, while going on the hunt, but things get in the way such as the hotel Sara stayed at no longer having the information about her stay, nor whether a man was there with her.
Julia’s Eyes is brilliantly filmed, with fantastic lighting and often showing us the condition of Julia’s sight as if we’re viewing it through her eyes. However, for the most part it fails to engage, and at two hours long it really drags – something you can tell is happening when you realise you’re looking at the steam rising from a cup of tea to work out whether it’s real steam or CGI. I think it was CGI. Either way, a tighter 90 minutes would’ve been an improvement. In addition, the last half-hour is where it really does come into it’s own, so it you’re sticking with it, then you will be rewarded towards the end.
Presented in the original 2.35:1 theatrical ratio and in 1080p high definition, there’s nothing to complain about with the picture which looks crisp and clear throughout, bringing Julia’s horrendous situation to the screen in the best possible light.
Audio-wise, the film is presented in DTS 5.1 HD Master Audio and makes use of it best for the various shock moments, as well as the thumping score.
The extras are as follows and are very scant indeed:
- Interviews: Very brief ones with director Guillem Morales (2:11), Belén Rueda (3:05), Lluís Homar (0:48) and producer Guillermo del Toro (2:12) but nothing that’s long enough to give any real insight to the film, which is a shame.
- B-Roll (7:22): On-set footage during the making of the film.
- Trailer (2:26): In the 2.35:1 original theatrical ratio, and one which makes it look far better than it actually is, generally because it takes too much footage from the best bit at the end.
The menu features clips of the film set against the movie’s theme. There are subtitles in English only, which cannot be switched off for anyone who wants to watch it in its native Spanish language alone, and the total number of chapters is a paltry 12. At nearly two hours, this film needs twice as many.
Julia’s Eyes is out now on Blu-ray and DVD.
|
FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
5 10 8 1 |
| OVERALL | 6 |
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 117 minutes
Year: 2011
Released: September 2011
Chapters: 12
Picture: 1080p High Definition
Sound: DTS 5.1 HD Master Audio
Languages: Spanish
Subtitles: English (permanent)
Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Super 35)
Disc Format: BD50
Director: Guillem Morales
Producers: Mercedes Gamero, Joaquín Padró, Mar Targarona and Guillermo del Toro
Screenplay: Guillem Morales and Oriol Paulo
Music: Fernando Velázquez
Cast:
Julia/Sara: Belén Rueda
Isaac: Lluís Homar
Iván: Dani Codina
Inspector Dimas: Francesc Orella
Créspulo: Joan Dalmau
Blasco: Boris Ruiz
Dr. Román: Daniel Grao
Mina: Clara Segura
Lía: Andrea Hermosa
Senora Soledad: Julia Gutiérrez Caba
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.