Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

Stunning; A Masterpiece

Once again, a Kubrick film gets panned by the know-nothing critics and brainless moviegoing public. Big deal. This is an extraordinary film; easily among Kubrick's best. I'm sorry, but if you are a Kubrick fan you've got to at least respect Eyes Wide Shut. Even on the most base, technical level it's a marvel. I'm not being snobbish here, just bluntly honest. Kubrick thought this was his best work, and it's not hard to see why once you give it a good look. It is like an onion in that there are endless layers of symbolism and meaning to be pulled apart.

The film cannot be summed up in a cute one-sentence blurb, but going further I would venture that Eyes Wide Shut is the definitive 90s film- in how it examines man (and woman)'s behavior, desires, fears, and ultimately denial at the end of the 20th century. It's not "just" about infidelity and marriage; it's an all-encompassing, dreamlike portrait of life experienced by a couple going through a rough patch.

Certainly Eyes Wide Shut is not a film for everyone (as evidenced by the countless frustrated negative reviews on this site or any other), but if you're a Kubrick fan you owe it to yourself to give it a chance. Eyes Wide Shut is to me his most emotionally resonant film, because Kubrick projects his normal themes of dehumanization, the duality of man, art/culture as mass manipulation, and the regression of mankind onto a near-present day New York City all too familiar despite its deliberate dreamlike quality and recreation on British soundstages.

Kubrick's swansong is brilliant, haunting, and truly unforgettable. This is the kind of film that crawls its way into your brain and won't come out for days, even weeks. It warrants endless viewings- indeed, the film gets better, and richer, every time you see it. November 24, 2008

Eyes Wide Shut (Unrated) - Blu-ray Info

Title: Eyes Wide Shut - Unrated
Version: U.S.A / Region A, B, C
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
VC-1 BD-50
Running time: 2:39:01
Movie size: 31,77 GB
Disc size: 37,47 GB
Average video bit rate: 17.18 Mbps
LPCM 5.1 4608Kbps 48 Khz/16-bit English
DD AC3 5.1 448Kbps English / Japanese / French / Spanish / German / Italian

Number of chapters: 30

Subtitles: English SDH/HoH, English, Dutch, German, Italian, French, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, Korean, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish

#Featurette - The Last Movie - Stanley Kubrick and Eyes Wide Shut
#Featurette - Lost Kubrick: The Unfinished Films of Stanley Kubrick
DGA - D.W. Griffith Acceptance Speech, 1998
#Interviews - Nicole Kidman (17m:45s) / Tom Cruise (08m:23s) / Steven Spielberg (07m:49s)
#US TV Trailer: Jealousy (34 seconds), Combo (34 seconds)
#Extras feature optional Japanese subtitles September 29, 2008

What was kubrick thinking?

Tom Cruise is a horrible actor who wrecks whatever chance the movie had. This is also one on the most unerotic "erotic" movies I have seen. Stay way. September 20, 2008

Only understood with a mind wide shut...

I make it a point to watch this movie at least once or twice a year; for it is one of those films that touches you differently each and every time you entertain it. Once I feel that I have my mind made up it is completely trampled and my perception of events is altered as my mind tries to re-contemplate everything I just witnessed. That is the beauty within `Eyes Wide Shut'; a film so tragically misunderstood that many have labeled it pointless and even trashy without fully comprehending all that the film really stands for.

The film almost feels lost within itself as it shifts from scene to scene; moment to moment, and in the final thrusts of the films focus we see an explanation (or is it) starting to form before our eyes, but what is so beautiful about the films construction is that that particular explanation (or any explanation for that matter) is completely contradicted the next time we watch the film. There are no easy answers to the questions raised while watching this masterpiece and that makes for some of the most intriguing titillating post-viewing conversation. Kubrick's visual styling is incomparable and his approach to the rabid subject at hand; his frankness and blunt rashness; elevates the material and builds a pristine foundation for the films more startling sequences.

The film opens with high society couple Bill and Alice attending a party. Separated from one another we find Alice drinking her detachment away and dancing too close with a stranger while Bill weaves his way through the large mansion to make his services available to those in need, one such individual being his good friend Victor. This scene perfectly mirrors the characters development and their emotional connection to one another and to us as the audience. Both Alice and Bill are in a sense playing variations of themselves, locking away their true identities for the sake of those around them. They are not necessarily faking it or posing as someone else but more or less playing up the parts of them that others want to notice.

As the film progresses we witness Bill's emersion into a dark underworld that he is drawn to out of a perverse curiosity yet repelled from because of his desirable innocence. As he filters through his own feelings with regards his marriage and his life he tickles the keys of his own tendencies and this leads to some startling discoveries; discoveries within himself and those around him.

`Eyes Wide Shut' is unfairly recognized for its fearless depictions of immorality; sequences that have proven to be the backbone of ones distaste or admiration of the film. I say unfairly because those scenes are a small instrument used by Kubrick to paint a much larger picture. If one only sees the film for the savage imagery then they have missed the final impact of the films true nature.

Face it; we may never fully `get' this film, but to claim it nothing more than a perversion is simplifying it far too much, maybe in an attempt to justify our own misunderstandings.

Kubrick was aided by some fantastic performances by the entire cast, most notably the two stars Cruise and Kidman. Tom Cruise brilliantly captures his characters attraction to a world he doesn't quite understand. Nicole has the most complex character in the film and she tackles her performance with real bravo. Her understanding of what makes her character tick (and those priceless closing words "We have something very important to do...") adds so many layers to the films interpretation. Sydney Pollack also delivers a very controlled and memorable performance and deserves attention for all that he serves with such little screen time.

In the end `Eyes Wide Shut' is not a film for everyone, but it should be. Yes, it is graphic and it is shocking but it is all done in a tasteful (although it may not seem so) manner that carries the film to all kinds of levels of brilliance. As time passes the film continues to beam like a beacon for all other films to take notice of something far beyond their reach. September 11, 2008

If you didn't like it the first time, see it again, your opinion might change

This is truly a movie that you don't forget after it has finished. It gets in your head and stays there which is one of the reason that so many people admire the film even though it had its fair share of detractors when it first came out.

Eyes Wide Shut is one of my favorite films and is one of the few films that I can watch over and over again and still find it fresh and exciting.
Visually, it is one of the most beautiful films you will ever. Kubrick's technical brilliance with color schemes, sets and camera work is in full effect here. Much of this film looks like a beautiful old photograph or a painting rather than a film.

Some people don't like the film because of the slow pacing. Personally, I prefer films which build a dreamlike state in which tension is increased steadily throughout but that is my preference. If you don't have an affinity for these types of movies then you might have been turned off by the intentially slow pace of the film, a pace which is reflected not only in how the film is shot but how the characters speak their lines.

Eyes Wide Shut is a great film that becomes richer and more enveloping with each viewing. It requires patience, demands attention, and allows one to think about its characters and the subtle nuances in their dialogue exchanges in the context of its theme about the possibility of marital infidelity in a fragile marriage. Some have seen it once and hated it only to gradually admire it on second viewing. Do yourself a favor: in this mindless time of mediocre films, check out Kubrick's last film "Eyes Wide Shut." If you hated it or disliked it the first time, you may find yourself at least admiring, on second viewing, the world Kubrick has created on screen and how he fashions this world before our eyes, as he has with all of his films. Keep those eyes wide open.
September 8, 2008

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