But the Tom Cruise character, Dr. William Harford, is broken and remade. Yeah, he has his Boy Scout cap knocked off. Yeah, he does, he's a sexual naif initiated into a destructive and violent sexuality he hasn't perceived before. The closest he gets is a few leers at the two models at the party in the beginning of the movie. I don't think that's big-time news.
Smart men assume that about women, just as all women assume that about men.
It's her revelation of sexual fantasies that begins his inquiry into adult sexuality. I didn't see it as a realistic narrative at all. Alice, the Nicole Kidman character, is more complex. I also think Kidman acts circles around Cruise, but that's another issue. Anyway, yes, Harford is learning about adult sexuality, but I don't buy the starting point of his journey.