Better written but less consistent than the novella

Rating: 8/10 (11 November 2011)

A film you're not likely to forget. Kubrick's slow "Barry Lyndon" pace works nicely, the plot is intriguing enough, acting and score are excellent. The film is much better written than the original novella -"Dream Story" by Arthur Schnitzler-, which is very poor literature indeed. Actually, the novella is more like a draft of a novel yet to be written than anything else. Fortunately, it has been written, if not by Schnitzler. Kubrick also threw in some drugs, several homosexual aspects and two new characters: Victor Ziegler and Mandy. Not all of these additions are improvements. The stoned couple does reveal some secret thoughts, but the gay elements don't add anything, quite the contrary. In the novella, the street incident has nothing to do with gay bashing but with death in duel, which fits nicely between the deceased patient and driving to the orgy in a hearse. Mandy also doesn't add anything except her nice body and some extra confusion. She ends up in the morgue, and Victor claims she was the "mysterious woman", but he's definitely lying. If you watch closely enough (it's a hard job, but someone has to do it), you see their bodies are different; if you're lazy, just verify the credits, and you'll find that, in real life, one is called Julienne Davis and the other Abigail Good. Are we expected to overlook this, or is it an extra "dreamlike" layer deliberately added by Kubrick? The nice thing for an author or a director dealing in "dreams" is that logical inconsistencies are part of the game! This said, the novella, while poorly written, is less inconsistent than the movie. Schnitzler's intruder is betrayed at the orgy because he's the only one not to change costumes, and -speaking of costumes- the shop owner's daughter is caught wearing a whig and sitting with two gentlemen dressed as judges. I fail to see why Kubrick had to turn these into Japanese. (Incidentally, Marion Nathanson's fiancé, a historian according to Schnitzler, is a mathematician in the film. As neither detail has any importance, one wonders why such changes are made at all.) Most importantly, Schnitzler's password for the orgy is directly linked to the woman's infidelity fantasy; it's a pity that Kubrick threw away this crucial entrance key to the man's fantasy. The novella ends with the mask on the pillow. If only Kubrick had done the same! His last scene, trivial and cheap, is a complete letdown.