Eyes Wide Shut (1999)


Starring: Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Madison Eginton, Jackie Sawiris, Sydney Pollack
Script
:
Stanley Kubrick, Frederic Raphael, 
Director of Photography
:
Larry Smith
Director
:
Stanley Kubrick


Plot:  A jealous rage over his wife's admission of an erotic fantasy sends a young doctor in search of sexual adventure in the bowels of New York where he ends up finding more than he bargained for.


Review:

As famed director Stanley Kubrick's (Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey) last film, the controversial Eyes Wide Shut has become one of the most talked about, and most misrepresented, films ever to reach the screen. Expecting sexual shenanigans between its two stars, or at least erotic-charged material throughout, most audiences will come out disappointed. Though there are a lot of sexually explicit scenes, the story is one of the mind, of how each one of us perceives love, fidelity, and of how sex has become an impersonal commodity in our modern society. 

Starting off slowly, first presenting the tense undercurrent in its glamourous, high-class couple, the film turns half-way through into a classic thriller, as our hero finds himself caught after sneaking into a vast country estate wandering among the sexual debauchery commited in complete anonymity around him. It is an extraordinary, amazingly crafted gothic-like sequence that manages to show in great detail an orgy by masked couples and yet so disturbingly impersonal that one cannot find it erotic in the least. 

Indeed, no matter what one thinks of the narrative progress, strange encounters or sharp dialogue of the story, it's impossible not to be impressed by the craftsmanship present in every shot. Kubrick is a master storyteller and sets up a rich, deviant tapestry full of morbid, dark atmosphere, crafting a surreal, dream-like world that is slightly off-kilter to our own. He has something to say here, and every shot, every camera angle is exactly as he envisioned it, with a myriad of small details and character inflections that say much more than the script would allow. In fact, it's hard not to be taken in by the mood of the film as we enter this strange creation. 

Kidman does a delicious, bravura performance here, capturing the essence of the film in one mesmerizing scene, and it's unfortunate that more time is not spent on her character. By comparison Cruise is decent in the role, but not nearly as interesting. He is the straight-man in Kubrick's comedy of human nature, the "everyman" protagonist. This is probably why the bizarre secondary characters that come on screen continuously are never fully formed, leaving these caricatures to drop into the naive doctor's orbit, confuse his sexual perceptions, and then disappear, their job done. It is a constant foreplay that never actually gets consummated. 

Unfortunately the exquisite production values, careful cinematography and larger-than-life settings only make the actual story seem small by comparison. The film ends abruptly, with many elements unresolved, with a seemingly throw-away line by Kidman, one that on further reflection is actually the final blow that reveals the worst, that their lives and their relationship (and, in association, all of society's) has forever changed to something crude and impersonal. Kubrick finally hammers in to his audience his favorite topic one last time, that of the dehumanization of society. 

Eyes Wide Shut is Kubrick's swan song, a beautiful, fascinating piece of Art, an adult film with adult themes who's only flaw is that the script just can't measure up to the visual splendor on screen.

Drama: 8/10


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