The movie begins with repetitive seductive whispers from a woman: “abre los ojos.” The main character, Cesar wakes up to this voice set as his alarm. He goes about a daily morning routine and leaves his apartment only to discover that the city is completely silent and empty. This is the first of many dreams that pervade the story line of “Open Your Eyes.”
From a prison cell in Madrid, the main character, Cesar, while wearing a prosthetic mask, talks with the psychiatrist, Antonio, and tell s him his story. Cesar's flashbacks account for the majority of the film. Cesar is a very wealthy young man. Along with his being wealthy, he is narcissistic, ungrateful, and ultimately uncaring of anyone's wants other than his own. In the beginning of the film, he tries to ditch his current love affair, Nuria, in order to keep his reputation of not being seen with the s However, it is not that simple with Nuria. ame woman twice.
After Cesar breaks it off with Nuria, he is next seen celebrating his birthday with a large party at his house. At the party, we meet Cesar’s best friend, Pelayo. Pelayo brings with him his date, Sofia. He tells Cesar that he really likes her and that she is everything he wants in a girl. However, Cesar is immediately infatuated with Sofia and begins pursuing her.
Nuria shows up to Cesar’s party uninvited. She tries to get him to sleep with her but he bluntly rejects her advances. He lies to Nuria in an attempt to get her to leave by telling her that he is at the party with Sofia. Cesar then spends the entire night with Sofia and eventually brings her back to her apartment and stays the night there, but does not sleep with her. For the first time, Cesar believes that he is experiencing true love.
The next morning, Nuria shows up to Sofia’s apartment and offers Cesar a ride and sex. Reluctantly, Cesar gets into the car. Nuria then starts questioning Cesar and is irritated by his responses. She then speeds up the car and in furry runs the car off the road with the intention of killing them both. Nuria dies instantly in the crash but Cesar lives and is left with a fractured skull and a horribly disfigured face with no hope of cosmetic surgery being able to fix it. At this point, Cesar and Sofia’s relationship comes to a halt and Sofia goes back to Pelayo.
After the crash, Cesar’s life takes a psychotic turn. He has times where he is completely disoriented and his sense perceptions are deceptive and has other times where he is fine. Eventually he turns to drinking and becomes so intoxicated after a night at the bar with Pelayo and Sofia that he falls asleep in the street.
Upon waking up this time, everything is different from the days before. Sofia loves him, the cosmetic surgery works and his face is back to normal. However it is not long before he starts experiencing disorientation and false sense perceptions again. He starts seeing Nuria in the face of Sofia. Then, one night in the mist of having sex with Sofia, he begins to see Nuria and only Nuria. He goes on to suffocate her with his pillow believing that he finally kills Nuria. But he is eventually challenged by Pelayo and police enforcement who tell him that the woman he killed was indeed Sofia.
Through talking to Antonio in prison, Cesar gets back bits and pieces of his memory, in particularly by talking about his dreams. He figures out that shortly after the accident, he visited and signed a contract with a company called Life Extension. Life Extension specializes in cryonics. After signing their contract, Life Extension freezes bodies after death and puts humans in a virtual reality in which they feel is real. Once this memory of signing the contract comes back to Cesar, him and Antonio rush to the Life Extension headquarters. It is here that we learn what really happened to Cesar and discover that everything that happened after the night he woke up on the street has been a dream.
Soon after finding out that his face could not be fixed, Cesar fell to alcoholism and depression. He locked himself in his apartment for months and ultimately killed himself by overdosing on pills. At this time, Life Extension placed him in cryonic suspension. As a result, Cesar loses all recollection of his life after the night with Pelayo and Sofia, including his interaction with Life Extension and his suicide, and his experiences from that point on are a dream. When Cesar finally realizes that this has happened, he is given the choice to continue to live in a dream world or to face his fears and continue life in the real world. Cesar comes to the realization that he cannot face this new reality and jumps off the roof of the Life Extension building. The movie fades out with a black screen and that same seductive female voice telling Cesar to relax and repeating the words “abre los ojos.”
