“Close Your Eyes” interrogates a lead actor’s disappearance

In “Close Your Eyes,” Spanish director Víctor Erice poses a tantalizing mystery for his central character and his audience. As veteran filmmaker Miguel Garay’s production of the appropriately titled “The Farewell Gaze” progresses, his close friend and lead actor Julio Arenas disappears without any warning, clues, or reason.

Thus begins an elusive, intriguing story that will haunt Miguel who retires from directing and retreats to a solitary life of writing in an isolated beach community of few individuals. His barebones existence will be upended when a television investigative series becomes the catalyst for Miguel to pursue the archives and the lives affected by Arenas’ desertion of his film role. Does Arenas want to be found? What could possibly have prompted such an unexpected, sudden disappearance?

The ripple effects impacted the film’s crew, Miguel’s former lovers, and Julio’s daughter Ana with profound repercussions felt throughout the current lives of all involved. As the search unfolds, viewers become entangled in weighty issues as well for (in press notes) Erice explains that the film “revolves around two, intimately connected themes: identity and memory.” Erice adds that, for Miguel, “despite hiding himself away, he finds that the past and its pain still haunt him.” As he explores footage that was shot and saved mementoes previously packed away, Miguel must revisit and possibly reclaim his former life, a poignant exploration for everyone watching as well.

Erice exhibits a fine eye for compositions and for sound alternating with silence. Events unfold deliberately, quietly, suspensefully over almost three hours running time. The performances are mesmerizing with Manolo Solo as Miguel Garay, Ana Torrent as Ana Arenas, and José Coronado as Julio Arenas. Audiences have had to wait thirty years for Erice, now eighty-four years old, to make this film, only his fourth feature. I would welcome again his unique exploration of the human condition. In Spanish and Catalan with English subtitles, “Close Your Eyes” screens at Webster University’s Winifred Moore auditorium Friday, September 13, through Sunday, September 15, at 7:00 each of those evenings. For more information, you may visit the film series website.