Love, Death and Sex: Eyes Wide Shut

In Stanley Kubrick's cinematic universe reality, dreams, order and insanity progress on distinct, intersecting planes. Whether he was depicting an absurd, chillingly real war room in Dr. Strangelove, the disturbing but oddly sexy ultra violence of an Orwellian future in A Clockwork Orange, the siren call of insanity in The Shining, or the hyper fantastical yet authentic Vietnam War in Full Metal Jacket, life was a surreal work in progress -- nearly an ambiguous joke that veered from hilarious to sexy to terrifying, sometimes within seconds. Attempting to understand order, or how any system designed to make our universe more rational or safe seemed fruitless. With this in mind, I love how Sterling Hayden approaches such a predicament at the end of Kubrick's The Killing. He watches his life literally fly away on an airport tarmac and bitterly spits one of cinema's greatest last lines: "Eh, what's the difference?"

Which brings me to the final line of Kubrick's frequently misunderstood Eyes Wide Shut in which Nicole Kidman states rather flatly, "Fuck" -- as in, that's the answer, that's what we need to do. A movie I've defended since its release, I'm pleased that within Kubrick's newest box set, the unrated version of Eyes is now easily available (with more appreciation to follow, I think...). It's a picture that deserves closer inspection and a worthy finale for the enigmatic auteur.

The controversial movie (some thought it silly, some, un-erotic) Eyes Wide Shut found the director once again studying the perplexing nature of dreams and reality, this time exploring them in a more personal and private arena: sexuality. As he did with Lolita, Kubrick created more than a film about sexual desire; he created a film about bitter romance, troublesome marital bonds, societal contradictions and, significantly, the fear of death.

An updating of the 1927 Traumnovelle (Dream Novel) by Arthur Schnitzler, an Austrian writer whose deeply psychological work resembled Freud's, the picture remains an unsettling blend of antiquated garishness and modern transgression -- an alternate sexual universe haunted by ghouls of the past, present and future.

In this universe "live" the healthy, handsome walking dead -- Dr. Bill Harford (an impressive Tom Cruise) and his wife, Alice (a slinky, wonderfully creepy Nicole Kidman), a glamorous, rich couple who appear the picture of storybook perfection. But like most supposed perfection, there are cracks in that portrait, and in their case, it's the usual: they want to screw other people (or at least they think they do). At a sumptuous party given by Bill's obscenely wealthy friend Victor (Sydney Pollack), Bill almost strays upstairs with two models and Alice flirts with a bizarre Hungarian man who looks like one of the cadaverous partygoers from The Shining. The next evening, in a fit of jealousy over Bill's near indiscretion (he ended up contending with a naked drug overdose), Alice confesses that she's had thoughts of cheating and, even worse, reveals that if things had been different, she would have thrown her entire life away for one flight of sexual fancy.

Unmasking something that usually remains one of those deep, dark secrets you don't tell your significant other, Alice deftly rattles Bill's perception of her fidelity and the strength of their marriage in a speech that makes his mind spin out of control (Kidman's performance here is superb.) After this confession, Bill is abruptly called away to confirm the death of a patient during which the daughter of the deceased makes a pass at him. The grief stricken but, considering the circumstances, kinky gesture helps Bill's decision to not immediately return home. Instead, he wanders the streets of New York and embarks on a sequence of actions that, though not as outwardly comic, somewhat resemble those in the Scorsese movie After Hours: He discovers a surreal sexual underworld that he's both attracted to and repelled by.

A prostitute, a piano player, a bizarre costume-store owner and his slutty Lolita-esque 14-year-old daughter lead Bill to the film's infamous ritualistic orgy sequence, during which participants are cloaked and masked, and naked women are used as sacrificial sex lambs. The gothic, terrifying yet titillating feel of this sequence walks a fine line between horror and parody and true to Kubrick's genius, manages to cross into both camps. The magnificent, exacting camera work and unrelenting music compel us to look, no matter what happens, and though I was actually a little scared the first time I saw this moment, I found myself highly amused--laughing even. If ever a person was out of place in a Bohemian Grove-like orgy, it is Tom Cruise's Dr. Bill. And yet, I was absolutely hypnotized, watching these moments like a waking dream and investing it with multiple meanings. What the hell is going on here besides a bunch of silly old rich men getting their jollies with beautifully breasted, long legged Helmut Newton models? And further, what do all of Bill's adventures mean? Are Bill's encounters simply nightmares that will damage his marriage beyond repair, or are they mere titillating fantasy -- fodder for a closer relationship and better sex with his spouse?

Well, I can't answer that. Given the picture's ominous tone, however, there is something definitely rotten within its slinky, Christmas-lit loveliness. Like the impeccable environment of The Shining, the aura of Eyes Wide Shut is one of beauty ready to be defiled, sexuality ready to be slaughtered, lovely exteriors that reek of formaldehyde. The pall that hangs over this picture is fear: fear of the unknown; fear of yourself or of others; and fear that if sex can lead to freedom, it can just as easily lead to death.

In fact, the picture can be viewed as a commentary on sexual attitudes in the last few decades -- a time when meaningless indiscretions can lead to horrifying blood-test results. It is no surprise, then, that Bill is a doctor and that throughout the film, he flashes his physician's ID as a police detective would his badge. "I'm a doctor," he constantly says, for both reassurance and intimidation. In a profession that requires intimate investigation of flesh that may well be on its way to the morgue, sex is serious. These unsettling references to AIDS, necrophilia and forbidden sex (not to mention Kubrick's own death upon bringing the film to completion, une petite mort of sorts) permeate the picture like one giant prick tease. In today's world, sex is still there for the taking, but at what cost and for what gain? Kubrick's frustrating, brilliant coda neither answers nor ignores its own questions. Rather it leaves us in a mysterious, contradictory mishmash of dream and reality, where not only are our eyes wide shut, but our legs are too.

