Kubrick's Swan Song

Rating: 8/10 (6 August 2009)

Stanley Kubrick is a legend of film making, making classics such as The Killing, Paths of Glory, Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange and Full Metal Jacket. He is easily my favourite director and Eyes Wide Shut is the last film he ever made.
Set in New York Dr. Bill Hartford and Alice (Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman) are upper class members of society in an unhappy marriage. During a party both end up flirting with other people until Bill has to treat a woman who has a bad reaction to speedball. The following night during an attempted night of passion and smoking weed Alice relieves she nearly had an affair, which Bill off the edge. He looks to get his own back, first finding an prostitute before running to an old university friend who tells him of a special event that he plays the piano at, taking part in strange ritual. Bill sneaks in the event, and finds that it sex ritual. It is an orgy, but one of the women tries to warn Bill and he found out. After the orgy Bill becomes paranoid, fears he is being followed and that these people would attack his family and suffers guilt from the events.
Kubrick flair's for direction is shown once again. He tells a story extremely well, keeping your focus on the screen, unfolds the story gradually and keeps the mystery going. Kubrick is a very thematic director, as shown in his previous films. This time the themes are obsession and sex (similar to Lolita), the breakdown of marriage and the look at high society. There are small plot points, like the young girl sleeping with two older men, which add to film. Kubrick is magical behind the camera, filming some lovely shots, knowing exactly what the audience should focus on. He pays attention to detail, and has a love for tracking shots. He rarely has a need to make cuts, preferring to keep the film flowing.
But this film does have weaknesses. The weakest is the acting from the leads. Nicole Kidman is schizophrenic in performance, being wooden for the most time, but did have moments of brilliance. Tom Cruise is normally a good actor and he was better then his then-wife, but this is not his strongest performance in his career. I can picture that Cruise did this project thinking he can win an Oscar. It is believed that Eyes Wide Shut lead to their break up. Luckily the supporting cast for this film was good. The other major problem with this film is the pacing, being a bit too slow at times. There are some very long scenes in this film. But Kubrick is a man who knew what he was doing.
Kubrick is an artist. Eyes Wide Shut is his weakest film, but if this Kubrick at his worst, you can imagine what Kubrick was like at his best.
A film for Kubrick purists like me.