Kubrick's masterpiece of surrealist exploration into human sexuality

Rating: 8/10 (3 March 2010)

The first shot of Eyes Wide Shut (1999) epitomizes the content that is elaborated on throughout Stanley Kubrick's 154 minute drama. The shot frames Nicole Kidman inside two red drapes, wearing a black dress which she then peels off to reveal only her naked body. There is no context for this scene, and it ends abruptly when the films title appears. From the beginning there is no doubt that this movie will be about sex, in every sense and stigma of the word. The highlighting of the female form at the very start embodies the way in which Kubrick's film relies on the titillation of the viewers through graphic sexual imagery to perform its own critique and revelation of human sexuality at the turn of the century. The film utilizes both the narrative involving a married couple and their deep rooted sexual desires, as well the spectator's perception and impression of the visual articulation on screen in its display the grand scope of human sexuality and what that entails. The viewer travels down detailed avenues of the most basic of human desires and its presence in society, depicting images of adultery, prostitution, homosexuality, child exploitation and implications of fatalism at the hands of promiscuity. Kubrick utilizes every facet of film art, production and distribution to articulate his expose on human sexuality, and this film stands out as highly controversial for how it visually depicts this.
The role of media saturation of sexuality in America is only a small portion of the films overarching expose on human sexual inclinations. The film's narrative revolves around the affluent lives of Dr. Bill Harford and his wife Alice, which provides the framework for Kubrick to address the virtue of the institute of marriage and the way in which people deviate from it. An integral scene in Kubrick's depiction of their marriage is a marijuana fueled argument between him and Alice regarding their respective notions of infidelity. Alice berates Bill for his implications that men and women harbor different sexual inclinations after he states that men view beautiful women, namely Alice, as simply a sexual object to be conquered, and sex is the only thing on their mind. Conversely, he feels women have an ingrained notion that sex is about security and reassurance, to which Alice is quickly and relentlessly ready to refute. She goes into depth in describing how she fantasized about a naval officer when they vacationed at Cape Cod the year before, and how she would have given everything up to have one night with this man. Kubrick deconstruct Bill's, and the viewer's, simplistic notion of gender dictating sexual desires with Alice's emotional monologue. This sets forth the rest of the film as Bill's own search for a sexual awakening once he is exposed to Alice's deepest and darkest sexual fantasies, the kind of fantasies which Bill adamantly denies at the beginning of the scene. From this scene forward is where Kubrick's sexual expedition begins, detailing the culture of sexuality in a way which no major, high-budget studio feature had attempted before.
The most notorious and amazing scene in this film is the ritualistic sex party which Bill attends. He clearly cannot resist the urge to witness what his friend Nick, who plays the piano blindfolded at the party, had described to him. This is the point in the film where Kubrick's pure and natural depiction of the culture of human sexuality is transformed into an indulgent and surreal sequence of sexual fantasy. The scene features dozens of masked spectators, all circling what seems to be a very religious ritual of sexuality. Masked women circle around a man donning a bright red robe, with incense burning and a very ominous chant continues throughout. These first moments of the party feature such motifs such as masks and a religious context to further separate the previous, more human sexual experiences, and transform the theme of sexuality into an ancient pagan ritual. This kind of stark contrast between the first portions of the film defines it as overly surreal and dream-like. Bill walks through the party, witnessing explicit sexual intercourse throughout the long tracking shot. Kubrick establishes such a grandiose mansion setting to further the viewer's surrealistic and fantastical perception of the scene.
The explicit nature of the aforementioned scene was too graphic for Warner to release, requiring superimpositions to avoid an NC-17 rating. But the effect on the viewer is not lost due to the changes. Just as Bill is taken completely by surprise by the events at the party, so is the viewer. As a participant in viewing this film, the viewer and the protagonist are both placed inside the dark fantasy of anonymous sexual encounters on an unbelievable scale. Kubrick leaves the viewer with so many questions about those events on screen, but all a viewer can do is interpret what such a surreal and fantastical sequence was supposed to mean within the frame of critiquing human sexuality. While the surrealistic sequence greatly contrasts Bill's other interactions throughout that night, it functions to further Kubrick's theme of sexual culture by contrasting the realities of marriage, prostitution, homophobia, and fatalism directly with the dark sexual fantasy portrayed at the mansion. This reveals the human nature of sexual desire and fantasies of such, while still grounding the narrative and its characters in their sexual reality.