“Eyes Wide Shut” (1999)

Eyes Wide Shut

Grade: A+

Stanley Kubrick’s final film, Eyes Wide Shut, is also his most misunderstood. Much of that has to do with the poor marketing surrounding its release (it was originally advertised as a sexy erotic thriller, with the lead performances of real-life Hollywood couple Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman being the main draw). It’s no wonder that public perception of this dreamy, slow-moving, nearly three-hour arthouse movie was polarizing — Eyes Wide Shut is the furthest thing possible from a big-budget blockbuster. As a Kubrick film, however, it’s one of the most mesmerizing and mysterious and thought-provoking films in the legendary director’s oeuvre. A few more notes on Eyes Wide Shut:

Directing:

When it comes to Kubrick films, the closest comparison for Eyes Wide Shut is The Shining. But whereas The Shining was a surreal nightmare, Eyes Wide Shut is a hypnotic trance. Both films are quite horrifying, revealing the darkest desires of man (not mankind, per se, just men in general). The darkness underneath is countered with Kubrick’s beautiful directing, which includes elegant scenery and refined settings (e.g., long tracking shots, well-mannered upper-class characters, stately mansions, classical architecture, Renaissance-inspired décor, warm Christmas lights in every scene). Yet the darkness persists, and every scene is charged with menacing sexuality.

There is an abundance of gratuitous nudity (once again inspired by the ideal formalism of classical art), but by no means is the intended effect meant to be erotic. Case in point: the famous masked ball scene — a semi-Satanic orgy ritual that is probably Kubrick’s most mesmerizing sequence ever — induces terror rather than titillation. The juxtaposition of the sacred and profane in Eyes Wide Shut is stunning, and the film is a one-of-a-kind journey into the dark corners of the psyche that only a director of Kubrick’s caliber can conjure.

Acting:

Cruise and Kidman, who were married at the time, star as Bill and Alice Harford, a husband and wife whose marriage is put to the test. Real-life implications and meta-narratives aside, both of the A-list actors do an incredible job fitting right in with the dreamy nature of the film. Kidman excels at the long monologues, which reach a subconscious profundity by the time she’s finished. Meanwhile, Cruise plays against type as a naïve wannabe adulterer who is humiliated, emasculated and cuckolded at every turn, a man so desperate to get laid he ends up infiltrating a secret sex-trafficking society in the middle of the night.

Typical of Kubrick, Eyes Wide Shut is the darkest of comedies, with Cruise as the clueless handsome doctor who does not act but is instead acted upon. His wide-eyed incredulity makes this blue-balled story work so well: this is a role Cruise wouldn’t even consider now that he’s become the world’s biggest action star. In a sense, the film belongs to the memorable side characters (Sydney Pollack, Leelee Sobieski and Alan Cumming in particular), who provide an endless procession of dreamy vignettes that subtly dictate the mood of each scene.

Writing:

Eyes Wide Shut is based on a 1926 novella called Dream Story, written by Austrian dramatist Arthur Schnitzler. As always, Kubrick makes the story his own, taking tremendous liberties with the source material to create a unique all-encompassing vision. The premise is simple enough: after a wealthy party where both Bill and Alice flirt with other guests, Alice confesses to her husband that she once had a fantasy where she left him for a naval officer. Of course, this never actually happened, but it nonetheless leads Bill on a surreal nighttime odyssey to cheat on his wife. Every subsequent scene is like an episode unto itself, some longer than others, with new settings and side characters that seem to have nothing to do with what came before or after.

Even though the storyline initially seems meandering, the enigmatic structure holds our attention and gets under our skin. Filled with false starts and anticlimaxes, Kubrick shows us the chilling realities of our darkest fantasies, yet he always closes the door just before unveiling the whole picture, forcing us to shamefully fill in the blanks ourselves. It appeals directly to our subconscious, which is why the film is ultimately so addictive.

Music:

Like most of Kubrick’s masterpieces, Eyes Wide Shut makes excellent use of pre-existing classical music. An elegant waltz from Dmitri Shostakovich’s Suite for Stage Orchestra No. 1 is contrasted with the chilling avant-gardism of Györgi Ligeti’s minimal piano cycle Musica ricercata. However, the pièce de résistance is the original soundtrack titled “Masked Ball” by composer Jocelyn Pook, a pagan sound-collage that transforms the orgy ritual into one of the most spellbinding moments in Kubrick’s filmography.

Ending (SPOILERS):

Per usual, Kubrick leaves us with an ambiguous ending that can be interpreted in a variety of ways (for one, maybe it was all a dream). Alice’s final monologue is an anti-resolution, similar to Alex DeLarge’s final “I was cured all right.” As she and her husband stroll through the busy toy store, renewing their vows and recommitting to their marriage, oblivious to everyone around them (including their young daughter), it’s clear that their reconciliation won’t be permanent. Alice brushes off Bill’s promise of “forever” and suggests not that they should make love, but rather that they “fuck.” Hopefully you don’t interpret it as romantic, because it’s a vicious condemnation of a modern society where truths are masked and lies are agreed upon. Dr. Bill comes close to uncovering a sex trafficking conspiracy that involves wealthy elites, but he’d rather get his dick wet than probe any deeper. With delusions so grand, he might as well be living in a dream.

“Fidelio.” — Dr. Bill Harford

Why Eyes Wide Shut gets an A+:

Although there is some speculation as to how “finished” Eyes Wide Shut actually is (Kubrick died before the premiere), the film’s enigmatic structure and mysteriously deliberate directing lends itself to endless theorizing. Like The Shining, it’s a unique cinematic mystery that begs to be solved but provides no easy answers.

Accolades:

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