Marriage is always under siege

Rating: 9/10 (12 March 2000)

(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon.)
Eyes Wide Shut is not the self-indulgent, opaque film that I had been led by some reviews to expect. It is clear and focused with an important and worthy theme. Kubrick is exploring the nature of human sexuality in light of recent conclusions derived from evolutionary biology. The theme can be stated simply: 'marriage is a fortress continually under siege.' To be able to use Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman as his married couple, who not so incidentally are actually married to one another, was quite a coup since it lent accessibility and immediacy to his theme. We are able to catch glimpses of what their married life might be like and to see that marriage played out against the temptations of a cosmopolitan lifestyle.
Cruise plays Dr. Bill Harford, an attractive, high status, confident male who has always deceived himself about his sexual nature, and the nature of women and especially the nature of his wife, Alice. They go to a party and act out some 'teasing themselves' roles, as they have undoubtedly done before. Nothing comes of it since they are circumspect people. But the next night stoned on marijuana Alice decides to strip away her husband's smug confidence about her nature and expose to him the truth about feminine sexuality, and so tells him a little story about how she was moved to abandonment by just a glance from a man in uniform. Her expression is so vivid and powerful that Bill, stunned and shocked, begins to imagine this event that never took place, an event Alice has assured him, might well have taken place. As he visualizes, he begins to explore himself as various expressions of human sexuality are thrown his way, the prostitute, the gay-bashing young men, the teenage girl entertaining older men...etc. What he sees behind his mask watching the enactment of a secret medieval pagan ceremony tempts and enlightens him.
This film did not work well for a general audience for several reasons. One, many people did NOT identify with the privileged and glamorous couple. Two, the resolution of the theme was without the usual violence and/or sexual indulgence common in contemporary American cinema, a disappointment for some. Three, many young couples viewing the film together or at least in light of their own marriages, were made uncomfortable and threatened by being reminded of their own temptations and frustrations. To have the truth of our duplicitous natures rubbed in our faces, as it were, is not something everybody wants to sit still for. Most people lie to themselves about sex and their sexual behavior and especially their hidden sexual desires most of the time. Kubrick wanted us to see how compromised we really are. Finally, some were disappointed by an ending in which we see that we are human, all too human, and we have to accept that and live with it. Bill, realizing what he has done, not so much in action, as in his heart, cries out to Alice, what shall we do now? And she wisely says (because she has already figured this out) 'Be Grateful,' one day does not make an entire lifetime.
What is wonderful about a film like this is that, instead of going to the movies, fat and comfortable with the steak and wine in our bellies, expecting to be diverted from the irritations of our lives and to be massaged by the story upon the screen (as in say, You've Got Mail (1998) or Titanic (1998)) instead we are confronted with some uncomfortable truths about our own lives, and made to squirm. Our eyes are indeed wide shut, and we kid ourselves and tell ourselves lies about who we are sexually and what we really feel and want. Marriage is a compromise with the world and with our nature. Something is gained and something is lost, but this is no perfect world; and just as it is better to be respectable and a member of the establishment than to sleep in the streets, it is better to marry and maintain that marriage against our animal nature than it is to toss it away.
Kidman is mesmerizing and reinforces her reputation as great talent. As always she becomes the character she is playing. Cruise is clever, cute and has great timing. The sets are crisp and absolutely right for the story, and the dialogue is first class. The sometimes annoying score is appropriate. But this is not a great movie. Some of the scenes could have been sped up, and Kubrick did play the suspense card a little too slowly at times. I would rank it with the best of Kubrick's work, somewhere between Dr. Strangelove (1964) and The Shining (1980), superior to Spartacus (1960) but not quite on the level of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Certainly we see the mark of the mature artist here in both theme and treatment.
For those interested in an academic discussion of the theme (and possibly where Kubrick got some of his ideas) I recommend the following books on human sexuality from the point of view of evolutionary psychology:
Baker, Robin. Sperm Wars: The Science of Sex (1996)
Diamond, Jared. Why is Sex Fun? The Evolution of Human Sexuality (1997)
Margulis, Lynn and Dorion Sagan. Mystery Dance: On the Evolution of Human Sexuality (1991).
Ridley, Matt. The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature (1993)
Russell, Robert Jay. The Lemur's Legacy: The Evolution of Power, Sex, and Love.(1993)
I especially liked the latter two. No longer does a man have to ask, 'What does a woman want?' It's pretty clear and understandable. (She wants to have her cake and eat it too.) And of course we always knew what a man wanted.