The Best Film of 1999

Rating: 10/10 (5 January 2000)

"Eyes Wide Shut" weaves its web of psychological carnage with a power that has nothing to do with taste, or preference. Kubrick's images are undeniable and very, very startling. The eye must watch. There is a remarkable trademark of Kubrick's that lies in his spacing of dialogue. It is never as simple as "He said" - cut to Her - "She said". That is the formula, but Kubrick always cuts away early. He leaves a discernible pause. This creates a note of discord (emphasized in the music score with its jarring one-note piano stabbings), in that everyone who speaks in his films appear to be studying one another. People speak in measured tones, but rarely communicate themselves well to one another. Many have spoken of Kubrick's "coldness" as a filmmaker, and it is true that he always keeps his characters at arm's length, distancing them from each other and us. But the reason behind this would appear to be that in doing so, the film's eye catches everything. Nothing gets overlooked in the heat of the moment, in the messiness of emotional embrace. We watch Kubrick's players watch.
I have heard tell of a comparison with "The Matrix", which I find especially perceptive. Here, the matrix is created by us, by our own psychological make-up. Which of course is more terrifying and pessimistic, as well as more truthful. While Kubrick unsettles with his world of penetrating observers, there are moments of participatory activity, but tellingly, it occurs in dream. Kidman's character is frightened by her dreams of actively humiliating and degrading her husband, more still because she secretly revels in it. Cruise, on the other hand, goes on a tripped-out 48 hour adventure in which he tries desperately to play the role of "outsider" his wife so desires, only to be discovered, revealed and publicly shamed. Kubrick's contrasts are obvious, but sooooo compelling: Kidman is active and cruel in her dream-life, Cruise is passive and reflective in his waking existence. As the film ultimately asks at its conclusion, is one more innocent than the other?
"Eyes Wide Shut" may not be the most optimistic portrayal of a marriage and its strengths, but Kubrick has again, and sadly for the last grand time, allowed us to see through his eyes a world where the notion of communication is not taken for granted. His people struggle to express, and seem all the more human for it. Let it be said that Kubrick's eyes were always wide open, and to the details most of us figured too mundane to truly appreciate. He will be greatly missed.