Drama /Pychological Thriller
Synopsis:A husband and wife begin a dangerous path towards obsession as the truths about their deepest and darkest sexual experiences and desires
begin to surface.
I love virtually every Kubrick movie that I have seen. I don't really know why. I guess, it is because he was
always doing different and new brave material. Maybe it was because he always stood up for what he did and never
allowed the distributor's to massacre or alter his films. Whatever the reason, he was always great.
I really wish his last film was the best he made, to surpass Clockwork Orange or 2001 A Space
Odyseey, Full Metal Jacket and my favourite Dr. Stangelove. Unfortunately this it isn't to be.
EYES WIDE SHUT is not a bad film as it still surpasses most other films out there, it is just not
Kubrick's best work; maybe in time I will appreciate it more. Much of the problem has to be the hype they give
movies today. The expectations are so high and the result is so low. Just having Tom Cruise and
Nicole Kidman in this film rose the viewers expectations. The talk of countless nude shoots of Nicole
and Tom and their lovemaking sequences were so were rampant in the business that it was a disappointment
that these scenes were really so minor in the film, that they didn't happen. Yes there were lots of nude shoots of Nicole.
The movie opens up in the first scene of her taking off her dress and standing there naked. Okay let's not all
run out at once now to go see the movie, wait long enough to read this piece, then go.
This movie is 155 minutes long so you will get to see lots of her and Tom...only he is never all naked. Well
actually he may have been but as you probably heard, the studio used digital masking to cover things up. They
said that Kubrick agreed to this before he died back in February of this year(1999)...ya right...he never did it
before. Except for this EYES WIDE SHUT does not deserve the controversy given it.
Let me take some time to go into the film here.
Tom Cruise plays Dr. William Harford and Nicole plays Alice Harford a couple married for 9 years who have
a beautiful child. Like mother like daughter. The doctor has an excellent practise with many wealthu patients
that put him right in there with the high society. They head off to an eleborate Christmas party held at the home
of a wealthy patient payed by Sydney Pollack. They are having fun until the good doctor is dragged off
to the bathroom to help save a young woman who has overdosed while having sex with this wealthy host. While
this is going on the good wife is being hit upon by an aristocratic phony but attractive Hungarian who obviously
has only one motive, to shag this poor innocent(?) housewife. The sexual verbiage between these two is hot and
heavy and like most of this movie it leads nowhere, because the doctor and wife are in love and care for each
other until the bedroom scene.
This scene total befuddled me because I have never seen or heard anyone smoking pot and turning so vile to
each other. Kubrick must have smoked some grass in his life even if he never inhaled. People on grass just don't
do this type of thing. Nicole confesses of a fantasy she had about a young sailor she once met and how she
would have betrayed her wedding vows to make love to him if he had asked. This sends Harford on a 48 hour
frantic and confused journey to the supposedly seedy side of a sexual underworld where he is hit on by both
wealthy socialites and street hookers as well. The seedier side of the sexual underworld has been done way
better in countless other movies, believe me. He eventually ends up in a what looks like a satanic sexual orgy
of straight, gay, sadistic sex and voyeurism. Much at this point has been digitally covered up to meet certain
rating requirements. At one time Kubrick would have said show it the way I shoot it or leave it alone, but not in
this movie. At this point the movie starts to get interesting because it seems to really get into unknown
territory that might actually bring terror into his life. I can't and won't tell you what actually is going on but
when we found out I felt let down.
Many reviewers will go into the psycho babble about the implications of everything in this film but all I can
say is that the movie STORY OF O dealt with this type of decadence in a better way. You are welcome to
disagree and send in your opinions. Reviewers in Italy have already given it thumbs down saying "More
boredom than scandal" "A glossy movie with no emotions" and emotionless acting by Tom Cruise.
I personally do not agree with all that as I did enjoy the movie to certain extent and I am glad I saw it
but they are right that if Kubrick was trying to shock us with these orgy scenes then he failed miserably.
Why? Well peole, most video stores and pay per view carry movies more shocking than what you will see here.
It just seems that Stanley Kubrick was in hiding for so long that he missed was happening to the sexual
revolution out there. People today are not as shocked as they once were as noted by the hollywood attempts
to give us bigger and gorier horror movies constantly filled with sex.
Alright now...two things I discovered in this movie. One, Nicole Kidman, naked with glasses on is a real
stunner and turns me on. Second, Tom Cruise's nose is really getting BIG. If you have the time, go see this film
out of respect for Stanley Kubrick and because well it is still a good movie from a great film master who
gave us Paths of Glory, Spartacus and The Shinning.
Remember that you are still the best reviewer of films because it is what you like that is important and not what we like.
Ahh,,,time to pull out a copy of DR. STANGELOVE or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The
Bomb, 1964. |
Cast and Credits:
Starring: Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Sydney Pollack, Todd Field, Marie Richardson
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Written by Stanley Kubrick, Arthur Schnitzler
Produced by Stanley Kubrick
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Rating USA... R for strong sexual content, nudity, language and some drug-related material
Rating Canada...R for strong sexual content, nudity, language and some drug-related material
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