Julia's Eyes

Reuniting three of the creative forces behind ‘The Orphanage’ – executive producer Guillermo del Toro, lead actress Belén Rueda and production company Rodar y Rodar – director/ co-writer Guillem Morales’s thriller aims for intricate, Hitchcockian suspense, embellished with ornate visual flourishes that recall Dario Argento’s early giallo movies.

After Julia (Rueda) and her husband, Isaac (Lluís Homar), find her twin sister hanged in her basement, the official verdict is that Sara (Rueda again) killed herself because she was depressed about her failing sight. However, Julia, who suffers from the same degenerative eye disease, is convinced that her sister was either killed or driven to take her own life. Her investigations reveal a secret life involving a seemingly invisible boyfriend: ‘You know, some people you just don’t see,’ says a waiter at a hotel where Sara and the mystery man enjoyed an illicit tryst.

But like the figures at the periphery of Julia’s vision, the crucial details remain blurred and indistinct. Forcing us to share Julia’s narrowing field of view, Morales’s elaborately staged set-pieces, the script’s forensic attention to detail and Rueda’s emotionally charged acting focus the mind and grip the imagination. Then, suddenly, all semblance of credibility vanishes in a frenzy of fuzzy logic and melodramatic contrivance. Why, for example, would Julia – blindfolded after an operation – move back into her murdered sister’s house, where she fears the killer may be watching? The set-up is clear and convincing; the denouement leaves one squinting in disbelief.