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Stanley Kubrick is my patron saint. In my mind, he is one of, if not the greatest, filmmaker of all time. My first Kubrick experience occured when I was in high school. I was over at a friend's house, and the film that he was watching was THE SHINING. I had never seen anything like it in my life. Not only was it scary as hell - it was - but the sheer inventiveness of the film making stunned me. I started noticing the tracking shots. Most of the film is a series of long tracking shots and zooms. They were all beautifully executed and framed. The lighting also struck me. It was different than what I had been used to, and I liked it. The beauty of this film was in the simplicity of how it was put together. There was simply no need for the MTV-style editing that had become so popular with the "cut, cut, cut, cut" mentality of the time, which was quite pervasive, and was growing tiresome. Kubrick would simply set up the shot, and let the actors act. There were no distractions, and the story simply told itself. I was hooked, and it instantly became one of my favorite films. I've probably seen it more than fifty times.
Later on, I discovered A CLOCKWORK ORANGE and FULL METAL JACKET. Both of these films resembled THE SHINING in their meticulous attention to detail, and not only that, but the films were rich, not exclusively in a technical sense, but on an intellectual level as well. The best thing about watching a Kubrick film is the thought process that you go through afterwards, when you reflect on what you have just seen. You get to peel back all of the intricate layers, and sometimes you don't even realize what you have just seen until the fifth or sixth viewing...which moves me on to Kubrick's final film, EYES WIDE SHUT.
Principal photography for this film lasted for 400 days, and it was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records as the "longest constant movie shoot". Obviously with this film, as with every other film that Kubrick made, time was no obstacle. Only someone with Stanley's track record could have pulled that off. Furthermore, if he was anything at all, he was a perfectionist. He pushed his crew and his actors, pushed them so that he could get the best that they had to offer. If the performances of some of his actors seem overplayed, it's only because "naturalistic" acting never appealed much to Kubrick, as he would always say, "Natural is good, interesting is better." The "interesting" aspect would come after fifty or sixty takes of the same scene. He would bring his actors to the point where they literally had nothing else to give, and then that was oftentimes the take that he would use. Filming on EYES WIDE SHUT played out like this, and thank the heavens that it did, because the final product was nothing short of another masterpiece.
The thing that separates EYES WIDE SHUT apart from the rest of Kubrick's filmography could be summed up in one word: hope. Yes, you read that correctly! EYES WIDE SHUT is a very hopeful film! Kubrick was often accused of seeing the dark side of human nature. This would be correct. His films are extremely pessimistic, in that they hone in on the dark side of human nature. Humans are portrayed as weak, ignorant, stupid, and beyond redemption. Most of the time, he was just being honest, and that was hard for many to stomach. But here, in his last film, he embraces themes of passion, commitment, loyalty, and even love. The whole film is a cautionary tale about the dangers of marriage, the temptation of adultery, and how important it is to hold tight to your spouse, taking nothing for granted. After all, we are human. Any one of us can be tempted at any given time. No one is exempt from that. Kubrick understood this. He also understood that divorce rates were through the roof, and that close friends of his had cheated on their spouses. All he had to do was turn on the television to see the latest celebrity scandal or divorce drama. These were situations that were very timely, very relevant to 1999, and even more so, today. Stanley Kubrick understood and respected the institution of marriage, and was, as far as anyone knows, faithful to his wife until the end. Somewhere along the line, however, he felt compelled to make this film, particularly after reading "Traumnovelle", a 1926 novella by Arthur Schnitzler.
What we have here is the story of Dr. Bill and Alice Hartford, a upper class, married couple with a young daughter. When the film opens, they are getting dressed and prepared for a prestigious Christmas party that they have been invited to by one of Bill's patients. Alice gets up from the toilet, adjusts her hair, and asks Bill a simple question, "How do I look?", to which Bill replies "It's great". He's not paying her any attention, as he adjusts his tie in the mirror. "You're not even looking at it," she says. Bill turns around, and robotically tells her, "you're beautiful. You always look beautiful". It is here, during the very opening moments of the film, that we are able to see Dr. Bill's major flaw: he doesn't really appreciate his wife. They've been married for years, and, apparently, the act of complimenting his wife has now become routine. On to the party. Once Bill and Alice reach the party, their host comes over to greet them, and we then dissolve to Bill and Alice lovingly dancing together, musing and asking themselves why they were even invited to this overblown party in the first place. Bill sees an old friend of his, and takes off. In the meantime, Alice grabs a glass of champagne and waits by the bar. Out of nowhere, a strange Hungarian man comes over and starts to flirt. It's obvious what he wants from the start. He attempts to wear her down in her drunken state. "Don't you think one of the charms of marriage is that it makes deception a necessity for both parties?", he asks Alice. He has her cornered, and eventually, after several of his advances, she reminds him that she is married and walks away. Meanwhile, in another part of the house, Bill walks down the hall with two models hanging on each arm. Their game of seduction begins. "Don't you want to go where the rainbow ends?", they both ask. Bill isn't quite sure what they are asking, but he catches the hint. At that moment, he gets summoned by someone else, and he leaves the two temptresses to themselves.
