Kubrick's slightest film

Rating: 6/10 (26 May 2012)

On repeat viewing, this is my least favourite Kubrick film. I do not think his leads are up to the task. Cruise is simply okay, as he often is, but Kidman is really quite terrible. Kubrick has a tendency to let his characters overact which can work out well (George C. Scott in "Dr. Strangelove") or not so well (Patrick Magee in "A Clockwork Orange). In Kidman's case, it's quite disastrous. 2 1/2 hours is far too long for such a slight story, and it seems to have been stretched out by slowing the dialogue to a deathly pace in most scenes. While the plot largely follows Schnitzler's novel, he has replaced the novel's conclusion with a puzzlingly arbitrary resolution that seems completely detached from the plot that precedes it.