Open Your Eyes

The action unfolds in present-day Madrid and then reveals a future era glimpsed through Life Extension’s technology, about 150 years ahead. This juxtaposition blurs the boundary between the actual timeline and engineered memories. The time shift is essential to the plot’s exploration of memory, identity, and what it means to wake up.

Madrid serves as the film’s modern, sunlit city backdrop where César’s life shifts from a party scene to a prison cell. The city’s streets, apartments, and public spaces—like Sofía’s flat and the corporate high-rise—frame the characters’ changing perceptions. The claustrophobic interior spaces contrast with the bustling urban exterior, highlighting the tension between reality and illusion.

🧠 Identity

The film interrogates what defines a person—the body, memories, or the story one believes. César’s disfigurement and the insertion of altered memories challenge the notion of a fixed self. The twist that memories can be manufactured questions ownership of one’s life. The goal becomes whether identity can be recovered when memory is rewritten.

🌀 Reality

Perception dominates the narrative as César cannot trust what he experiences. Dream-like sequences, altered memories, and misattributions of love blur the line between real life and illusion. Life Extension’s technology makes the viewer question: what is waking life and what is a fabricated dream?

💼 Control

A corporate, profit-driven cryonics company wields power over time, memory, and autonomy. People become vessels for manufactured experiences rather than individuals with agency. The film critiques commodification of life and the ethical boundaries of technological progress.