Kubrick misunderstood again. So what else is new?!

Rating: 9/10 (21 July 2001)

EYES WIDE SHUT was the last film director Stanley Kubrick worked on before his untimely death on March 7, 1999. And given that virtually all of his films have been misunderstood on first initial viewings, it isn't surprising that this psychosexual drama, containing nudity and sexual content coming just within a stone's throw of being classified as soft-porn, should arouse widely divergent views.
Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman are a very upscale Manhattan couple who, following a lavish party at the home of a good friend (Sydney Pollack), debate sexual infidelities after Cruise is spotted by Kidman flirting with a couple of models. What follows is an odyssey of sexual tensions for Cruise, including a very strange, almost Edgar Allan Poe-inspired ritual at a Long Island mansion featuring many naked people.
I really can't go into any further detail about EYES WIDE SHUT. I believe it to be a fitting end to the life's work of one of the greatest post-World War II film makers. But it is a very complex film, not easy to describe in simple terms. Kubrick is deliberately ambiguous in his approach to the material (inspired by Arthur Schnitzler's "Traumnovelle"), which I think is what really bewilders, if not angers, a lot of people. Like everything Kubrick has made, it requires repeat viewings to get the full impact. It is very lengthy, and its nudity and language make it very unsuitable for anyone under the age of 17. Otherwise, however, EYES WIDE SHUT is at the very least one of the most intriguing films from a director who clearly inspired many other great ones, including Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and Brian DePalma.