It is starting to snow ....

Rating: Null/10 (19 June 2002)

....and as the flakes start to pile up they form into a shape of a ridge, with winds and melting and refreezing constantly changing the shape into a potential avalanche...One miscalculation is all that it takes to bring the avalanche down which takes on a personality of its own separate from each snow flake's intentions... This is the essence of most all of Kubrick's work and this film is no exception. Each character walks into a trap set by their own empower- ment and the trap takes on characteristics that force the characters to reach for some means of escape which, much to each dismay, is simply another trap. I mentioned earlier in a review of this film that men are trapped into a role we pursue only to become something we despise. Turning our backs on manhood, however, is an act of manhood itself and the macho image is renurtured. For women it is no different. Their power lies in their attraction and turning their back on it mererly rebuilds them in attraction of another form. The women in this film show power over the men as collective sex objects, circling them in a mansion with an audience looking on behind masks. Masks empower the powerless, guiding predators down false path- ways that can bind them into more trappings. Dr. Bill can only escape his indulgence by having some woman play the liberating role. His duty to his wife pulls him away from one prostitute with a phone call. Mandy sacrifices herself to pay him back for saving hers. His marriage has different powers that lie beyond lust. Women have power as long as they attract men toward them but lose it entirely when that power en- gages, allowing them to be murdered, to set them against each other (who would believe a drug addicted prostitute in a court of law?), and to be made to feel cheap, like some ride at a carnival, even in their dreams. So why does Kubrick prevent the avalanche from falling completely in this film? Or, is he leaving us with a curiosity about whether or not this couple will survive in marriage? The deliberate slow pacing of Kidman's dialogue showed someone reaching for her thoughts as she was speaking as if Kubrick told her not to rehearse her lines, but to reach for words with her emotions just like we all do under stress. The lack of male nudity is a misperception here. The male ego is very nude in this film while the the female ego is behind masks. Male status is protected by the mask while women's is undressed, fitting the generation that Kubrick grew up with... So, keep stretching your minds folks...