Ever regret a phone call you did not take? That’s the guilt and fear Nick lives with ever since the death of his girlfriend, Daniela.
This article contains spoilers for the movie ‘Daniela Forever.’
Spanish filmmaker Nacho Vigalondo is a funny and vibrant man, and anyone who has heard him speak can tell he’s bursting with ideas, and immense love for cinema. And this is evidently visible in his latest film, Daniela Forever, which uses colours, Spanish music and cinematographic techniques to make distinctions of two different worlds within the same world.
The sci-fi romantic drama begins with a square frame bearing the title Daniela Forever. In a blink, it switches to full frame—a visual cue that signifies transitions between reality and dreams.
To mark these shifts, Vigalondo employs a 4:3 letterbox ratio with an old VHS look to mirror the dark and gloomy real life of our lead character, Nick, contrasted against a modern widescreen format with vibrant colours for the actor’s lucid dreaming sequences.
Filled with symbolism and foreshadowing about an event that the audience is already aware of, Daniela Forever grips your attention with ease.
The film centres on Nick, played by Crazy Rich Asians star Henry Golding, a British DJ living in a cluttered Madrid apartment, mirroring his inner turmoil since the death of his girlfriend, Daniela, played by Beatrice Grannò from “The White Lotus.”
However, Nick is assisted by his friend Victoria, who enrolls him in a drug study that allows him to heal from his loss through lucid dreaming. By taking a small white pill before bed, he can revisit memories from before he met Daniela, and let go of the emotional dependency.
But an accident causes Nick to fall asleep while holding Daniela’s photograph, setting the stage for his perfect mishap.
In his first lucid dream, Nick finds himself in his own apartment with Daniela, but everything is upside down. And what he hasn’t seen in reality appears as grey matter.
Soon, he realizes that by venturing into the real world and exploring Madrid’s beautiful streets, he can fill in these grey gaps.
Meanwhile, Nick continues to deceive the drug test experts during his weekly check-ins, while immersing himself in vibrant nights across Madrid and spending time with Daniela in his apartment.
This dreamlike freedom allows Nick to control aspects of his life with Daniela—manipulating time, erasing unpleasant memories, and indulging in a fantastical version of their daily life.
As a romantic, I found it remarkable that Nick had the chance to create his own fantasy world but he instead sought solace in simply rebuilding his everyday life with the love of his life.
As Nick becomes more engrossed in his dream world, his almost perfectionism starts to unravel. He attempts to mould a flawless existence with Daniela but soon learns that even within his dreams, control has its limits.
In an effort to let go of his controlling nature, Nick finally says “no more,” and comes back to reality instead of staying in the lucid dream with Daniela just when he’s about to run out of pills.
Nick, then, searches for a loophole to steal pills within the lucid dream. However, an impending sense of doom takes over the screen through dark images and music that foreshadow what’s about to unfold.
As the drug’s effects start to wear off, grey gaps and walls begin to reappear. Gradually, Nick turns to the only person he can rely on—his friend Victoria. She gives him a blue envelope, which leads him to see Daniela one final time.
In a blink like the opening sequence of the film, we are presented with a romantic montage of Daniela with another partner. She wakes up to her partner mentioning her dream about someone, and when asked who, she replies, “I don’t remember.”
By the end, I wasn’t sure if we were journeying through Nick’s life or if all of it was Daniela’s dream. However, what I am sure of is that Daniela Forever is a film about love, loss, holding tight and controlling when you really should be letting go.
Daniela Forever is reminiscent of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind combined with Inception, and while it offers intriguing symbolism and standout performances—particularly by Grannò, who masterfully balances the portrayal of a seemingly lifeless yet emotionally present character—the film ultimately left me unsatisfied due to it being open to interpretation.
In a Q&A session with the director and actors after the screening, they did say the movie is open to interpretation like the many paintings included in the film, however I feel more structure was needed towards the end of the film to provide a satisfactory conclusion.
