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Take My Eyes
New Yorker Films


6.6

based on 14 reviews
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How did we calculate this?

based on 6 votes
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MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Starring Laia Marull, Luis Tosar, Candela Peña, Rosa Maria Sardà, Kiti Manver, Sergi Calleja, Nicolás Fernández Luna, Elisabet Gelabert, Chus Gutiérrez, and Elena Irureta

Take My Eyes tackles the difficult subject of domestic violence, but like "Days of Wine and Roses" and "Drugstore Cowboy," it broadens (and never dilutes) its cautionary tale with humor, lyricism, and a shattered love story. (New Yorker Films)

GENRE(S):	Drama \| Foreign \| Romance
WRITTEN BY:	Icíar Bollaín Alicia Luna
DIRECTED BY:	Icíar Bollaín
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: November 7, 2006 Theatrical: March 17, 2006
RUNNING TIME:	109 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	Spain
LANGUAGE(S):	Spanish (with English subtitles)

Original title "Te Doy Mis Ojos"; Best Director, Best Film, Best Lead Actor (Tosar), Best Lead Actress (Marull), Best Screenplay - Original, Best Sound and Best Supporting Actress (Peña), 2004 Goya Awards

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Bill White

Actors Laia Marull and Luis Tosar explore the intricate details of a relationship based on the laws of attraction and repulsion, in which the intellect is repeatedly devastated by primal passion.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

A harrowing drama spun from the most mundane material.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

What makes the movie fascinating is that it doesn't settle for a soap opera resolution to this story, with Pilar as the victim, Antonio as the villain, and evil vanquished. It digs deeper and more painfully.

TV Guide Ken Fox

Harrowing, psychologically astute drama.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

An extraordinarily truthful and piercing drama.

The Hollywood Reporter Frank Scheck

This tale of domestic abuse breaks little new stylistic or psychological ground, but it is a searing, well-acted drama that should strike universal chords.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

Take My Eyes might look and sound like an earnest message movie, but its bone-deep understanding of the tricky psychology of abuse feels effortlessly authentic.

New York Post V.A. Musetto

The story isn't exactly new, but Bollain, an actress in her own right, keeps Take My Eyes from sinking into clichés.

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

While hardly glorifying abusive husbands, Take My Eyes, a mesmerizing and deeply disturbing film from Spain, makes an attempt to understand their thought processes.

Variety Jonathan Holland

Handles the subject of domestic violence with intelligence and compassion.

Village Voice Jorge Morales

A disturbing take on domestic violence.

Film Threat Staff (Not credited)

Marull's Pilar is quietly powerful and agonizingly terrorized as the '50s-style wife muted and bound by duty.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

The director, Iciar Bollain, who wrote the screenplay with Alicia Luna, invests Antonio with humanity, which would be more impressive if she had paid more attention to exploring the darker recesses of Pilar's inner life.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

If Take My Eyes explored how a woman could still feel for a man who abused her, it might have gripped us with its difficult truths. But the movie presents Pilar and Antonio's marriage as a stale, neurotic dead end.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.6 (out of 10) based on 6 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Chad S. gave it an8:
Antonio(Luis Tosar) sees it. We see it. When Pilar(Laia Marull) conducts a seminar on art, she widens the gap between herself and Antonio with each thoughtful observation about the artist's rendering of Orpheus and his nymph. Pilar is radiant. The audience is spellbound. She doesn't need to settle for an abusive husband anymore. "Take my Eyes" does an admirable job of not portraying Antonio as an irredeemable monster, while at the same time, not suggesting that he is good enough for Pilar. Any man who seeks therapy for their violent impulses deserves a second chance, but not with the same woman. Interestingly, it's not Antonio we hate(since the man admits he has a problem), it's the mother, who refuses to recognize that her daughter is a battered spouse. This betrayal of sorts gives "Take My Eyes" some balance, and prevents the film from being hysterically anti-male.

Ken G. gave it a6:
An earnest, but not entirely sucessful attempt to deal with a powerful subject. It doesn't really explore why wife is making the decisions she's making, and the way film handles story, it starts to feel a little repetitive.

John M. gave it a0:
Predictable spanish drama about wife-battering with a lot of clichés: woman without education married with a closed mind man. Her mother don't see anything and her sister tries to protect her. The end is awful and unlikely.

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Take My Eyes New Yorker Films

Take My Eyes
New Yorker Films