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Take My Eyes

Drama | 2003 | 102 min |

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In the middle of a cold winter night, a young woman takes her son and a few belongings and flees her abusive home. She knows her husband will look for her. She is everything to him, and she has "given him her eyes..." On her own, she will have to come to terms with reality, and learn the difference between home and hell, love and pain, protection and horror.

In the press (9)

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The Times

”Bollaín’s direction is delicate and sensitive throughout, the depiction of the abuse minimal yet shocking. Antonio is never a caricatured monster and Pilar, as a broken spirit on the verge of vulnerable repair, will break your heart.”

Empire Magazine

”Far from being a depressing experience, it’s romantic, funny and deeply inspirational. Bollaín’s direction is delicate throughout, her depiction of the abuse minimal yet powerful. The performances from Marull and Tosar, meanwhile, are superbly nuanced, carefully tweaking your emotions until they ensure that Take My Eyes is one of the most moving films you’ll see this year.”

The Guardian

”Already a multi-award winner in Spain, this drama is one of the brightest new European films around. Lethally powerful stuff.”

Director Ken Loach, Observer

”All film students should see this woman's work. (Headline)Take My Eyes, is remarkable. It describes a relationship in which there's a lot of violence and yet it manages to be funny and heartening at the same time. You don't spend a lot of time seeing people smashed around, which is good, but, equally, the full horror of what is at stake is immediately apparent. Take My Eyes is a beautiful film, full of these complexities, hints and refracted relationships - and yet it's done with great lightness. Nothing is underlined in a heavy-handed way. In this film, Icíar goes to the heart of the story and tells it very eloquently. She doesn't mess around with clever sequences or self-conscious camerawork. It all serves the centre of the story - and that's what realistic film-making is to me. Important, real things happen on screen. The concentration in Take My Eyes is on the people and what they do and why they do it. It's cinematically absolutely spot-on. They should watch it in all film schools - and then leave and do likewise.”

Variety

”Home is where the hurt is in Iciar Bollain's fine third feature, "Take My Eyes," which handles the subject of domestic violence with intelligence and compassion. Pic fuses a fine script and piercing central perfs into a provocative piece. Marull, in her best perf to date, is outstanding as the nervous, submissive Pilar. While telling its story fluidly, and without slipping into cliches, script finds room for larger reflections. Only one scene depicts serious physical violence, with helmer Bollain rightly assuming suggestion more potent than illustration.”

Screen International

”Take My Eyes boasts all the ingredients to attract adult film-goers around”

El Mundo

”The most harrowing film I have ever seen on the subject of domestic violence.”

El País

”Harrowing and necessary.”

Cinemanía

”As necessary as it is excellent, as sad as it is real, as frightful as life is to some women.”