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Eyes Wide
Shut
****
Cinema
Releases - September 10, 1999
Rated on a 4-star
scale. USA/UK. Directed by Stanley Kubrick. Written by Stanley Kubrick and
Frederic Raphael; inspired by the short novel "Traumnovelle" by Arthur
Schnitzler. Starring Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Sydney Pollack, Todd Field,
Madison Eginton, Rade Sherbedgia, Leelee Sobieski, Julienne Davis, Vinessa
Shaw, Alan Cumming.
If "Eyes Wide Shut" had been the
work of an unknown director, it would be instantly hailed as a masterpiece.
But it took four years to make, inspired rumours galore and is the last film
from Stanley Kubrick -- the legendary helmsman of "Dr Strangelove", "Lolita",
"A Clockwork Orange", "The Shining" and "Full Metal Jacket". Almost
understandably, expectation has ballooned way out of control, and there have
been one or two terrible reviews. Looking at it with an open a mind as possible,
though, this is a film -- like the man himself -- which grandly throws us
between the playful and the profound. The man who made "2001: A Space Odyssey"
has wrapped up 20th Century cinema with a wonderful earthbound
adventure.
The opening scenes are littered with clichés,
but to be perfectly honest, it's nice to see a Kubrick film begin with some
simplicity. Kubrick uses the time to introduce us to the safe and the dangerous
connotations of the distinctive reds, yellows and blues that make up the
colour pallet. They also -- vitally -- get us into the head of the main
character, Dr Bill Harford (Tom Cruise), by allowing us to adjust to his
manner, the geography of his world and his relationships with people relevant
to the story.
One of those people is his wife of seven years,
Alice (Nicole Kidman). At the end of the first act, Bill and Alice have a
confused, marijuana-fuelled row about theories of infidelity, in which Alice
does all she can to provoke her husband, telling him of her fantasies about
a naval officer she saw on vacation. She embellishes connotations and lingers
on words: "At no time did he leave my mind... and I thought if he wanted
me... I was willing to give up everything. You... Helena...
everything."
Bill is then called out to comfort the family
of a deceased patient, but when he's finished with this business, graphic
images of an unfaithful Alice stubbornly remain floating through his mind.
Thus begins the mesmerising middle section of "Eyes Wide Shut", in which
Bill's odyssey through New York City one winter night first leads him to
a bar and an old friend, then to a hooker's apartment, a morgue, a costume
store with skeletons in the closet and a terrifying masked orgy. He even
-- at one point -- finds himself buying the New York Post!
Yikes!
"Eyes Wide Shut" has been accused of old-fashioned,
naive treatment of sexual and emotional issues. But it does in fact go to
great lengths to point out Bill's inordinate ignorance of Alice's dark's
desires, and makes clear how she runs out of patience and deliberately inflames
his jealousy. Besides, the main plot elements work best as a springboard
for Bill's journey -- although the film can be seen as a morality play about
one man learning to experience and re-dismiss mistrust and temptation, it
achieves greatness in exploring its dazzling cauldron of thoughts and sights.
Every moment holds our attention, as the outwardly inviting turns dangerous
and the outwardly sinister is revealed to be rather innocent.
The structure of the Bill/Alice plot resolves
itself in a similar way -- the couple calm down, and wonder what all the
fuss was about. By the ending, God's in His heaven, the traffic is still
moving and wedding rings are still on fingers. What has been altered is our
list of cinema's most amazing individual moments. Kubrick died in March,
and now, at the end of his career, of his ground-breaking visions, his unique
filming techniques and business strategy, fascinating life story, Wildean
personal wit and great works of art... perhaps the best thing to say is a
simple "Thank you."
COPYRIGHT©
1999 Ian Waldron-Mantgani
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