EYES WIDE SHUT A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 1999 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): *** 1/2
The late Stanley Kubrick had a gift for laying raw our emotions in a way that could make us quite uncomfortable as we examine our normally suppressed feelings. In A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, he forced us to look deep within our souls and consider our true feelings about violence. In other films like DR. STRANGELOVE and FULL METAL JACKET, the subject was militaristic patriotism.
In EYES WIDE SHUT, writer and director Kubrick tackles a subject, sexuality, which American audiences aren't used to considering seriously. Although films like THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY and AMERICAN PIE use sex for comedic purposes and X-rated films are available for explicit sexual fantasies, most movies avoid any serious treatment of sexuality. Americans, after all, are quite comfortable with movie murder but much less so with cinematic sex. The MPAA, for example, is happy to award a film an R when human beings are shown hacked to death. On the other hand, explicit lovemaking is certain to run the risk of the dreaded NC-17.
Real-life married couple Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman spent almost 2 years under Kubrick's tutelage during the making of EYES WIDE SHUT. He taught them how to take the risk of completely letting go of their egos and inhibitions. Normally cocky Cruise, for example, plays a man who rapidly loses control as he finds himself sucked into a sexual whirlwind. Kidman, known for her perky humor and striking good looks, plays a woman obsessed by unfulfilled, adulterous, sexual desires.
Cruise and Kidman play a wealthy, married couple named Dr. Bill Harford, a general practitioner, and Alice Harford, a currently unemployed art gallery manager. His lucrative Manhattan practice means that they move in the best circles. Along with their lovely daughter, they appear to form a model family -- in all senses of the word "model."
As the story opens, the Harfords are off to a large, lavish Christmas party hosted by one of Bill's superrich clients, Victor Ziegler (Sydney Pollack). At the party, two luscious, young women hit on Bill, while, in the other room, a dashingly handsome, older man flirts excessively and explicitly with a plastered Alice.
The man brings up the subject of Ovid, the poet of love as he tries verbally to seduce Alice. She reminds him that Ovid ended up alone in some remote area. He agrees, but points out the fun Ovid had before then. This scene is an omen and arguably the key one in the movie, for it poses the question of whether such risky sexual activities are worth it, even if the price is devastatingly high.
The scene on which the story turns happens soon after the party. High on pot, Alice reveals a truth to Bill so striking that their love is never the same again. She confesses that she was so smitten by a Naval officer that she glimpsed once in a hotel lobby that she vowed to herself that she would leave her husband and daughter, if need be, for a single night of bliss with that officer. Moreover, she still thinks erotically of him. She claims this does not diminish in any way her love for Bill and their daughter.
The image of his wife having sex with this stranger is something that Bill can't shake. His waking moments are filled with daydreams of his wife having passionate sex with the sailor. This affair that she didn't have, but wished she did, haunts him like demons that he can't exorcise.
Once their bonds are thus shattered, he, for the first time, becomes truly vulnerable to sexual advances from others. When he's propositioned by a friendly streetwalker, he accompanies her home, not quite sure if he thinks this is a good idea or not.
In a movie that's surprisingly funny at times, the hooker needs him to place his order. "What do you want to do?" she asks with grin. After an awkward pause, Bill smiles back at her, not knowing quite what to say. "What do you recommend?" he finally asks as he would of the sommelier when choosing just the right wine at one of the fancy restaurants he frequents.
With a taste, and only a taste, of life on the wild side, his next encounter becomes life threatening and the subject of the mystery that makes up the body of the story. He attempts to crash an extremely secret orgy. (The brief orgy scene is the one in which American audiences are "spared" the embarrassment of seeing intercourse. We have digital fig leaves in the form of extra bodies inserted in front of some of the obviously copulating couples. These few seconds of changes keep the movie from getting an NC-17. The rest of the world gets the director's cut. If the characters had committed murder instead of sex, no cover-up would have been required.)
As has been widely reported, Kidman's performance is stellar and will undoubtedly get her at least a nomination for an Oscar. Her acting stays right on the edge. Cruise's acting is no less impressive. His wide, horrified eyes make the terror in his heart palpable. He's excited about the possibilities of illicit sex and then panic-stricken at the outcome.
Larry Smith's oversaturated, grainy cinematography depicts well the grime that has entered the characters' heretofore-spotless life. Jocelyn Pook's loud, staccato piano score for the film reminds us of Bill's fear and panic, as if we can hear his heart beating out of his chest.
The rich picture leaves us with so much left to discuss, the film's many religious allusions being just one topic out of many.
"Life goes on," Victor lectures Bill. "It always does. Until it doesn't. But you know that, don't you?"
Yes, life does go on for Bill and Alice, but the ground has been shifted by the earthquake that has occurred between them. What will happen next is undoubtedly much more complex than the last scene implies. In this movie, to which there will most certainly not be a sequel, it is left to audiences to decide the fate of the tragic couple. In a film that revels in its ambiguity, the ending is the most intriguingly ambiguous of all.
The best filmmakers provide the best questions, not the easiest answers. It is in the not-quite-resolved conclusion that this film serves as a fitting tribute to Kubrick's legacy. He will live on forever in our hearts and minds.
EYES WIDE SHUT runs 2:33. It is rated R for strong sexual content, nudity, language and some drug-related material and would be fine for teenagers only if they are older and mature.
Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com
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