Infects Parts that Other Films Can't Reach

Rating: 1/10 (10 December 2006)

I've rarely seen a film that so brutally desecrates the sensitivities and defiles the soul. I refuse to believe that anyone can watch such a relentless assault against human value without emerging scalded and tainted. I mean, mankind is more than merely an insatiable appetite for sex ; here even the act of sex itself is depicted as a totally mechanical, impersonal sexercise - something that would even degrade a dog. Don't give me that rubbish about this being a fantasy : it's a compilation of the most sordid and vulgar aspects of city life in luxurious and godless decline, cameo'd together with slick , slimy and cynical one-liners that we are somehow expected to find funny.
There is no justification for a film like this : "American History X" could justify its violence because it was necessary as a context to a powerful, ennobling message ; "Eyes Wide Shut" portrayed sex in such a way as to show us its dangers and to contrast it with authentic, self-sacrificing Love. Curtis' film has no such artistic purpose, except maybe to prove that no-one ever lost money by underestimating public taste.