WOW (no spoilers)

Rating: 10/10 (9 February 2004)

This film has some of the best photography I've seen on any film. For me, this film raised the bar on good cinematography, so much so that I found myself thinking that the Lord of the Rings films actually didn't convey mise-en-scene well enough (I was surprised to find that simply showing grand vistas of fantastic places/creatures wasn't good enough for me). The pictures in Eyes Wide Shut alone sucked me into Kubrick's world completely. The film made me think that on most films each film frame conveys primarily one color/tint (they look bluish, reddish, greenish, yellowish etc.). The scenes in Eyes Wide Shut, on the other hand, captured in the same frame multiple colors (including black) so well that, it felt like the film had a higher resolution than it actually did (because my eye could resolve more details). The overall effect is that the images felt more real than those of most other films. Actually "surreal" is more appropriate, because Kubrick didn't settle for mere realism. It is said the film takes place in a dreamscape, partly *because* of the gorgeous color saturation.
The film itself is pure Kubrick. Like 2001: A Space Odyssey, it is all about the mystery and intrigue, never about the clear resolution. The other reviewers here have pointed out lots of juicy interpretation-bits, so I won't say more.