I give you my eyes

I give you my eyes is a 2003 Spanish social drama film directed by Icíar Bollaín and starring Laia Marull and Luis Tosar, about the issue of violence against the woman.

Synopsis

Pilar flees in the middle of the night from her house, located in a peripheral and residential neighborhood of Toledo; she takes with her her son who is about eight years old. In her flight, he seeks refuge at the home of her sister, an art restorer who leads an independent life alongside her Scottish partner; both reside in the old and historic part of Toledo.

Pilar is another victim of gender violence, who tries to rebuild her life and starts working as a receptionist for tourist visits in the church that houses the painting The Burial of the Count of Orgaz. In her new job, she begins to interact with other women. Antonio, her husband, undertakes the search for her and her recovery, he promises to change and seeks help from a psychologist. Pilar gives her husband another chance, with the opposition of her sister, who is unable to understand her attitude.

Despite Antonio's efforts to follow the therapy's advice, his violent personality and insecurities get the better of him and he ends up stripping and publicly humiliating his wife on a balcony.

Gives the feeling of being open-ended.

According to Icíar Bollaín:

«Te doy mis ojos tells the story of Pilar and Antonio, but also of those around them: a mother who consents, a sister who does not understand, a son who looks and is silent, some friends, a society and a city like Toledo that adds another dimension to this story of love, fear, control and power with its artistic splendor and its historical and religious weight.

Production

The director, Icíar Bollaín, wanted to make a film on the subject of gender violence because she was interested in knowing the answer to a series of questions on the subject, mainly: "Why does a woman endure a sock? ten years with a man who beats her? Why doesn't she go away? Why does she not only not leave but even some claim to still be in love? & # 34;. Bollaín concluded that one of the main reasons is that many women hold out hope that their abuser will change. She then realized how little was known about the profile of the abuser.

Bollaín decided to shoot a short film, Amores que matan, in the form of a mockumentary in which the issue of domestic abuse was discussed from the point of view of the aggressor. hypothetical group therapy among abusers. After shooting the short film, they realized that there was enough material to make a feature film if the woman's point of view was added.

The reason for setting the film in Toledo was that Bollaín and the screenwriter, Alicia Luna, had met the president of the association of battered women in Toledo, and she offered them the chance to go to therapy.

Cast

Filming and locations

This film was shot mainly in Toledo, but there are also scenes filmed in Alcalá de Henares and Madrid.

Criticism

Reviews of the film were generally positive. Carlos Boyero wrote in El Mundo that: "One does not see characters but sees people, similar, with their good times and also with their miseries" Mirito Torreiro, in Frames, praises the film's task of trying to understand not only the victim but also getting inside the abuser to "understand his closure, the way in which violence becomes the only language to its scope", without justifying its behavior. The page La Butaca also praises the "absolute lack of Manichaeism" and the one who "does not need to show the violence itself and much less recreate morbidly in it, but it is enough to show its consequences".

Awards

XVIII edition of the Goya Awards

Medals of the 2003 Film Writers Circle

San Sebastian International Film Festival 2003