The Eye 2003

Wong Kar Mun is a 20-year-old Hong Kong classical violinist who has lived with blindness since she was five. When she undergoes an eye cornea transplant using a donor’s eyes, she experiences the initial relief and wonder of sight returning, but she soon finds herself confronted by eerie presences: mysterious figures that seem to foretell deadly events. The unsettling visions begin quietly, yet they grow harder to ignore, casting a shadow over her renewed sense of reality.

The night before Mun’s planned discharge from the hospital, she witnesses a shadowy figure accompanying a patient as they leave the room. The following morning, that very patient is pronounced dead, reinforcing the unsettling link between what she sees and what unfolds around her. Seeking understanding, Mun reaches out to the doctor’s nephew, Dr. Wah, a psychotherapist who initially regards her experiences with skepticism. Their conversation opens a path toward explanation, and as their bond deepens, Dr. Wah agrees to join her on a journey that will take them far from the city’s familiarity.

Together they set off toward northern Thailand, determined to locate Ling, the eye donor. Their questions lead them to a village doctor who, though cautious at first, slowly opens up when Mun explains that she can perceive what Ling once saw. Ling is remembered as someone with a rare psychic gift: the ability to foresee death and disaster. Yet this gift also brought her misfortune. The villagers treated Ling as a jinx and refused to trust her warnings. When Ling did try to alert them to an impending catastrophe, she was met with disbelief. When the catastrophe materialized, bearing the weight of guilt, Ling’s life ended in tragedy by suicide.

Ling’s mother is described as deeply depressed and resentful toward Ling, unable to forgive her daughter for the pain that Ling’s abilities had caused. The emotional strain carries into the present, until a pivotal moment changes the course of Mun’s investigation. Ling’s spirit, in a moment of desperation, possesses Mun and attempts to take her own life. It is Ling’s mother who intervenes, saving Mun and breaking down in tears as she finally offers forgiveness to Ling. With her forgiveness granted, Ling’s spirit departs and peace seems to return, at least for the moment.

On the return trip home, Mun’s fragile world is again disrupted when the bus encounters a sprawling traffic jam. She begins to see hundreds of ghostly figures lumbering along the road and believes a catastrophe is imminent. She tries to warn the other passengers to evacuate, but her pleas are dismissed as madness. The cause of the standstill becomes clear: a tank truck has toppled, spilling natural gas onto the road. When a driver restarts his engine and a spark ignites the leaking gas, a devastating chain explosion erupts. Dr. Wah saves Mun’s life by shielding her with his body, but she still suffers severe injuries, including injuries from shattered glass that blind her once more.

In the epilogue, the credited image shows a blind Mun wandering the streets of Hong Kong, moving through a world that remains dim but not devoid of meaning. Although she has lost her sight again, she faces the future with the support and companionship of Dr. Wah, whose presence helps give her life a renewed sense of purpose and resilience. The story leaves her at a crossroads of perception—between what she can see, what she remembers, and the bonds that sustain her through loss and fear.