Netflix: Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Oct. 5th, 2006 07:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
enteleinEyes 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. ;)
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. ;)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-10-06 01:19 pm (UTC)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.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-06 02:02 pm (UTC)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.