Te Doy Mis Ojos

Spain

Synopsis

One winter night, Pilar runs away from home. With her, she takes only a few belongings and her son, Juan. Antonio soon sets out to look for her. He says Pilar is his sunshine, and what's more, "She gave him her eyes"... Throughout the story of TAKE MY EYES, Pilar rewrites a marriage agreement where nothing was right. Where it said "home", there was hell. "Love" was pain, and the person who promised "protection" brought only terror... But a change in part of the text alters the rest... maybe even tearing it to shreds.

Director's Statement

After Flores de otro mundo, I wanted to make a denser film with fewer characters, which perhaps meant it would be starker and more intense. And for some time, Alicia Luna, co-screenplay writer, and I had been thinking about spouse abuse. We found that, although this subject is constantly in the media, we had lots of unanswered questions.
Why does a woman stay for an average of ten years with a man who beats her? Why doesn’t she leave? And not only that. Why do some women even insist that they are still in love? Being financially dependent is not enough of a reason to explain the fact that one out of every four women in Europe and the United States has experienced a violent relationship in her life.
In the course of our research, we learned that one of the main reasons they stayed was because they kept hoping the man would change. That is why our main character is a woman who keeps hoping every day that the man she originally fell in love with will walk in through the door... But who is that man? Why is there almost no standard profile for a wife-beater? And, for years, why do those men abuse the very person they claim to love with all their hearts?
There are men who are physically violent. Others are also psychologically violent and are probably the ones who do the most damage. Some are genuinely cruel, while others are also victims themselves, who only know how to solve conflicts by using violence, who need to keep tight control over the person they love, who are very afraid... and that is what the man in our film is like. Someone who has the chance to see himself for what he is, and change.
TAKE MY EYES (TE DOY MIS OJOS) is Pilar and Antonio’s story, but it is also about the people around them: a mother who condones the situation, a sister who does not understand, and a son who sees all but says nothing. The city of Toledo, with its artistic splendor and historical and religious importance, adds yet another dimension to this story about love, fear, control, and power.

Director's Biography

Born in Madrid in 1967, Iciar Bollain has played leading roles as an actress in more than fifteen films, including: El Sur (1983), by Víctor Erice; Malaventura (1988), by Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón; Un paraguas para tres (1992), by Felipe Vega; Tierra y Libertad (1995), by Ken Loach; Leo (2000), by José Luis Borau; and most recently, Nos miran (2002), by Norberto Pérez, and La balsa de piedra (2002), by George Sluizer.
Hola, ¿estás sola? (1995) was the first feature film she directed and also wrote, winning the Award for Best Debut Director, the Audience Award, and a Special Mention from the Youth Jury at the 1995 40th International Film Week in Valladolid, among other national and international awards.
Flores de otro mundo (1999), her second feature film, was a prizewinner at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival, winning the Best Film Award at the International Critics’ Week.
TAKE MY EYES (TE DOY MIS OJOS) is her third feature film.
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Cast & Crew

Directed by: Iciar Bollain

Written by: Iciar Bollain, Alicia Luna

Produced by: Santiago García de Leániz

Cinematography: Carles Gusi

Editing: Ángel Hernández Zoido

Costume Design: Estíbaliz Markiegi

Make-Up & Hair: Ana Ribacoba

Original Score: Alberto Iglesias

Cast: Luis Tosar (Antonio), Laia Marulla (Pilar), Candela Pena (Ana), Rosa Maria Sardà (Aurora), Kiti Manver (Rosa), Sergi Calleja (Terapeuta), Elisabet Gelabert (Lola)

Nominations and Awards

  • People's Choice Award 2004
  • Feature Film Selection 2004