So, Bill and Alice have both remained faithful, and resisted temptation, for now. Later on that night, and with the help of a joint, Alice starts questioning Bill about the two women that he was with. He tells her that it was nothing, that they were just two dumb models. She also takes it upon herself to tell him of the Hungarian man that tried to seduce her. Bill tells her that it's only natural for men to feel that way. She's beautiful, after all. There's not much jealousy in his response. This sets Alice off, and she goes into a tirade. Bill, in his ignorance, also makes the statement that women don't think the way that men do, as far as sexual matters. She stops him dead in his tracks, and tells him that when they were vacationing the year before, she made eye contact with a young naval officer. She goes on to say that it was only a glance, but that she would have been willing to give up her family and her life for one night with him. She came to her senses, but the fact remains that the thought of infidelity was on her mind, and she could have acted on it.
From here on, Bill becomes insanely jealous. He realizes that his wife isn't just a prop. She is capable of hurting him, and he sets out to prove that he is just as capable as she is. He goes out on the town, and his journey into the sexual underworld begins. He is faced with temptation the entire night, but every time he is close to giving in, he is interrupted. One interruption happens to come in the form of a phone call from his wife. However, he proceeds and is determined to explore, almost hoping that an opportunity to be unfaithful will present itself. Before the night is over, he ends up at a masked, pagan orgy filled with powerful members of society. Here, he sees just how sick and depraved the idea of infidelity is. It's so fitting that the password to get into the house is "fidelio" - "faithful". It is exactly the opposite. This scene, probably one of the most controversial scenes in film history, is not sexually enticing at all. It's ugly and horrific. It's a picture of hell on earth. It represents the evil that is adultery and sexual debauchery. The scene plays like something out of "Rosemary's Baby".
The core of the film is in the last few moments, where Bill confesses to Alice of his night time journey. His eyes are filled with tears. "I'll tell you everything. I'll tell you everything!", he tells her.
The last scene takes place in a shopping mall. Bill and Alice's daughter runs around looking at dolls, while they talk amongst themselves about recent events. "The fact is that we are both awake now," Alice says, "and I do love you." She then suggests that they go home as soon as possible to have sex. This scene is powerful and brutally raw in it's honesty. In Kubrick's only love story, he has taught us the importance of the covenant of marriage, and how it is important to treasure your husband or your wife. There is such a thing as healthy jealousy, and both Bill and Alice have learned this valuable lesson by the film's conclusion. They will strive to keep each other away from the darkness, to appreciate one another, taking nothing for granted.
The controversy that surrounded this film was predictable. The orgy scene is twenty minutes of Sodom and Gomorrah. It is brutally honest in it's raw portrayal of sexual debauchery. However, I feel that, as repulsive as this scene is, it is a necessary evil which is needed to convey the depravity that we live amongst. Sexual immorality is not pretty. It should not be presented as such on film. Kubrick was never a prude when it came to pulling us out of our comfort zones. He was always honest, no matter how much it hurt or how ugly we thought it was. If you look closely at each one of his films, they all have a moral center. He was not pleased with the way that he saw the world, and like us, he wanted things to change.
"In a modern world that is rife with infidelity, lies, hedonism and sexual decadence Stanley is encouraging us all to throw away our masks and take a good look in the mirror. His final and most underestimated masterpiece is a call for an end to all forms of secrecy, be they personal, social or political." - Rob Ager, from his essay, "Unseen Reflections"
Tragically, Stanley Kubrick died two weeks after the release of EYES WIDE SHUT. He was quite pleased with the final product. Like all of Kubrick's films, it opened to mixed response from the critics. Over time, this film has aged like a fine wine. That's the thing about his films. They get better with age, and as Steven Spielberg said in an interview, "They tend to grow on you." I have personally found this to be true. Every time you watch one, you learn something new, or you see something that you had never noticed before, and who knows, you may learn something about yourself.
It is in this way that Stanley Kubrick left a legacy. He will never be forgotten and his films will live on, decade after decade, and will remain classics. Funny that he has a classic in just about every genre of film that there is.
How many directors can pull that off?
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I think the Amazon product picture for this DVD is wrong. The Amazon product page shows exactly the same picture as the United States censored version (Eyes Wide Shut (2-disc Special Edition)). I've uploaded images of the DVD box I actually received (click "See customer images").
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Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 16, 2017
