Review

by Joel B

Not Kubrick's best, but still fascinating

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.