Let the re-evaluation begin.

Rating: Null/10 (30 March 2001)

Trampled upon its initial release by audiences and critics alike, Stanley Kubrick's elegant and haunting final film Eyes Wide Shut will inevitably be rediscovered by a new generation of filmgoers and elevated to classic status. It's happened with almost all of Kubrick's other films, from Paths of Glory, to 2001: A Space Odyssey to A Clockwork Orange. And yes, I AM putting Eyes Wide Shut in their esteemed company, because, in terms of pure construction and stylistic invention, it is one of Kubrick's best films. I do not pretend to grasp every thematic nuance that Kubrick intended, --indeed, some seem as oblique and impenetrable as the man himself -- but there IS value to this film's method; it's an almost totally subjective movie, personalized to its characters moods and emotions rather then the audience's. Understandably, some were put off by this method, but patient viewers will be rewarded. I think too much has been made of the the film's "was-it-all-dream" ambiguity: Eyes Wide Shut total absurdist fantasy, but it also contains a great deal of emotional truth. The scene at the end of the film where Kidman and Cruise sit in their living room, seemingly after discussing a divorce, is one of the most realistic depictions of familial conflict I have ever seen. By turns, I found it to be very moving and very scary, and the so-called "artiness" of several scenes was for me a logical extension of the film's --consistent -- atmosphere. And, even if it is somewhat exaggerated in its presentation, SO WHAT? It's a Kubrick movie, so of course it will be stylized. And on that count, it's an unqualified triumph: there are colours and images here that will haunt you for days. (My favourite is the wall of golden lights at the party in the opening scene that reappears on a store front later on.) The orgy scene is unforgettable in the way that docking of the shuttle is in 2001: it's a purely original vision that defies our mos confident expectations. I also happen to love the score of this film, and I think that the performances -- particularly Tom Cruise, who did as good a job with his cipher of a character as anybody could have -- are perfectly attuned to the material. Is it a misogynistic film? Yes it is, to the extent that it comments on misogyny rather than practicing it. Remember that the orgy sequence is perceived subjective;y by Cruise, and not by us: the horror of the sex and the treatment of the women are constructions of his own biases and insecurities. And, on those terms, Eyes Wide Shut is not only not misogynistic, but bravely revealing of certain male attitudes towards sex. I do not find this to be an erotic or sexually exciting film, but I do think its observations and implications are very interesting. Kubrick aestheticizes sex so rigidly that it almost becomes comic...and, in many ways, Eyes Wide Shut is a very strange comedy. (Tom Cruise not getting laid in a film full of illicit sex? Get a few rewrites and hire Rob Reiner to direct, and you've got a holiday hit.) I have seen Eyes Wide Shut only a handful of times, but I have no doubt I will come back to it at least once a year. It's a richly textured, thought-provoking film that was unfairly bullied by American critics, who somehow were able to convince themselves that derivative and inferior films like American Beauty and Magnolia were enmblematic of filmmaking in 1999. Eyes Wide Shut was the best film of that year and hasn't really been matched since. I guarantee that it will soon be accorded the status it deserves, and not out of sympathy for the late Mr. Kubrick: he'll just be given his due.