Nicolas ( Henry Golding ) is a British DJ living in Madrid with a group of loyal friends and a luxurious apartment. He’s young, attractive, and still has his whole life ahead of him. But after the tragic death of his artist girlfriend Daniela (Beatrice Grannò) he doesn’t know what to do with himself.
He spends his days pining for her, retreating deeper into his memories, unable to move forward. In an effort to help Nicolas move on, his friend Victoria (Nathalie Poza) signs him up for a clinical trail of a brand new drug that will allow him to construct his own dreams. Through lucid dreaming, Victoria hopes that Nicolas will focus on recreating memories before he met Daniela in order to break the bond of emotional dependency.
As long as Nicolas fixates on the relationship, his life will remain at a standstill. He rarely works anymore, pays attention to his friends or even leaves his apartment. All he can think about is Daniela and the pain of losing her, even as everyone around him is actively trying to heal from the loss.
At first glance, “Daniela Forever” seems like a familiar story of love and loss, but director Nacho Vigalondo (“Colossal”) has something much darker in mind. Once Nicolas begins the trial, he’s supposed to structure his dreams around nightly prompts focused on himself and his memories before Daniela. But after he spills water on the first prompt and passes out staring at an image of Daniela on his phone, he decides to use the dreams to bring .