An intriguing mystery

Rating: 7/10 (18 June 2013)

The thing that struck me most the first time I saw this was what a good movie mystery it is. We're following a character down the street; something's around the corner, we don't know what it is, neither does he...
That's still one of my favorite things about it. It's also a lot about sex - but it all feels very cold for us in the audience; nothing ever feels sexy. When I thought over Kubrick's films, this at first seemed an odd choice. Then I realized he has depicted sex a lot - but always in very non-erotic ways. For instance, "Lolita" is about an older man's desperate desire for a young girl. But it's his doomed attempt at finding happiness through possessing her that endures in the mind, not anything sexual.
"Eyes Wide Shut" depicts many characters trying to, or having sex with each other - but never in ways that seem sexy. One undercurrent is that people are, or are trying to, feed on one another, in an almost animal-like way.
Another theme is a husband, Dr. Bill Harford (Tom Cruise) trying to find a safe sexual outlet outside of his marriage, outside his wife (Nicole Kidman). Perhaps reflecting the fears of the times, almost every one he finds turn out to be potentially deadly.
There's also a secret society engaged in satanic sex rituals.
We are left questioning whether or not a woman was murdered after she offered herself as some kind of sacrifice in the doctor's place, when he is uncovered as an outsider who doesn't belong at their party. Questions left unanswered include: why do they allow the doctor to see and learn so much about them? And why would this woman do this (if, in fact, she does)?
Sydney Pollack's character Victor Ziegler may be the clue to our unraveling what's happening just on a simple narrative level. Take a close look at what he's doing right before doctor Bill enters his upstairs chamber, at the first party . For me, it confirmed my fears of about what Ziegler tells the doctor towards the end of the film (a scene that has my vote as the most frightening, diabolical dialogue scene of the decade). We'd like to believe Ziegler is telling Dr. Harford the truth - but the assurance we would feel if we knew he was is denied us.
The mystery surrounding the secret society is more compelling than the story that frames it, so when the conclusion returns to the issues the doctor and his wife are trying to resolve, things feel less interesting. Maybe this was another joke Kubrick was making - obsessions over sex can sometimes leave one with anti-climactic feelings.