After Hours, Kubrick Style.

Rating: 10/10 (30 July 2001)

Stanley Kubrick's last film "Eyes Wide Shut" is a film that is filled with beauty, danger, and ambiguity. The title of this film should have titled "Fear and Desire" because these are the two basic emotions that dominate this superb work of art.
WARNING! POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT!
Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise play Alice and Bill Harford, an affluent Manhattan couple. He's a doctor and she's an unemployed art curator. They have a young daughter and everything seems to be perfect, until one night during an argument while they're both stoned on pot (Alice more than Bill) Alice reveals a sexual fantasy about a Naval officer that she saw while she and Bill were on a vacation in Cape Cod. Of course, this revelation shocks Bill, and makes him jealous (the image of Alice making love with the Officer fills Bill's head). It is then where the fun really begins where Bill goes on a strange and comic journey (similar to the Scorsese film "After Hours") wandering the streets of Manhattan where the daughter of a dead patient of Bill's (who wants to have sex with Bill in front of her dead father), a prostitute, some drunk College kids, and the very young daughter of a costume shop all come on to him sexually. Bill's journey takes a more bizzare turn when ends up at a mansion in the countryside (He takes a cab to get there which is film's most humorous moment) where an orgy is taking place. From there is where it gets dangerous for Bill and possibly his family because of his journey and the things he has witnessed.

While watching "Eyes Wide Shut", the writings of Kafka came to. Bill is an Kafka-like character because like Kafka characters, he's filled with anxiety and torment in an atmosphere of fantasies, dreams, and unsettling realities. But ultimately this film is really about chances missed and opportunities avoided presented in the form of an erotic daydream that is enhanced by the film's stunning visuals. Kubrick and cinematographer Larry Smith do an outstanding job playing with grain, bright lights (backlighting, underlighting), and strong primary colors giving the film an odd, erotic and melancholy tone.
The performances are solid, particularly that of Nicole Kidman who really bares her soul( and her body in the film's opulent first image)in the revelation that rocks her husbands world. We really believe her as a wife who feels she's been taken for granted and possibly jealous of husband's success as a doctor. Her last line in this film is filled with irony (and totally Kubrickian) that is a fitting resolution for a couple going through some problems.
Although, this film has been dismissed by most people now, it will stand the test of time and be hailed as a masterpiece like every other Kubrick film. But for now, my eyes (and head) are wide open enough to see that it's masterpiece and will continue to see it that way.