Author: Anne McCormick
Date: 10 May 2020
Eyes Wide Shut, 1999
Director: Stanley Kubrick, the USA
Actors: Tom Cruise (Bill Harford), Nicole Kidman (Alice Harford).
The plot of the film Eyes Wide Shut, shot by the brilliant American director Stanley Kubrick, is based on the novel Traumnovelle. Austrian writer Arthur Schnitzler wrote the book, and it means "dream story." Traumnovelle was created in 1925-1926, and its author was familiar with Sigmund Freud and was influenced by his ideas and theory of psychoanalysis.
The plot of Traumnovelle begins with a masquerade ball, after which the couple confesses their fantasies. This circumstance causes mutual jealousy and a desire for betrayal. Moreover, the name "Dream story" does not give us a clear idea of whether it was a wife's dream, or it was a real experience of the spouse. The husband accidentally meets a school friend, and he offers him to attend an extraordinary event - a ball. At that mysterious ball, all the present people were dressed in costumes and masks, and only those with the password could enter. Unfortunately, the protagonist's identity gets revealed quickly, and a certain mysterious lady pays for this reveal with her life.
The plot of this short story unfolds in the 30s of the last century. And the Stanley Kubrick movie changes the setting from the 30s to the 90s. Why is this possible? Is it because nothing has changed in society? Jealousy, love, and sex still rule the community.
The Eyes Wide Shut movie's plot focuses on the Harford family. Bill Harford is a successful doctor who treats wealthy clients. His wife, Alice, is a housewife. She is involved in raising her daughter. The Harfords are prosperous and very wealthy. We see a luxurious family house in a prestigious area of New York. We also see beautiful interiors and expensive clothes for the characters. Everything seems to be fair, but when the couple looks at each other, it is as if they almost do not see each other. Family life has become a habit.
And so they go to a party stylized as a masquerade ball, just like in the "Traumnovelle." Then a series of events takes place when the couple gets acquainted with other guests. They have the opportunity to flirt incognito and are okay with this flirtation, but still do not cross the forbidden line. Treason was possible, but it did not happen.
But the heroes have already changed. At home, Alice suddenly begins to talk about her sexual fantasies. It was a memory of an occasional brief meeting with some sea captain. Alice had nothing to do with him, but her memory kept coming back and back to him. Bill was unable to listen to his wife's revelations; his jealousy rose from somewhere below.
A man tormented by jealousy walks around the city. He seems to be looking for forbidden entertainment to take revenge on his wife, but also committing his revenge only in mind, not physically. It's fascinating to watch Bill's torment, and anxiety creeps into my soul - all this is not accidental, and will not lead to anything good.
What do we see? Developing the plot of Traumnovelle, Bill meets his old friend, a musician, in one of the nightclubs. And he gives him a password that opens a passage to a bizarre closed party. All the people there wear masquerade costumes and masks. And the party master quickly calculates that Bill is a stranger, and he faces death. Salvation comes from a masked lady who pays for it with her life. Everything is repeated in detail, as in Traumnovelle.
Stanley Kubrick makes this movie semi-realistic - semi-mystical. We do not know for sure whether this is reality or a terrible dream of heroes. When it seems to us that this is a dream, an obsession, we suddenly see Bill's mask on the bed of sleeping Alice. And it seems to us that Alice herself invites her husband to tell the truth about what happened to him, and is even ready to forgive him.
This film is Kubrick's last film. He had been preparing for a long time. The producer chose a complex plot that can be discussed endlessly. He carefully selected the actors. Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman were also spouses in life, and the problems of satiety and boredom were familiar to them as well.
Kubrick carefully selected the streets of the city where events took place and where the hero rushed about in his jealousy. The American producer carefully focused on the details of the characters' house, and even on their clothes. The lighting in the home was so natural as if we were walking in these rooms. They say that the interior of the apartment of the characters was similar to the house of Kubrick himself.
What do people feel when they are obsessed with jealousy? It is scary to consider these feelings through the paintings that live in the imagination of a jealous person. And it is jealousy that sometimes pushes a person to treason. Generally speaking, the Eyes Wide Shut film is a film about family relationships, you can endlessly watch it by yourself and with your family.
This film is a masterpiece, the same as The Shining of 1980 and Full Métal Jacket of 1987. Eyes Wide Shut was released 12 years after Full Métal Jacket, and the public expected it. And this new film had exceeded all the expectations! Although the film was controversial and caused many debates, the movie does not leave anyone indifferent.
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Roman Polanski
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Stanley Kubrick