It’s been over thirty years since the last Victor Erice film. Considered to be among the greatest Spanish filmmakers of all time, his latest, Close Your Eyes, is only the fourth film he’s ever made. His first film, The Spirit of the Beehive, is ranked amongst the greatest of the Twentieth Century. That film and El Sur are fantastical curios about the mercurial nature of memory, and both exist in the fog of the Spanish Civil War. Both movies are from the perspective of children as they learn the complications of the larger world. Close Your Eyes is from the perspective of Miguel (Manolo Solo), an older director who hasn’t made a film since the disappearance of his friend and lead actor, Julio Arenas (José Coronado). It’s a big jump from the world-forming imagery of childhood to the hardened cynicism of old age, but Close Your Eyes still deals with memory, albeit in a much more meditative way.

Miguel was never able to finish his second feature, “The Farewell Gaze”, once Julio vanished. And in 2012, he lives in a coastal village doing translation work in a camper with his dog. It’s not until a television news program, “Unsolved Cases”, contacts him that he decides to revisit the past. The show’s producer, Marta (Helena Miquel), explains that they want to shine a light on this cold case. Miguel’s interest is mostly in the money they’re willing to pay him, as well as a vague sense that this step may finally lead him toward closing that chapter in his life for good. It requires him to reacquaint himself with his film editor, Max (Mario Pardo), who owns the two cans of film that hold the only two finished sequences of “The Farewell Gaze”. He also contacts Lola (Soledad Villamil), an Argentine singer and former lover of both Miguel and Julio. As he retraces his life in the lead-up to the disappearance, he finds his grasp on the facts slipping.

At nearly three hours, Close Your Eyes feels no need to rush. And truly at it’s midway point, the film becomes a different story entirely – which I won’t spoil here.  The magical realism of Erice’s earlier work isn’t really on display here, even if this film does possess an otherworldly quality to it. As Miguel comes to realize that his handle on the events of his life aren’t as solid as he thought – that he may have taken for granted his own ability to process what happened – his entire world shifts and he grasps for any foundation to make it stable again. This is a powerful film when it’s working at full steam, and a bit of a ponderous one when it starts to meander, which it does often. Where a film like Spirit of the Beehive masterfully condenses a sprawling conflict into a simple childhood story, Close Your Eyes spreads out in an attempt to capture decades of pain and confusion. It’s quite the feat, even if it’s not always the most compelling one.

 

Directed by Victor Erice