Synopsis
Eyes Wide Shut is a 1999 film that falls under the erotic psychological drama category. The film was directed by Stanley Kubrick who had plans to release this film before his passing. The movie features Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman who at the time where a couple, they played the roles of A married couple whose bond gets strained through a chain of sexually charged mysterious events. The movie was derived from Arthur Schnitzler’s 1926 novella Traumnovelle (Dream Story). Aside from being an erotic drama, the film explores love, identity, betrayal, and desire while painting a psychological illusion.
The Eyes Wide Shut film features Dr. Bill Harford (Tom Cruise), a physician based in New York. The Story begins with Alice and her husband were invited into a lavish Christmas party a of one of Bill`s wealthy patients. Dug into the party Bill was entangled in conversation with a couple of models which is his seems to be flirting. On the other hand Alice was exchanging a couple of words to an older gentleman whom he seemed to fancy. To the rest of the people Arnold is a prominent man. However, this seems to be very mundane, Alice accepted that she entertained fantasies of other men during family trips and in fact pondered on leaving her family for a one night stand.
Feeling emotionally adrift and having undergone intense sexual public shaming, Bill commences on a phantasmagoric journey throughout New York’s urban dystopia. What initially starts as an aimless exploration shifts into a determined capture of experiential taboos. He thinks about engaging the services of a prostitute, but changes his mind before the act. An old acquaintance subsequently tells him about a secret ritualistic orgy performed by a masked cabal at a remote mansion.
Attending the event through a passcode he was given, Bill stealthily enters the masquerade ball in a tuxedo and Venetian mask. He describes what can only be considered an otherworldly ceremony of rampant, systematic copulation of dozens of masked performers and spectators—sex that is choreographed and takes place like a cult activity. Unfortunately for him, his voyeurism does not go unnoticed. A strange masked lady stops him, warning him that he has to leave, only to later surrender herself instead of Bill when the cult decides they need to punish someone for the crime of being a voyeur masked sociopath.
Bill comes back home troubled and preoccupied with thoughts of events that brought him guilt, jealousy, and fear. His wife, in parallel, narrates a laughable dream where she ridicules Bill’s impotence by having sex with several men deepening her psychological torment of him. While trying to understand the truth behind the masked society which saved him, he realizes that he is being followed to be warned against asking further questions, resulting in more surreal encounters.
The film culminates with Bill narrating all his truths to Alice who counter confirms whatever he says under one blanket reasoning, “Let’s be thankful we made it out of the situation and focus on the marriage.” The phrase shifts focus from the distant, fantastical ideas of intimacy to the simple notion of calm reality devoid of sexual overtures as they hold hands.
Cast & Characters
Tom Cruise as Dr. Bill Harford
In a departure from expectations, Cruise portrays a passive character with jaw-dropping psychological flaws. His tight restrained portrayal captures the phantasmagoric life shocks which unravel within a man stranded amid relentless contradictions without a world of his own.
Nicole Kidman as Alice Harford
Kidman delivers in a warm performance, arguably equally impactful as others in this film, and her Alice is characteristically seductive, mysterious, and patently more expressive than emotional. No less than her rendition of sexual fantasies is one of the most iconic (and frightening) monologues of the film.
Sydney Pollack as Victor Ziegler
Bill’s rich client Ziegler serves as a thinly disguised representative of the upper class. He offers Bill both a warning and a veiled threat to discontinue his inquiries, insinuating much darker and more dangerous elements might be involved.
Todd Field as Nick Nightingale
A bill’s old pal and the secret society’s linchpin, Nick, is but a minor character in a rather broad role. He is, however, instrumental in that it is through him that Bill enters a new dimension- quite literally.
Themes and Analysis
As depicted in the title, Eyes Wide Shut is a complex and rather slow-paced film, infamously known to be difficult to interpret. In reality, it functions simultaneously as a story of a couple in turmoil, a critique of the bourgeois fantasy, as well as a surreal plunge into the depths of dreams.
One of the key aspects is the conflict between sexual gratification and emotional closeness. Bill is disturbed by the thought that Alice could feel attraction to another man. His pursuit takes a confused turn to try to restore some sense of perverse masculine control and erotic dominance, but is consistently thwarted – first, by the derisive prostitute, then by the revealing cult, and finally by the stories his wife tells him.
There is always a blurring between fantasy and reality. The operatic music and grandiose performances during the orgy scenes give a more Freudian dreamscape vibe than a literal scen. The account that the majority of the film portrays Bill’s psychological breakdown rather than actual events is hotly contested among viewers and scholars alike.
Kubrick explores also deals with class, power and secrecy. The elite society residing in the mansion symbolizes an impenetrable class whose rituals and codes are inscrutable. Bill, who is a doctor, is, however, of some renown, an outsider who is only of value for his services and not someone who truly deserves to belong. His brief intrusion into their world almost leads to his undoing, reinforcing the stark disparity that exists between illusion and reality.
Marriage and monogamy are at the core of the emotional drama. Kubrick does not treat marriage as a safe harbor, rather a delicate pact under siege by one’s drives and outside forces. The Harfords’s marriage operates on a network of silent conflicts, misunderstandings, and pretensions that disintegrate throughout the film.
Visually, the film is a masterpiece of atmosphere. Kubrick, who is known for his perfectionism, adds to the narrative’s dream-like quality by employing slow camera movements and framing shots with oversaturated colors, infusing the film with a dreamy quality. The Christmas lights, which appear in almost every scene, imbue the film with a strange beauty—warm yet cold at the same time.
Production and Legacy
Stanley Kubrick died mere days after presenting his final cut to Warner Bros., giving rise to speculation whether the version released to the public was fully his. The film was heavily censored in the United States, with digitally modified sections of the orgy scene added to obtain an R rating.
So far in his career, Kubrick has produced multiple notable films which he had been recognized for. Although he received mixed reviews on “Eyes Wide Shut” when it came out, it has since furthered his career reputation as aggressively evaluated and praised for emotional depth, psychological composition and the visual storytelling of the film. While some viewers were enthralled by the pacing and absence of violence, others claimed it to be too actionless. Those who appreciated the pacing described it more as kingly hypnotizing as opposed to continuous stasis.
Widely considered the most criticized and debated piece of cinematic art from the late 20th century, “Eyes Wide Shot” easily captures the attention within studies focusing on modern alienation, marriage, and the complex relationship surrounding modern romantic sexuality. Even decades after its initial release, the film is widely discussed due to its unexplainable yet fulfilling ending that offers endless layers of cultural and academic discourse bound together with symbolism.
Closing Statement
Exemplifying the peaceful disfiguration of a man who believed he had everything sorted in life, “Eyes Wide Shut” perfectly blends modern life with an exploration of one’s identity. Far from an erotic thriller, the film successfully highlighted the perception and illusion of love, power and betrayal within one’s reality.
From highly acclaimed directors such as Stanley Kubrick, Eyes Wide Shut offers a bold and deep conclusion to his life’s body of work. The movie features stunning performances from Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. After watching it multiple times, one can garner new insights, especially when contemplating the undercurrents of intimacy and yearning.
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