Eyes Wide Shut
America has the sexual attitude of an eighth-grader. Austin Powers appears to get a tennis racket up the rear and gets by with a PG-13 rating. Saddam Hussein whips out his penis in South Park and no one seems to mind. As long as we treat the subject with sophomoric humor, sex is fine - but God forbid we attempt to deal with it in a mature, rational manner. At Hoyt's this weekend, there was a triple-check security I've never seen before to make sure that no one under 17 could get into Eyes Wide Shut, but that same demographic could march right into American Pie without a hitch to watch some kid sodomize a dessert.
Admittedly, Eyes Wide Shut is a very explicit, overtly adult film. But anyone buying a ticket to catch a cheap thrill is going to be deeply disappointed. While the movie has loads of frontal nudity the likes of which is rarely seen in a mainstream film, I defy you to find any scene erotic. (Additionally, the ballyhooed love scenes between Cruise and Kidman? Non-existent. If you've worked yourself into a voyeuristic frenzy watching Entertainment Tonight and Hard Copy, anticipating some steamy bumpin' from Nicole and Tom, forget it.) Instead, Eyes Wide Shut is a preachy treatise against casual sex.
Still, I love the fact that the average movie-goer is going to buy a ticket to see this film based mainly on the snickering-up-the-sleeve schoolyard tittering of the media's fascination with the coupling couple, only to be presented with Kubrick's bleak, dark vision. Remember, this is the master filmmaker who gave us A Clockwork Orange, 2001: A Space Odessey, Dr. Strangelove, The Shining and Full Metal Jacket - Kubrick is not interested in pandering to our Basic Instincts.
What he is interested in is charting the course of a marriage challenged by the spectre of infidelity. Cruise is Bill Hartford, a doctor with a gorgeous wife (Kidman, doing what is easily her finest work to date). During a cannabis-enhanced drop in inhibitions, she admits to him that she seriously considered cheating on him a few years ago with a young sailor boy. Hartford doesn't handle the information well, torturing himself with images of this man ravaging his wife (even these imaginary scenes aren't that erotic due to the dark psychological undercurrent). He spends an evening walking the streets of Manhattan in a jealous daze, and even considers dallying with a prostitute as revenge for her unfulfilled fantasy. Anyone who's ever had a loved one cheat on them - or even suspected or imagined it - can relate to his self-flagellating nightmare.
And Eyes Wide Shut is a nightmare in a way, as hinted at by the title. Although everything in the movie actually happens, things get very weird. Through an acquaintance, Hartford finds himself in a midst of a secret Bacchanalian cult, a sexual free-for all wherein all the participants wear masks and cloaks. This is the now-famous orgy scene, but again, there is nothing erotic about it. This is meaningless, impersonal, joyless sex, and underscores how dehumanizing such acts can be. The entire scene is incredibly eerie and creepy, like something directly out of the final Twin Peaks episode, with an effective, unsettling soundtrack that heightens the gothic feel.
On a side note, the digital masking (men in cloaks and naked women standing in front of the Dirty Sex Acts) is well-integrated, made easier by the contrasty, grainy texture that all the night scenes are filmed in. Still, the fact that they are there at all is insulting to the audience, which is presumably adult enough to handle watching other adults having sex, not to mention compromising Kubrick's film. Like any red-blooded American I've seen my share of porno, and (gasp!) have even been known to have sex myself. What are they protecting us from?
Hartford escapes the party where he may or may not have been in real danger, and then has to face his wife and the reality that his marriage may not be as solid as he believed. The film veers from darkly comic to simply dark, is occasionally overblown and even melodramatic. Still, it all serves to enhance the strange dream state that Eyes Wide Shut evokes, as does Kubrick's immediately recognizable style - the restless camera, the long unbroken shots, the extreme closeups of faces in pained expression. While the film is nearly three hours long, I never felt the urge to check my watch or wonder if things would wrap up soon. The arc of the narrative was strong enough to keep me engaged, though Eyes Wide Shut, as with all of Kubrick's work (except possibly Full Metal Jacket) is best appreciated on an intellectual level rather than an emotional one.
But that may be the point - other than Kidman's riveting, tearful confessions, Eyes Wide Shut keeps emotion at a distance to illustrate the seductiveness of infidelity when a married couple does the same. While this is not Kubrick's best work (unlike Kidman, Cruise is solid if not brilliant, and the ending feels like a last-minute attempt to tidy up the intriguingly enigmatic plot twists), it is a noble ending to the great director's career. It's not an easy film, neither is it a guaranteed crowd pleaser. I heard one guy (undoubtedly expecting to see a juicy update on 9 ½ Weeks for his mental masturbatory Rolodex) say: "That was the worst movie I've ever seen." On the contrary; despite its flaws, Eyes Wide Shut is an intriguing, mature treatise on monogamy. Unlike most summer films, this one actually has something to say for those adventurous enough to listen.
- Jared O'Connor
MOVIES
All Content © 1997, 1998, 1999 Jared O'Connor and Michael Baker