Netflix: Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

[entelein]

Eyes Wide Shut

Alice Harford: Millions of years of evolution, right? Right? Men have to stick it in every place they can, but for women... women it is just about security and commitment and whatever the fuck else!
Dr. Bill Harford: A little oversimplified, Alice, but yes, something like that.
Alice Harford: If you men only knew...

This movie actually had some semi-interesting preludes to thought experiments about desire and fucking and loyalty, but it never really GOT anywhere. Perhaps it's because Kubrick shuffled off his mortal coil before the whole thing was completely in the can, but I think, too, there was 'bravery' in exploring this strange cult/club Cruise's character stumbles onto that could've been better spent actually moving the husband and wife through a really dynamic sea change, even if it was overlaid with the same restrained air gripping the rest of the film.

Or did I miss it?

Oh, but I loved the lighting - the use of natural room light, the bumping up of film exposure so that Christmas lights or chandeliers are the only thing giving illumination ...

I have memories of when this movie first came out, and I was working at the bookstore in the back room. This very nervous young man named Helke was in charge of Bargain Books, but spent a lot of time making sure that the semi-rare Arthur Schnitzler books were received properly and well-stocked in the main store. He was pretty much obsessed with the movie, and with reminding all of us how very much of a Kubrick fan he was. I think he was a pretty big reason why I never bothered seeing the movie until now, actually.

For all the pretense, I sure did luck out in getting a version of the movie with all the nudity and sex blocked out. Sigh. ;)

Comments

[k-sui.livejournal.com]

Shakespeare reference FTW.

[entelein.livejournal.com]

:)

[greydruid.livejournal.com]

I believe the American release had the sex blocked to get an R rating.

[entelein.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's right. I forgot about the ratings thing being straight up for the States.

[iko.livejournal.com]

I should read more of Schnitzler. I loved The Blue Room and enjoyed "Dream Story"/"Traumnovelle" when I read it. I do like a lot of the lines in the movie. And Kidman is amazing. I can watch her forever in this role.

Alice: I think we should both be grateful that we have come unharmed out of all our adventures, whether they were real or only a dream.

Bill: Are you sure of that?

Alice: Am I sure? Only as sure as I am... that the reality of one night, let alone that of a whole lifetime can ever be the whole truth. And no dream is ever just a dream. The important thing is we're awake now and hopefully for a long time to come.

[entelein.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I found her really compelling, and yet it was Cruise's character that was given this really dynamic journey to go on, and it was sort of frustrating.

[iko.livejournal.com]

Definitely. She's compelling because she has to be. She has to be the one so frightened of what is clearly a dream to provide contrast for him and his stoic nature.

Alice: We were in a deserted city and our clothes were gone. We were naked and I was terrified and I felt ashamed. Oh, God. And I was angry because I thought it was your fault. You rushed away to go find clothes for us. As soon as you were gone, it was completely different. I felt wonderful. Then I was lying in a beautiful garden stretched out naked in the sunlight and a man walked out of the woods. He was the man from the hotel, the one I told you about. The naval officer. He stared at me and then he just laughed. He just laughed at me. But that's not the end is it?

Bill: Why don't you tell me the rest of it?

Alice: It's too awful.

Bill: It's only a dream.

Alice: He was kissing me and then we were making love. Then there were all these other people around us hundreds of them, everywhere. Everyone was fucking. And then I.... I was fucking other men. So many, I don't know how many I was with. And I knew you could see me in the arms of all these men, just fucking all these men. I wanted to make fun of you, to laugh in your face. And so I laughed as loud as I could. That must have been when you woke me up.

As the film goes on, I see this adventure that Bill goes on and his lack of empathy with what's happening and how detached he is and you are right, it is so frustrating. But I think it makes the story work. It's strange: the majority of the substance of the movie is sort of... yawn. But when thought of as a whole, it's fascinating. How well do we really know our partners? What motivates us to make the life choices that we do make? Why do we hold ourselves back from tempation in one situation and not another? What could've happened to us if we took one path and not another? How life-changing can a single decision really be? I love the internal thought process that Eyes Wide Shut encourages in me, so I like the film.

[entelein.livejournal.com]

Heh, I think you're helping me appreciate this movie a little more. I just wish more of this had actually happened in the movie, to make the catharsis a bit more satisfying.

Structurally, though, I think a lot of the pieces aren't really meant to be understood until later, when you've had time to think.

[tunaman.livejournal.com]

I do seem to remember nudity and sex in the version that I rented from Netflix. Confusion???

[entelein.livejournal.com]

Maybe I selected the US R-rated one, but a lot of the out-and-out sex stuff in the mansion was blocked by digitally-placed robed figures. I mean, there was some nudity, but not like the 'original'.

[tunaman.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... maybe I'll have to rent it again. It's been a while since I've seen it, so I don't remember so well.

[firesign3000.livejournal.com]

i saw the uncensored version. yawn. i have to admit that i dont like tom cruise, so he gave the movie two strikes before it even started for me. other than that i found it to be...well..boring. ive been a kubrick fan for years, and im sad that his career went out with this one. i can only think that if he'd lived to complete it, it wouldve been a much better film.

[entelein.livejournal.com]

I can see Cruise turning you off. It seemed like around this time he was really starting to lose it, although I have to admit I loved his stuff in Magnolia, so, yeah.

I felt sort of sad and disappointed, too. Like maybe if Kubrick hadn't kicked it, he'd have realized that the stupid one-note piano music needed to be dialed WAY back, because after a while it was just humorous, and evocative of little else.