Review: Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

Today marks the 20th anniversary of Stanley Kubrick's final film, the infamous, sexually-charged Eyes Wide Shut. In structure and theme the film centres upon dreams and desire. Dr. Bill and Alice Harford, portrayed by A-listers (and then-married) Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, are a married couple heading a seemingly standard American nuclear family. Below the surface of the couple however lie deep-seated jealousies, desires and lust. Like most of Kubrick's films, Eyes Wide Shut requires multiple viewings - every scene and every shot is constructed to be a masterpiece in its own right with hidden meanings and secrets littered throughout. It is a testament to Kubrick's auteur that this film does not rank among his very best, however, given to most other filmmakers it would certainly be marked as such.

Eyes Wide Shut is a voyeuristic experience into the erotic dreams of an upper-class New Yorker - here, Cruise's Dr. Bill. Upon hearing his wife's desirous fantasy about being whisked away by a naval officer Bill's jealousy sends him on a spiralling Homer-esque journey into the sexual underworld of New York. In this world, every person Bill encounters, man or woman, desires him, though he notably never actually copulates. This all leads to the infamous cult-y orgy scene - a true cinematic overture - where Cruise, adorned in costume and mask, stands in for the audience, slowly meandering his way through the labyrinthian mansion and witnessing his fellow men and women lay bear to their basest animalistic passions. Herein lies one of Hollywood's more recent controversies (and, likely, blunders) as the scene was required to digitally implant individuals to hide some of the scene's more explicit bits. One can assume that this was done to make the film more accessible to a slightly younger audience, which itself, shows how incorrectly the 'suits' misinterpret films such as Eyes Wide Shut that are inherently adult films - made by adults, about adult topics and themes and, as such, clearly to be seen by adults. I will not endeavour to continue into the realm that Kubrick sadly passed away prior to the release of the film, six days after screening a final cut of it.

Like all of Kubrick's films, Eyes Wide Shut is absolutely worth watching. It is one more in the body of work of one of the greatest director's of all-time. Though it has certain blemishes and subjectively weaker bits, as a whole it is a powerful and thought-provoking and both beautiful and disturbing to behold. It is in-all, a demanding film that, as the final piece in Stanley Kubrick's cinematic tapestry, challenges the next generation of filmmakers to begin making their own body of work that similarly bucks the trend of Hollywood's standard fare and challenges us as both audience and individual.