From a prison cell in Madrid, the main character, Cesar, while wearing a prosthetic mask, talks with the psychiatrist, Antonio, and tell s him his story. Cesar's flashbacks account for the majority of the film. Cesar is a very wealthy young man. Along with his being wealthy, he is narcissistic, ungrateful, and ultimately uncaring of anyone's wants other than his own. In the beginning of the film, he tries to ditch his current love affair, Nuria, in order to keep his reputation of not being seen with the s However, it is not that simple with Nuria. ame woman twice.
After Cesar breaks it off with Nuria, he is next seen celebrating his birthday with a large party at his house. At the party, we meet Cesar’s best friend, Pelayo. Pelayo brings with him his date, Sofia. He tells Cesar that he really likes her and that she is everything he wants in a girl. However, Cesar is immediately infatuated with Sofia and begins pursuing her.
Nuria shows up to Cesar’s party uninvited. She tries to get him to sleep with her but he bluntly rejects her advances. He lies to Nuria in an attempt to get her to leave by telling her that he is at the party with Sofia. Cesar then spends the entire night with Sofia and eventually brings her back to her apartment and stays the night there, but does not sleep with her. For the first time, Cesar believes that he is experiencing true love.
The next morning, Nuria shows up to Sofia’s apartment and offers Cesar a ride and sex. Reluctantly, Cesar gets into the car. Nuria then starts questioning Cesar and is irritated by his responses. She then speeds up the car and in furry runs the car off the road with the intention of killing them both. Nuria dies instantly in the crash but Cesar lives and is left with a fractured skull and a horribly disfigured face with no hope of cosmetic surgery being able to fix it. At this point, Cesar and Sofia’s relationship comes to a halt and Sofia goes back to Pelayo.
After the crash, Cesar’s life takes a psychotic turn. He has times where he is completely disoriented and his sense perceptions are deceptive and has other times where he is fine. Eventually he turns to drinking and becomes so intoxicated after a night at the bar with Pelayo and Sofia that he falls asleep in the street.
Upon waking up this time, everything is different from the days before. Sofia loves him, the cosmetic surgery works and his face is back to normal. However it is not long before he starts experiencing disorientation and false sense perceptions again. He starts seeing Nuria in the face of Sofia. Then, one night in the mist of having sex with Sofia, he begins to see Nuria and only Nuria. He goes on to suffocate her with his pillow believing that he finally kills Nuria. But he is eventually challenged by Pelayo and police enforcement who tell him that the woman he killed was indeed Sofia.
Through talking to Antonio in prison, Cesar gets back bits and pieces of his memory, in particularly by talking about his dreams. He figures out that shortly after the accident, he visited and signed a contract with a company called Life Extension. Life Extension specializes in cryonics. After signing their contract, Life Extension freezes bodies after death and puts humans in a virtual reality in which they feel is real. Once this memory of signing the contract comes back to Cesar, him and Antonio rush to the Life Extension headquarters. It is here that we learn what really happened to Cesar and discover that everything that happened after the night he woke up on the street has been a dream.
Soon after finding out that his face could not be fixed, Cesar fell to alcoholism and depression. He locked himself in his apartment for months and ultimately killed himself by overdosing on pills. At this time, Life Extension placed him in cryonic suspension. As a result, Cesar loses all recollection of his life after the night with Pelayo and Sofia, including his interaction with Life Extension and his suicide, and his experiences from that point on are a dream. When Cesar finally realizes that this has happened, he is given the choice to continue to live in a dream world or to face his fears and continue life in the real world. Cesar comes to the realization that he cannot face this new reality and jumps off the roof of the Life Extension building. The movie fades out with a black screen and that same seductive female voice telling Cesar to relax and repeating the words “abre los ojos.”