Take another look---this a great film!

Rating: Null/10 (27 January 2003)

I've have not read all 1,100 entries here on this film, but I've read plenty of them---looking for somebody who, like me, likes this film. There aren't many, it seems. I think what Kubrick was going for here is a story about the risks in life of getting the line blurred between our dreams and our realities. The film obviously has its realistic elements, but at the same time there is a dreamlike quality throughout the film. The Harfords cross back and forth between their dreams and their realities. They resolve this in their final conversation in the toy store. The orgy scene, which seems to disturb so many people, IS a dream. The repetition of Christmas lights throughout the film also suggests some kind of a dream state. Note the intense blue color in the windows in so many scenes. Very dreamlike. The cascading white Christmas lights, so big of a set decoration at Victor's party, are repeated on a smaller scale in other scenes. The film fascinates me with every repeat viewing. I think some people tend to take the film at face value, almost a literal translation, and if that's the way you view the film I don't think it WOULD make much sense. Step back from the film and give some thought to what Kubrick might have been going for.