Eyes Wide Shut - a life-like feeling portrayl into the upper class world of psycho-sexual bondage. Spoiler material.

Rating: Null/10 (17 April 2004)

I saw Eyes Wide Shut when it first came out on video, in 1999. I liked it, but I felt somewhat removed from the underbelly of the high class social world. But the second time around, the whole film reached out, grabbed me, sucked me in, and then spit me out, sort of like Bill Harford (Tom Cruise) getting the boot from the scary, deep voiced, masked man, at the mansion. Like Bill, I felt overwhelmed by the whole `show' of psycho-sexual displays among multiple party after party, at the mansion, where men roamed around masked and caped, and women, all with hour glass figures, glided topless, with faces concealed by feathered masks. This incredible screen play written by Stanley Kubrick and Frederic Raphael is adapted from Arthur Schnitzler's novel. The film is superbly executed by Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, who play the two main characters.
Tom Cruise so convincingly plays Bill Harford, a young, but mature New York doctor. With his wife, Alice Harford (Nicole Kidman), they have a seven year old girl. Every year the two attend Victor Ziegler's (Sydney Pollack) annual holiday black tie dinner dance, held at a hotel. That night Bill and Alice innocently separate, only to find themselves in the arms of another. Alice warmed and mellowed from the champagne, dances the night away with a matured Hungarian gigolo. Meanwhile, Bill recognizes Nick Nightingale (Todd Field), the piano player, who is a former medical student friend of Bill's. Nick, married, a father of four, from Seattle, is now playing New York gigs to support his family, back home, in Seattle. Not soon later, two models are thoroughly enjoying their flirtatious moment with Bill. But the session is soon interrupted, when Bill is asked to meet Victor in an upstairs room. Mandy (Julienne Davis), a prostitute and Victor's playmate, is lying naked and drugged out, in a chair. Upon bringing her conscious, Bill confirms that she will be alright. Victor is eager to extinguish Mandy from his room immediately, but Bill insists that Victor let her rest for an hour. Bottom line, at this moment, Bill is smart, professional, and sensitive, and Victor is completely not.
That night, Alice and Bill suffer post party blues, in their bedroom together. They smoke a joint and begin to talk about their sexual thoughts. When Alice tells of her wanderings to another man, I had problems hearing the audio. It appears that she is not completely sure if she slept with another man or not. Needless to say, Bill is stunned. His naiveté about his wife's carnal desires is surprising, but this aspect is all part of the story. On the other hand, Alice accuses Bill of having sexual thoughts during his patient exams. Bill defends that sex is the last thing on his or the patient's mind, during that time. We believe Bill's claim. It is valid and makes complete common sense. Back at work, Bill begins dreaming of Alice having passionate sex with another man. Of course, the dream is like a black and white film, which is appropriate coming from Bill's thoughts. These thoughts of her infidelity eat away at his sense of security and trust.
At night, a prostitute picks up Bill, where else but on a street corner! When his wife calls on the cell phone, just before he is about to have sex with the hooker, he changes his mind about having sex. He pays the woman and walks away. Late that night, he stops by a night club, where Nick happens to be playing a gig. The two sit down and talk. Nick tells Bill of his next job at a mansion, where he is required to play blindfolded. Bill wants to find his `other desire,' just as his wife has admitted to her own. He wants to attend the mansion soirée. Nick gives Bill the password, `Fedaglio,' in which to enter the estate.
But before Bill attends the party, he must have the proper attire: a black tuxedo, a mask, and a cape. Purchasing the goods from `Over the Rainbow,' costume shop, in the middle of the night, with tux, cape, and gold decorated mask, he attends this dark, ritualistic, and cult-like party, full of topless women, with feathered masks and tasteful (are there any other kind among the high class?) sexual orgies in every room. Once at the party via taxi, a masked woman tells Bill that his life could be in grave danger and that he should leave. Bill stays, until that is, a clan leader asks him to repeat the house password, not the password to get into the house. Victor will later tell Bill that there is no other password. Once again, the masked woman comes to Bill's rescue sparing him full nudity in front of all and who knows what else. He leaves as he came, by taxi.
Now is it 4:00 a.m. when he arrives at home, and Alice admits that she was dreaming of f***ing so many men, that she could no longer keep track. She is in tears and Bill is disturbed by, what I will refer to as, his Fedaglio experience. The two turn in after their tumultuous experiences.
The next night, Bill brings a gift to the prostitute, with whom he was going to have sex. He learns from the roommate, that she has just been diagnosed with AIDS. This is the second wave of naiveté for Bill. He is completely stunned and glazed by the news. Gathering his senses in a coffee shop, he reads an article in the paper, that Amanda Curren has died from drug overdose. He views the body and recognizes it as `Mandy,' Victor's sex mate. Was Mandy a drug and sex addict? Victor confesses that she willingly took drugs on her own volition. Therefore, one would conclude no foul play. Nevertheless, Bill is neither pleased nor satisfied. Victor says to Bill, something to the effect, `Bill, you were never really invited to the party, and as a result, the guests put on a show for you, to shock you.' Bill replies with command, `no show should end up with a woman being murdered, Victor!'
Bill and Alice, now strolling through FAO Schwarz, with their little seven year old daughter, realize they both need to strengthen their relationship. They realize future adult temptations are in front of them. The film ends with our minds left to wonder how they will handle their own and surrounding relationships. I would definitely love to see an Eyes Wide Shut, Volume II. If the script worked, it would have to fit Cruise and Kidman in the present. I am sure the writers would have plenty of material with which to work. Eyes Wide Shut is a great spectacle of sexual tribalism, at its pinnacle. It reflects communal sexual ownership or bondage, in contrast to the struggles of monogamy and privacy, in a marriage, as depicted by Bill and Alice. Looking back, as to when it came out, it was highly underrated and valued, as to its importance and relevance of contemporary thought provoking issues. Possibly, at that time, mass culture was not in tune to the nature of this subject matter. If you have not seen this film, I highly recommend that you do. You will not be disappointed in the very life-like interpretative mood to this subject matter.