Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman star as a married couple entangled in an intricate web of jealousy and sexual obsession in Stanley Kubrick's final cinematic offering. At a Christmas party hosted by wealthy, unconventional Victor Ziegler (Sydney Pollack), provocative advances and innocent flirtations arouse suspicion as high-society physician Dr. William Harford (Cruise) and his sexy wife, Alice (Kidman) watch each other from a distance. Alone later, this seemingly perfect couple confront their intimate sexual fantasies--which don't include each other. Caught between reality and illusion, jealousy and obsession, William struggles with his inner urges. Will he act on his erotic fantasies or keep them hidden deep inside? Sometimes a man can see more clearly with his Eyes Wide Shut.
Kubrick's final work is based on the novella Traumnovelle ('Dream Novel') by Arthur Schnitzler, and is saturated throughout with that uneasy sense you get from those dreams that leave you momentarily confused about the difference between real and unreal. Tom Cruise plays New York Doctor Bill Harford who, after some frank admissions from his wife, works his way through a series of erotically charged situations, culminating in a masked orgy at a mansion. Sex, power, deceit, lust, fantasy, ritual, secrecy, and the dreamlike escapism from everyday life these provide are explored masterfully in this dark and laborious depiction.
Not Kubrick's best, but still fascinating
Posted: 06 December 2008