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Kubrick’s magnum opus ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ turns 25 today

Cast: Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Sydney Pollack, Marie Richardson, Rade Serbedzija, Todd Field, Vinessa Shaw, Alan Cumming, Sky du Mont, Fay...


Cast: Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Sydney Pollack, Marie Richardson, Rade Serbedzija, Todd Field, Vinessa Shaw, Alan Cumming, Sky du Mont, Fay Masterson

Director: Stanley Kubrick

 

Eyes Wide Shut is undoubtedly Kubrick’s most perfect film, it has no flaws and is thematically rich and relevant to this day.

 

Based on Arthur Schnitzler’s 1926 psychoanalytical novella Traumnovelle (Dream Story) — a masterpiece in its own way — Eyes Wide Shut is Kubrick’s most dense and his most controversial film. The audience — in 1999 — went into the film expecting a sexy erotic thriller starring heartthrob Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, but instead, witnessed a dense — in terms of its themes — and utterly baffling film. 

‘No dream is ever just a dream,’ is one of the dialogues spoken by Nicole Kidman in the film which beautifully — almost poetically — captures the essence of the film, and of life: dreams are subconscious repressed thoughts (something which is widely known). By the end of the film, we are still figuring out whether the film was a fever dream or something real that feels like a fever dream. The film’s title “Eyes Wide Shut” is another testament to the film’s genius: it, at once, obliterates the concept of masculinity how men usually turn a blind eye towards their own fault, and how we as a society turn a blind eye towards “cults” (which could very well be another metaphor for the human psyche).

The film is, eventually, about how frail masculinity is. Tom Cruise’s character Dr. Bill Harford is not the “manliest man” but his ego is hurt after his wife tells him of the time when she considered cheating on him, and that sets Bill Harford on a psychosexual odyssey through (a beautifully crafted and a realistic looking set of) New York. 

Most filmmakers opt for surreal images and sequences to make their films surreal, but Stanley Kubrick (undoubtedly the greatest American filmmaker) opted for cinematography which feels surreal rather than surreal images and sequences. Granted, there are surreal sequences in the film — the famous orgy scene — but the sequence itself isn’t inherently surreal, it's the dreamlike cinematography that makes it surreal: the camera flows from corner to corner as if it's levitating. Kubrick’s use of Steadicam is unparalleled, whether it be in The Shining or in Eyes Wide Shut, add to that long takes, and it's the most perfect form of cinematography you’ll ever see. The colours in the film are breathtaking to look at: the film is entirely lit by Christmas decorations which add to the dreamlike feel of the film.

Kubrick, from day one, tried to make perfect films, and he had succeeded a number of times, but its Eyes Wide Shut which is his most perfect film — maybe even one of the most perfect films ever made in the history of cinema. Kubrick, unfortunately, died before the audience could see his magnum—opus.

The performances are simply excellent, with everyone giving their best performances to date. Tom Cruise is mind-blowing as the frail Dr. Bill Harford; Nicole Kidman is elegant as Alice Harford. 

The excessive nudity and sex in the film have often been criticized, but it adds to the film and the film’s message. The most “free” people in the film are the people in the orgy, which Kubrick brilliantly showcased by making them naked, but, they still wore masks. Masks play a big role in the film: the masks showcase how we are never truly ourselves in front of people. Alice is the only one who’s  an outspoken person in the film and she ends up hurting Bill’s feelings, which wouldn’t have happened if she’d worn a “mask”. Another example is Nick’s character who’s blindfolded while playing the piano during the orgy: he, like humanity as a whole, turns a blind eye towards everything that is “wrong”. The use of music is deceptive in the film with the most prominent example being the use of Dmitri Shostakovich’s The Second Waltz.

Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut will be studied forever, people will forever try to decipher the meaning behind his films and will fail. It simply can’t be deciphered for there is so much in the film that everyone’s interpretation is different, and that is the fun of watching this film. Every time someone watches this film, they’ll find something new to decipher, something new to appreciate and that’s the beauty of Kubrick’s craft — something he mastered.

By Ravit Mishra

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