...a visually stunning achievement, a meticulously photographed exercise in mood and imagery.
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The films of Stanley Kubrick have never been easy. Not to define, not to categorize, not to understand. So it goes with "Eyes Wide Shut," the filmmaker's last motion picture before his death in 1999. Steven Spielberg said that Kubrick never made the same movie twice, that he always tried for something different. Some were masterpieces, like the black comedy "Dr. Strangelove," the sociopolitical satire "A Clockwork Orange," the antiwar drama "Paths of Glory," and the lyrical outer-space saga "2001." Others were near greats: the gorgeously photographed "Barry Lyndon," the wickedly bizarre "Lolita," the epic "Spartacus." Even Kubrick's flawed films, like "The Shining" or "Full Metal Jacket," transcended the work of his contemporaries. It's fitting, then, that Kubrick go out in style, with an uneasy film like "Eyes Wide Shut," one that had critics divided and audiences baffled.
Now, we have "Eyes Wide Shut" in high definition picture and sound, which might just help to divide critics even further since neither the picture nor the sound is exactly the epitome of "high def." But with a slew of extras, at least audiences will get a better idea of what Kubrick was up to in the movie.
Inspired by Arthur Schnitzer's psychosexual "Traumnovelle" ("Dream Story"), "Eyes Wide Shut" was co-scripted, produced, and directed by Kubrick. It is a Freudian look at the lives of a seemingly happy married couple, Dr. William Harford (Tom Cruise) and his wife Alice (Nicole Kidman), attractive New Yorkers with money, security, a nine-year marriage, and a seven-year-old daughter. Then one day things begin to fall apart. Alice confesses an erotic fantasy to her husband, and he, having always maintained his fidelity to her, suddenly feels threatened by her honesty. Although she tells him she has never been unfaithful except in thought, it perturbs him and he becomes jealous, anyway, going out on the town in a funk. During the course of the next day and a half, he experiences a sexual odyssey that opens his eyes to the world around him and to his relationship with his wife, a relationship he had apparently taken for granted all the years of his marriage.
His sensual adventures increase in complexity throughout this period, each time taking him to the brink of infidelity. Yet each time, fate steps in and saves him. He must fend off two ravishing models, the grieving daughter of a recently dead patient, a street-corner hooker, the roommate of the street-corner hooker, the very young daughter of a costume-shop proprietor, and a gay hotel clerk. His escapades culminate in an elaborately staged and exceedingly creepy orgy in a country mansion, a sequence with the tone of "The Shining" or Mozart's "Don Giovanni" to it, and one that in turn takes the story in the direction of a mystery thriller.
In all probability, Kubrick doesn't expect the viewer to believe that all of these ominous and sexual encounters really happened so quickly; and, thus, we must view them as more probably the workings of William's imagination, a walking dream, as he experiences a psychological awakening.
All well and good, but the more I watch this film, the more convinced I am that Kubrick meant it as every bit a satire as "Lolita" or "Dr. Strangelove." The director often asks his actors to overarticulate their dialogue, sometimes to comical effect. As the husband and wife test one another's fidelity (note the password to the manor house is the title of Beethoven's opera, "Fidelio"), we get some amusing coincidences. The Hungarian lothario the wife meets at a party is surely a parody of a seducer. The prostitute has books on sociology in her apartment, and the color of her apartment-house door is a vivid red. Then, too, you'll notice references to almost all of Kubrick's other films in this one: a dance tune from "The Shining," costumes reminiscent of "Barry Lyndon," a young Lolita-like temptress, and so on. I can only assume that while Kubrick was making serious points about love and marriage and faithfulness, he was also poking a little fun at the seriousness of it all.
The American poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti defined poetry as "what exists between the lines." Perhaps Kubrick was, above all, a poet. He used images the way writers use words. Ferlinghetti also wrote that "Like a bowl of roses, a poem should not have to be explained." When you try to explain Kubrick's films, they don't seem to amount to much. What was "2001," after all? One could spell out its plot, like that of "Eyes Wide Shut," in a minute. But watching these movies unfold is the experience. Maybe one should leave "Eyes Wide Shut" unexplained. Otherwise, it isn't much more than a husband learning to better appreciate and understand his world and his wife. On second thought, maybe that's more than enough.
Video:
I suppose there will always be a degree of controversy concerning the framing ratio of Kubrick's films for home viewing. The fact is, Kubrick shot his later films in a 1.37:1 aspect ratio, as he did "Eyes Wide Shut," and then he resized them for theatrical exhibition. He cut "Eyes" to a 1.66:1 ratio for European theater showings and 1.85:1 for American theaters. But here's the catch: Before he died, Kubrick requested that all of his films be transferred for home viewing at their original camera negative ratios, which is what Warner Bros. did with their last batch of Kubrick DVDs. Here on HD DVD, however, we get the 1.85:1 framing (or 1.78:1, filling a widescreen television).
Now, high-def or no high def, remember that Kubrick shot most of this film in natural light, so we find many of the scenes looking darker than usual, especially indoor settings. Add to that the fact that there is a modest film grain present most of the time, a soft focus, and some intentionally golden hues, and you get a picture that is not exactly everyone's idea of high definition. Indeed, the image, despite the 1080 resolution, is more than a tad fuzzy and rough in appearance. However, the black levels are incredibly deep, inky black, and when Kubrick wants the picture to look normal and natural, the image is just as bright and well focused as any movie you'll see. Therefore, although "Eyes Wide Shut" is one of the most beautifully photographed and artistically framed motion pictures of our day, that doesn't mean its color schemes, camera focus, or lighting effects will appeal to everyone, particularly HD fans. I'd say the director was controversial in every department to the very end.
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