Eyes Wide Shut

Rating

Director

Stanley Kubrick

Screenplay

Stanley Kubrick, Frederic Raphael (Novel: Arthur Schnitzler)

Length

159 min.

Starring

Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Sydney Pollack, Todd Field, Sky Dumont, Marie Richardson, Rade Sherbedgia, Leelee Sobieski, Thomas Gibson, Vinessa Shaw

MPAA Rating

R (For strong sexual content, nudity, language and some drug-related material)

Review

Infidelity, sexual discovery and love turn Stanley Kubrick’s final film into one of his greatest as Eyes Wide Shut captures the soft and hard edge of relationships.

Kubrick’s death in 1999 sadly ended the career of one of history’s most significant contributors to the art of cinema. Eyes Wide Shut tells Kubrick’s final story of the toll fidelity can take on a relationship when a woman admits to her husband that she’s contemplated an affair.

Former Hollywood mega-couple Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman star as the doctor, William Harford, and his wife Alice. The film begins with the couple attending a high-voltage Christmas party at the house of one of Dr. Harford’s patients, Victor Ziegler (Sydney Pollack). Dr. Harford decides to chat up his old medical school chum Nick Nightingale (Todd Field) while Alice veers away and strikes up a conversation with a love-crazed Hungarian (Sky Dumont).

When William disappears to assist Ziegler with a drugged-out prostitute in his bathroom, Alice assumes he’s gone off with the two beautiful models he’s had conversations with not long before. Both resist any temptation and return home where a subsequent evening sees the two having a meeting of the minds over a joint. When Alice reveals that she had thought of having an affair while the couple were on vacation, Dr. Harford is coincidentally called away to the deathbed of another patient.

William escapes the conversation but can’t rid his mind of the image of his wife having sex with another man. What happens afterwards is a sexual odyssey where Dr. Harford slinks around the New York City nightlife hoping to experience a one-night stand in revenge for the images going through his head.

Eyes Wide Shut is probably Kubrick’s most frank piece. It takes a very simple subject, faithfulness, and mixes in his classic visual symbolism and dehumanization to make a point for fidelity. The couple live their lives through dreams and fantasies that, if realized, would drive a wedge between them. As Dr. Harford returns to the night of potential debauchery, we see him find reason upon reason supporting his decisions not to engage in an extra-marital affair.

Kubrick has never flinched when presenting his warped reality. Here, an elaborate orgy for the rich marks Kubrick’s most intriguing symbolic effort ever. As each guest is required to be masked for the event, anonymity protects its participants from exposure and from the traditional trappings of love required before sex.

In Eyes Wide Shut the characters must rationalize their desires and fears while maintaining a level of maturity and dignity. Their attempts fail. What Kubrick’s other films have done is sensationalize real-life events and situations so that they feel surreal. In doing so, he paints a vivid analogy to reality and forces the audience to question their lives and actions and understand if they have lived up to their own expectations.

Review Written

July 24, 2004

Original Review

Note: This is a Resurfaced review written in 2002 or earlier. For more information, please visit this link: Resurfaced Reviews.

No director has ever been so consistent. No director can compare to the genius that is Stanley Kubrick.

From the opening scene of Nicole Kidman defrocking to the very last moments of this vibrant film, Kubrick has further cemented his place in the pantheon of great directors.

“Eyes Wide Shut” opens with Alice Harford (Nicole Kidman), an out-of-work mother of one, getting undressed and preparing for a Christmas party. Her husband is Bill Harford (Tom Cruise), a medical doctor. A patient of his, Mr. Ziggler (Sydney Pollack), is throwing the party.

Upon arrival, they are greeted by their hosts and then proceed to the dance floor. While dancing, Bill spots an old medical school chum, Nick Nightingale (Todd Field), playing piano for the band. Alice leaves him to his friend and goes off for a few drinks. Ever since quitting medical school, Nick has been working as a pianist in clubs. His wife and children live in Seattle, yet he’s in New York “where the work is.” Nick tells Bill that he’ll be playing at a club downtown and that Bill should come and see him some night.

Meanwhile, Alice has downed a few drinks and is watching dancers from the bar. A graying gentleman comes up to her and asks her to dance. His charm is evident and Alice almost seems as is she’ll take him up on the offer to join him upstairs in the “sculpture garden.” While dancing, she spies Bill speaking with two beautiful models and then sees him disappear with them.

Bill, who seems quite certain to go off with the girls is stopped suddenly by a house servant who says his services have been requested upstairs. Bill finds his host with a woman, who isn’t his wife, alone in a bathroom. The young girl has had an overdose of a cocaine-heroine mixture. Bill takes care of her the best that he can and warns her that she should be more careful in the future or she’ll find herself dead.

The next night, while the two are talking over some pot, Alice confronts Bill about the two models and they have an intense argument over respect and jealousy.

The rumors about the film have leaked ever since the project was announced and began filming over three years ago. Most of the rumors were swatted down, but many remained and permeated the public. Things such as Cruise kissing another man, Cruise completely naked and necrophilia were nowhere to be seen.

The film contains limited amounts of sex and an extremely limited list of foul language. The film is, to an extent, pure. What nudity and fornication present is minimal at best. To think that the film nearly got an NC-17 when there was so little sex and most of it was harmless and plot-driven is sad and pathetic. That Warner Bros. felt it was also necessary to bring the film back to an R by blocking certain situations with cloaked figures is even more pathetic.

Studio idiocy aside, “Eyes Wide Shut” is a beautiful written and wonderfully designed film. It’s subtext runs so deep that one viewing isn’t enough to find all of its rich meanings.

Symbolism flows from frame to frame. The use of color as a psychological expletive is extreme and vivid. Kubrick uses red and blue in varying ways. Red is the color of passion and anger, as well as danger. We see a lot of red throughout the film, but there is also quite a bit of blue. The blue is a more sedate color. It’s almost cold and detached. Kubrick uses both colors very well to heighten each stark moment.

Much more symbolism follows at the masquerade where the masked figures hide their visages from view so they can partake in the forbidden pleasures without fear of recrimination or exposure. They are almost emotionless in their pursuit of sex, which is all any of them are there for.

Cruise seems a bit stiff-faced at times, but doesn’t really give a bad performance. Kidman gives a spirited performance that is both touching and startling. Pollack is a nice surprise and the rest of the ensemble give complementary performances.

No one can ever say that Kubrick isn’t a visionary whose symbolism is just as important as the dialogue flowing realistically from the lips of his characters. Kubrick has the ability to mold a captivating story filled with emotional intrigue and depravity while driving home a serious point about human nature.

What “Eyes” isn’t, is a sex-drenched orgy with no redeeming value. What “Eyes” is, is a morality play on fidelity in marriage and how innocent experiences can be both devastating and helpful in building a continually loving relationship.

Awards Prospects

The Oscars could fall head-over-heels for this film. Picture, Actor (Cruise), Actress (Kidman), Director, Screenplay and Editing are all within reach. Even Cinematography and Art Direction could find themselves in the company of Kubrick. All of this could hinge on how well the film survives until February and what other eclectic offerings come out between now and then.

Review Written
July 16, 1999