Read more Kim Morgan at her blog Sunset Gun.

Comments

[mbaty]

This movie is great; in America our collective views about sex inform many entertainments, and Kubrick was exploring the dark fear and attraction of sex, of pushing personal boundaries, and also it was about secret societies manipulating the power of sexuality--and if Kubrick were alive he'd probably have a few more things to add. But this movie was written off when it came out, and it really has some unique, provocative ideas.

[Alvin4NY]

and it really has some unique, provocative ideas. *************
_____________________________________________

So what are they?

[wayoutleft]

i'm not sure whether one has seen or not seen more or less shocking orgy scenes one's self is really germane to how cruise's character sees them. kubrick has illustrated for me that fantasy life (neccessarily?) posits other human beings without free will, in a crippled, subservient state. furthermore, he finds that such subservient beings have been developed by a group with enormous ongoing tradition and resources. this changes (destroys?) the fantasy as he seriously confronts the fact that it's part of himself...

[Alvin4NY]

I have felt the same way about it, went and saw it twice because I was convinced I missed something the first time. However, I saw Albert Brooks "Defending Your Life" when it came out, and it didn't leave an impression one way or the other. Watching it twice in the last week, all these years later, it's become one of my favorite films. I'm willing to give the European version of "Eyes Wide Shut" a try, just to see if my perspective has changed. My biggest problem with the film was Tom, and how surprised he was by all of the encounters he came upon. How long had he lived in NYC? Had he never seen a peep show, been propositioned in the street, or by the wife of a close friend? Had he never flown to Nova Scotia, to see the total eclipse of the sun? (grin....)

[Kissydee]

I thought if anyone had been cast besides Cruise and Kidman it would have worked. He's too cocky for the role and she's incapable of playing anyone you're supposed to like.

[wayoutleft]

is kubrick saying that the New World Order, Illuminati version, has come to pass in the natural course of events, without a conspiracy?

links to the EWS corpus:

http://www.whale.to/b/gor.html

http://kentroversypapers.blogspot.com/2006/03/eyes-wide-shut-occult-symbolism.html

[JGatsby]

Great post. I want to watch Eyes Wide Shut again. The first time I didn't know what to make of it. At various times (some times at the same time) I was turned on, amused, repelled, anoyed, and confused. One thing for sure unlike 99% of Hollywood movies it made me think as do all of Kubrik's films.

[PeteBogs]

not sure if my previous post went through...

Kim - great review of a great film... glad to see the unedited version (which I saw in Europe during its initial run) is now coming to our shores... I defended this film from the beginning as classic Kubrick, and among his best work... I, too, was frightened by the orgy scene and thought, who else but Kubrick could've elicited that reaction? pure genius...

[ScooterLiddy]

Thanks for posting this. I enjoyed reading it. I hope it doesn't disappear too quickly into the ether due to lack of comments...

[FearlessFreep]

I'm one of those Philistines who failed to appreciate EYES WIDE SHUT. That repetitive piano chord in the last hour got really annoying! It's typical of Kubrick's contempt for internal consistency that the organist at the orgy has spoken admiringly of the women's T&A, but when we see him there he's blindfolded!

The movie might have worked better if it had been set in 60s London with a lead actor like Ralph Fiennes, instead of an oddly artificial contemporary New York --a city singularly unsuited to "artificial" treatment--and an oddly callow Tom Cruise. (Everything in it is "oddly" wrong.)

[grendl]

The problem with "Eyes Wide Shut', is basically Tom Cruise's character doesn't deserve the treatment he gets. He's faithful to Nicole every step of the way, and it's never established that the trip over the rainbow with the two models will ever see fruition.

If Stanley Kubricks message was that we are sinners for being tempted by the opposite sex, then why does Nicole's character get off scott free for being tempted by the sailor. It's a muddled albeit beautiful film.

And the pool scene with Sidney Pollack is interminable.

[AngryAmish]

My problem with the movie, besides the artificial, enervated world that Kubrik creates (a problem also crippling the grossly overrated "The Shining"), is this: as a 40-something gay man, I have experienced or observed more transgressive sexuality in a random Saturday night than Cruise's character experiences in his supposedly life-changing and oh-so-irony-free journey into the dark side of carnality.

The idea of orgies, of the polymorphous perverse, of S & M has become so common in some subcultures, subcultures that inform pop culture's aesthetic, that it is lethal to treat the subject of sexual transgression without something like the cinematic equivalent of a drag queen's knowing wink. Kubrik's dead seriousness renders the film laughable. At least for some of us. A lot of us, I would wager.

[YellowPanties]

You nailed it, sir.

I too felt that the denouement of sexual "depravity" or whatever Kubrick was after, turned out to be tame and almost risible.

Other than the nice photography, this film sucks.

[PeteBogs]

You guys get to have all the fun! This may have been tame for you, but it wasn't for Tom Cruise's character. Btw, the Kubrik name was changed to "Kubrick" upon their emigration to this country.

[dundeenatal]

I would have to agree. There is no authenticity in the "orgy" scene or the lead up to it. Those of us with a little more checkered past know that.