How disturbing sex(ual fantasies) can be...

Rating: 10/10 (10 July 2015)

I'm writing this with the chanting of the initiation scene of the masked ball running through my head, over and over again.
Kubrick's movies don't come alive on first viewing. At least they never did for me. It's with the second of third viewing that you begin scratching the surface of the first of many layers of meaning that his masterpieces have to offer. Last night was my second viewing of 'Eyes Wide Shut' and it left me disturbed, dumbfounded and questioning.
I haven't stopped asking myself: 'What is this movie really about?'. It is not simply about sexual desire, or lifelong commitment to another human being, nor is it about an illuminati kind of world that operates next to our society that we are completely unaware of. These are just the symbols that Kubrick plays with. But what do the symbols mean?
What I think Kubrick wanted to do with this movie, is to show how deeply disturbing sex and sexual fantasies can be. It is a feeling that can hardly be expressed using words, which is why Kubrick tried it with this film.
Bergman was on the same mission when he made 'Persona', which this movie strangely kept reminding me of. Watch it and see for yourself whether you can find the similarities. Keep an eye out for disturbingly explicit sexual fantasies that are being expressed by a woman. Hearing that as a man feels like being being stabbed in the heart by your own partner, laughing, which is exactly what Alice did in her sleep.
Side note: The cinematography of this movie reminded me of David Linch' Twin Peaks at times. Especially of the dream scenes.
When I woke up this morning, the first thing I wondered was: what if Alice was actually present at the orgy? The dream she described is very similar to the orgy scene at the masked ball, except she could hardly have been physically present. What if she was mentally present somehow? What if the whole thing was some sort of (collective) dream? A merging of sexual desires and fantasies. The place where they come true.
What is blatantly obvious is how important William's occupation and title as a doctor is. I don't know how many times he pulled out his ID throughout the movie to identify himself as Dr. Harford, but if you were to make a compilation of it it would be hard to believe that this was all in just one movie, instead a whole TV series. What does this mean? Why is his role as a doctor so important and how does it relate to what Kubrick was trying to achieve? I don't have the answer and there probably is not just one answer, but I feel the question is important. Does it have to do with identify? Status? Or with the fact that deep down, he is a good human being? He lives up to both the Hippocratic Oath as a doctor and his oath as a married husband. He's had at least 4 opportunities to cheat throughout the course of the movie, but he never did. It makes you wonder: why didn't he? 'Fidelio' (faithfulness) was the only word he knew and spoke with confidence at the intervention at the masked ball...
When he was called to Ziegler's room to fix the situation with the OD'ing prostitute Mandy, he did so in such a professional manner and we never saw the two models he was flirting with before, again. His profession and his oath are clearly more important to him than fulfilling his own sexual desires. Even though he may look and act like a flirt.
Was he being honest when he told Alice that he only thinks about the health of his client when he is in his role of a doctor? Was he mentally fidelio?
We know Alice wasn't. She admitted to have cheated on him mentally, which raises the question: is mentally cheating cheating as well? It certainly feels that way to William, who put on a fake smile when he saw Alice helping their daughter with her math. Their marriage was no longer the same.
The scene where William is sitting in the taxi, picturing his wife having sex with the marine, may be the most pivotal scene of the movie. You can feel how disturbed he is by the mere fantasy of his wife being unfaithful. It destroys him. And as a man, I know exactly what that feeling feels like. I know you do too.
Wrapping up, Kubrick beautifully showed one of the many paradoxes that we find ourselves stuck in as humans: to be able to physically fulfill our sexual desires, but not being able to live with them mentally and the exact other way around.