A quick summary of “Eyes Wide Shut” from IMDB.com –
A New York City doctor, who is married to an art curator, pushes himself on a harrowing and dangerous night-long odyssey of sexual and moral discovery after his wife admits that she once almost cheated on him.
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Starring: Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman
Release Date: 1999
We started watching Eyes Wide Shit, I mean, Shut around 10.30pm. Ariel began reading his John Le Carre book about 15 mins into the movie. Neither Tom Cruise nor Nicole Kidman captured his interest. Did it capture mine? Not really. I simply persisted because I have been curious for the longest time. You see, I keep forgetting to queue this movie in Quickflix. Finally, here we are watching it one late Friday night.
I like looking at Nicole’s bone structure. Yes, I find her overall vibe a bit standoffish, detached, haughty, inaccessible, and pale. An ice maiden to the hilt. However, she’s Australian and I have a soft spot for Aussie artists plus I admire her for bravely leaving the Tom Cruise brand. So, I got the subtitles on and volume turned down low so that Migo who is sleeping next door will not be bothered. Oh my. Nicole has an exquisite abdomen, a very pronounced line ran from between her breasts to her navel. That’s it. The movie was all about her abs. Kidding. Ok, there was this compelling story of the personal “adventure” that Tom’s OB-Gyne of a doctor character went through over a period of one or two nights. Somehow, he stumbled into a hedonistic secret society where wealthy folks indulge in and act out their sexual fantasies wearing masks and costumes with paid women. Very interesting. Tom’s character got embroiled into this world of carnal pleasure but he himself didn’t quite participate in any of the action. He wanted to, but I guess his devotion to his family stopped him on his tracks.
The doctor’s adventure was trigerred by his wife’s admission in having the hots for a naval officer she happened to be in the elevator with one day when they were on vacation. For one moment, Nicole’s character wanted to have an affair with this man after exchanging a glance. But of course she did not. This revelation however disturbed Tom’s character greatly. Enough to push him into examining his own desires.
The conversation at the shopping mall towards the end of the movie was the redeeming scene. The Tom and Nicole characters decided to love each other and stick together (not forever because Nicole thought forever was overrated) despite the deep seated desires they had for other people that they DID NOT act on, unless I missed it as I found myself occasionally dozing off. The actual sex acts with other people happened in their heads only.
Hence the title “Eyes Wide Shut”. We, all of us have our eyes wide open, but they’re actually shut. Shut to our deep seated hidden desires and fantasies. The movie is all about the “opening” of Tom and Nicole’s eyes to their buried yearnings and actually owning up to it and telling each other “everything”. I recognize and appreciate their courage to be open and to be vulnerable about this truth. Quite simply, they trusted that their love will weather this storm.
Apart from the couple’s one love scene and nudity of so many women, this movie is quite dragging in pace. Me? What do I think? Without referring to Google, I actually managed to “get” Mr. Stanley Kubrick’s storytelling. For the sheer out of the box and brave subject matter, I give this movie a rating of 4.5/5. It’s 0.5 short of perfection because i dozed off a few times. A good film should wake me up despite any tiredness! Will I watch it again? Most certainly. I’d like to get all the nuances and innuendos in surround sound on a bigger TV. And of course to see Nicole’s, er, abs again!
A little trivia from Wikipedia: Stanley Kubrick died 5 days after showing Warner Brothers the final cut of the movie. It took 400 days to shoot this movie in the UK. Finally, this movie is an adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler‘s 1926 novella Dream Story.
EYES WIDE SHUT – myGloryBox Rating – ShelfIt!
How I rate the movies:
Pass it – not worth your precious time
Borrow it – worthwhile watching but don’t buy it
Shelf it – worthy of a space in your movie library
Gift it – it is so good, you want to share it
Shoti_baby says
Don’t want to watch it…
myGloryBox says
Hmp. Where is your sense of adventure, Luka? LOL. Oh well, baka nga antukin ka…