A famous Spanish actor, Julio Arenas (José Coronado), disappears while filming a movie. Although his body is never found, the police conclude that he died in an accident at a cliff by the sea. Many years later, the mystery is brought to light once more by a TV programme which asks for the help of Miguel Garay (Manolo Solo), Julio’s friend and the director of the unfinished film. Returning to Madrid, Miguel is brought back to his past.

An example of elegant filmmaking from a singular figure in world cinema, Close Your Eyes is perhaps the most personal film of Erice's career while also a rumination on cinema itself.

"A shimmery, nourishing culmination of ideas and ellipses in a career so elusive as to have taken on a mythic quality, to the point that his latest feels almost dreamed into being." - Guy Lodge, Variety