some telling reactions...worth thinking about

Rating: Null/10 (6 September 1999)

Having read through several of the comments, I have the impression that Kubrick has hit a nerve so sensitive that half the people who hate the film don't even realize how they've been hit.
It occurred to me that Kubrick just might have been clever enough to also use that orgy scene as a representation of the movie audience and everyone who might be in it. Among the almost human masks are the Bosch-like monsters, leering, waiting for a vicarious thrill when Tom Cruise is unmasked and told to disrobe...nah, Kubrick wouldn't be THAT clever, would he?
I mean, it's almost as if he's not only staged the orgy, he's staged everything surrounding the film, teasing, playing on people's expectations...and then making a film about THAT.
Actually, I thought of Conrad's Heart of Darkness (or Copolla's Apocalypse Now) when pondering the structure and meaning of the film. You have to wonder what line is or is not being crossed here, or what line people pretend to cross but really don't.
Anyway, I don't think the film is "about" marital fidelity. It's about something much more interesting.