Movie Explanation and Possible Spoiler

Rating: Null/10 (13 September 2000)

Many critics and fans seem to be having trouble understanding Eye Wide Shut (EWS). Allow me to explain what is going on in this movie so that it can better appreciated. This information may be considered a spoiler although I personally don't think of this as a "surprise" movie or a "thriller" so it shouldn't matter much. EWS is a deep and erotic psychological study of sexual desire.
Most of the middle part of the movie is Bill's dream. Immediately after Nicole finishes telling Dr. Bill (in his bed) about her Naval officer crush to the time where he is back in bed crying and wanting to tell her everything, he has been asleep in his bed and dreaming. The first event of the dream is a phone call about the death of a patient and the last event is when he sees the mask on the bed. These events and all the events between are episodes in his dream. They are all surreal and they never really happened in Bill's life. The dream images are instigated by the events that Bill experienced earlier that evening including the party where he doesn't know anybody (which becomes the masked party in his dream), the sexual flirtations of the two women there, the near death of Victor's consort, and Nicole's revelations. The movie is concerned with the insecurities caused by sexual desire. Notice that after the dream, there is no reference in the movie to the mask (representing what Bill tries to portray to others as his false sexual indifference to anybody but his wife; his wife is more open and honest) or of Bill's strange "experiences". They were only part of Bill's dream. There is much to this film. Try to figure out what events in real life triggered which specific dream events. Enjoy.