Arthouse T & A

Rating: 4/10 (18 May 2001)

Think about this: if you didn't know this was directed by Stanley Kubrick or told someone else directed it, would you have liked it? I've seen too many cases of kiss-butt for this film than any other in recent history. Sort of like the folks who say they like Shakespeare just to be considered smart and full of culture.
You can argue the film is a deep study of "human covenants," relationships, trust, vulnerability....but take away many of the gratuitous nude shots and the stars "CRUISE KIDMAN KUBRICK" (jeez, I expected a little "tm" trademark next to each name), and you will see there's not much left. Just like some positive reviews of the film Striptease claim that film was a "clever comment" blah blah were unfounded, considering if you put lesser known stars in that one you'd have a late-night T & A flick like the ones shown weekends after midnight on the USA cable network.
I knew Eyes Wide Shut was going to be a bit one-sided on the nudity element once I saw that the very first shot was Nicole Kidman dropping her dress. There seemed to be several scenes like this where she is posed naked, getting undressed, putting on a bra, standing in front of a mirror, etc. and they have nothing whatsoever to do with the story. Interesting how we never saw multiple scenes of Cruise doing the same kind of thing, naked and pulling underwear on or off--guess the heterosexual males in the audience would complain about that.
More chances to see Kidman naked are in Cruise's "tormented" visions of her and another man (which seem to pop up in the story whenever a certain amount of time has passed in which no breasts are seen, kind of convenient), and these "visions" fail to come across as tormenting because they are too forced and bathed in blue hue, giving them a feel of something out of a direct-to-video "erotic thriller" with Shannon Tweed and Andrew Stevens.
All these problems are made even more messy by the weak material Kidman had to work with when she was given the task of having to laugh in her sleep, then deliver a dialogue about her dream. Even her argument with Cruise about him flirting at the party seemed a confusing one considering the excuse to not sleep with the man she was dancing with was "I'm married..." (and she never admitted she had the opportunity) an excuse she wouldn't accept from her husband when he said that's why he didn't have sex with two models.
The mysterious gathering at the mansion? Seemed like a lot of hooplah just for guys to get to have sex with hookers. Okay, if that's what was happening. I admit to attending some interesting "events" in my life and sex was never made THAT symbolic--I found the Howard Stern mentality rather annoying that the women at the mansion looked like they were made from the same mold, were eager to paw and touch each other and were all accessibly naked while (and I assume the cloaked figures WERE men) 98% of the guys were covered head to toe. Many people don't realize that for the U.S. release many scenes of copulation were blocked by digital images of people!
I was very suspicious of the intended audience as well by the fact that if women in the film are willing to participate in sex with each other and do this naturally, why then was the one male gay character (the hotel desk clerk) portrayed as a total prissy stereotype? I can't believe we've come this far to keeping gay male characters at a Jerry Springer-show level. Again, this is another way to make the straight men watching the film feel secure. Hey folks, I have no problem with nudity and sexual oriented films, but when the a parade of breasts is really not connected with the story, I get the feeling of a sham going on.
This could have turned out differently...but after all the talk and secrecy during its filming and the unbelievable length of time it took to make it, Eyes Wide Shut was a hyped event. Its importance as a film is extremely overrated, just because Kubrick is connected with it doesn't mean it's such relevant filmmaking. I remember hearing how Last Tango In Paris was considered to be such an important film and I just sat there thinking Bertolucci was joking when he made that! Jean-Luc Godard did much the same thing: get naked women to spout philosophical lines and for some reason you have high art.
Check some of the interesting foreign/art films I've reviewed, and you'll see I'm not damning "art" cinema at all. But I know a basic nudie film guised as legitimate cinema, and Eyes Wide Shut was only a glossy example of just that.