One could say that this is the reverse story of 'Les yeux sans visage' ('Eyes Without a Face') by Georges Franju, the qualitative difference being that Franju's film is very thrilling and well realized. This film doesn't reach the same level although there are some good material and ideas.
In this case it all begins with Sara (Belén Rueda), a woman seemingly being chased and tormented by someone, a person we can't see clearly, only guess his or her presence. Sara heads for the basement in order to hang herself but when she senses the presence of this person, she cries out that she is not willing to let the person see her hang, trying to losen the noose from her neck. Before she succeedes in doing so, her chair is kicked away and she is hanged in the presence of this mysterious person.
Her twin sister Julia (Rueda) collapses at work, miles away, feeling that something has happened to Sara.
Julia and her husband Isaac (Lluís Homar) drives to the house, just to find Sara hanged.
The police think it's a suicide, caused by the fact that Sara became depressed after loosing her sight. She had a degenerative eye disease and the same is tormenting Julia.
Julia is however convinced that her sister was murdered. She thinks someone was in the house after finding a disc on the record player with a song Sara hated.
Later by her sisters grave, she suddenly feels a hand on her shoulder thinking it is her husband, as he is/was standing behind her. Looking up she sees her husband ten-fifteen meters from her, talking to a man. She turns around and sees noone.
She talks with Sara's blind neighbour, Soledad (Julia Gutiérrez Caba), visits a center for the blind where she overhears a conversation among some women concerning the fact that her sister had a boyfriend with whom she had spent a weekend in a hotel.
When the blind women sense her presence and she responds, they also ask who came with her. Julia says she was alone but they say that there was a man with her too. All of a sudden Julia sees him like a shadow, starting to run. She follows him but the stress causes her momentarily blindness.
Julia finds a key and the receipt for Sara's stay at the hotel in Sara's house and she persuades Isaac to spend a night at that hotel. When there Julia is mistaken for Sara but the information of her sisters stay, is eradicated in the books.
She also get to know - when confronting Isaac about it - that the surgery her sister went through, failed.
The story continues with her husband being found dead, hanged in the basement where Sara was found, leaving a note behind. In that note Isaac says he has had an affair with Sara and can't live without her, therefore killing himself. He also tells her in the note that a donor has been found, meaning that Julia can go through with a surgery of her eyes, if she wants to.
Being totally shattered but on the same time wanting to return to Sara's house when leaving the hospital, the doctor assigns a daykeeper, Iván (Dani Codina) who will help her and protect her to some extent. Is he reliable?
As written above, the story in itself is not bad but the implementation of it, is not impressive.
First of all, there are to many loose ends and one can ask oneself why people do as they do, that is to say, it's hard to find credible logic in their behaviour.
One of the problems is of course that Julia is taking to many risks and when knowing - or being convinced - that she is dealing with a murderer, not being sure who he or she is, the logcial reaction is of course to be very cautious, not trying to act like Sherlock Holmes on your own, as she does.
This behaviour tend to make the spectator somewhat irritated but also creates a feeling like: "Well, if she delibaretely is willing to take all those risks, I don't feel sorry for her if she is hurt or killed".
I believe that this is one of the major problems with psychological thrillers or horror movies. The personalities in them, enter dark rooms, knowing that there might be a psychopath there and knowing that they might get killed. When this happens again and again in a film, the reaction tends to be that one yawns, thinking: "Oh, no, not now again..." and this diminishes the potential suspense that could have been created through another approach.
We expected more out of this film, not least after the beginning that seemed very promising.
In this case it all begins with Sara (Belén Rueda), a woman seemingly being chased and tormented by someone, a person we can't see clearly, only guess his or her presence. Sara heads for the basement in order to hang herself but when she senses the presence of this person, she cries out that she is not willing to let the person see her hang, trying to losen the noose from her neck. Before she succeedes in doing so, her chair is kicked away and she is hanged in the presence of this mysterious person.
Her twin sister Julia (Rueda) collapses at work, miles away, feeling that something has happened to Sara.
Julia and her husband Isaac (Lluís Homar) drives to the house, just to find Sara hanged.
The police think it's a suicide, caused by the fact that Sara became depressed after loosing her sight. She had a degenerative eye disease and the same is tormenting Julia.
Julia is however convinced that her sister was murdered. She thinks someone was in the house after finding a disc on the record player with a song Sara hated.
Later by her sisters grave, she suddenly feels a hand on her shoulder thinking it is her husband, as he is/was standing behind her. Looking up she sees her husband ten-fifteen meters from her, talking to a man. She turns around and sees noone.
She talks with Sara's blind neighbour, Soledad (Julia Gutiérrez Caba), visits a center for the blind where she overhears a conversation among some women concerning the fact that her sister had a boyfriend with whom she had spent a weekend in a hotel.
When the blind women sense her presence and she responds, they also ask who came with her. Julia says she was alone but they say that there was a man with her too. All of a sudden Julia sees him like a shadow, starting to run. She follows him but the stress causes her momentarily blindness.
Julia finds a key and the receipt for Sara's stay at the hotel in Sara's house and she persuades Isaac to spend a night at that hotel. When there Julia is mistaken for Sara but the information of her sisters stay, is eradicated in the books.
She also get to know - when confronting Isaac about it - that the surgery her sister went through, failed.
The story continues with her husband being found dead, hanged in the basement where Sara was found, leaving a note behind. In that note Isaac says he has had an affair with Sara and can't live without her, therefore killing himself. He also tells her in the note that a donor has been found, meaning that Julia can go through with a surgery of her eyes, if she wants to.
Being totally shattered but on the same time wanting to return to Sara's house when leaving the hospital, the doctor assigns a daykeeper, Iván (Dani Codina) who will help her and protect her to some extent. Is he reliable?
As written above, the story in itself is not bad but the implementation of it, is not impressive.
First of all, there are to many loose ends and one can ask oneself why people do as they do, that is to say, it's hard to find credible logic in their behaviour.
One of the problems is of course that Julia is taking to many risks and when knowing - or being convinced - that she is dealing with a murderer, not being sure who he or she is, the logcial reaction is of course to be very cautious, not trying to act like Sherlock Holmes on your own, as she does.
This behaviour tend to make the spectator somewhat irritated but also creates a feeling like: "Well, if she delibaretely is willing to take all those risks, I don't feel sorry for her if she is hurt or killed".
I believe that this is one of the major problems with psychological thrillers or horror movies. The personalities in them, enter dark rooms, knowing that there might be a psychopath there and knowing that they might get killed. When this happens again and again in a film, the reaction tends to be that one yawns, thinking: "Oh, no, not now again..." and this diminishes the potential suspense that could have been created through another approach.
We expected more out of this film, not least after the beginning that seemed very promising.
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