Eyes Wide Shut

Stanley Kubrick’s 13th and last film in a glittering career is finally upon us, having been the subject of excessively feverish anticipation for well over a year now. While no film could possibly justify the hype that has already been attached to Eyes Wide Shut, it is a compelling, disturbing and stunningly-filmed psychodrama that enthrals and entrances the viewer throughout – and if it’s a long way from being Kubrick's definite masterpiece, it still serves as a fitting epitaph to one of the century’s genuine artistic giants.

The film’s 160 minutes fly past without even the faintest threat of a dull moment, its dark and gripping narrative engaging the viewer on a multitude of levels – and in terms of pure dramatic tension, few films this decade have packed as much punch.

In one of the most inspired casting couplings of all time, real-life spouses Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman weigh in with a pair of powerfully assured performances as the happily-married couple whose troubled relationship forms the basis of the narrative, and the film develops a delirious, almost dream-like intensity as it progresses, gaining enormously in momentum with each passing scene. Sceptics might deride Eyes Wide Shut as overwrought and heavy-footed (with some justification) but few directors could make the viewer live and breathe a film quite like Kubrick – and for the sheer visual brilliance of its pivotal set-pieces. Eyes Wide Shut is well out there on a plane of its own.

Psychologist Dr. William Harford (Cruise) and his wife Alice (Kidman) commence the proceedings at a swanky New York cocktail party, hosted by their family sleazy friend Victor Ziegler (Pollack), where both hubby and wife separately find themselves being hit on by complete strangers, to their simultaneous enjoyment and consternation. This triggers a stormy bedroom confrontation between the couple, in the course of which Alice confesses her intense, overwhelming sexual attraction to a man she’d met once several months previously, although the relationship was never consummated.

Unremarkable as his wife’s revelations might seem in themselves, Dr. Harford is deeply tortured by the images they conjure up in his mind’s eye, and he proceeds to spend a bizarre 48 hours trawling the shadowy streets of New York, whereupon he encounters a variety of mysterious characters. These include a patient’s daughter and a street hooker whose flesh Dr. Harford is sorely tempted to feast on, as well as an old schoolmate (Todd Field) who tips him off about a bizarre costume party/orgy scheduled for later that evening. Intrigued, he decides to pop along and take a look.

Events that take on an increasingly fantastical and disturbing air, as the good Doctor, cloaked and masked, attempts to immerse himself in the orgy, with perilous consequences. Cruise is in top form, all pent-up tension and seething jealousy, and sails through masterfully without ever having to resort to his trademark toothy grin – but the astonishing Kidman (though underused) demonstrates exactly why she’s one of the finest actresses alive, alternately threatening and tender, cool and venomous, loving and vindictive.

Whatever your suspicions about the precise nature of their celebrity marriage, it’s painfully clear that these two people know each other extremely well, and the sparks fairly fly on occasion, especially during their more heated confrontations.

Any self-respecting film connoisseur is in for a treat that can’t possibly be passed up, but there is one respect in which Eyes Wide Shut arguably fails to deliver – the payoff, when it finally arrives, doesn’t seem nearly dramatic enough to do justice to what preceeded it. Although the filming was completed a year before Kubrick’s untimely passing this March, there remains a doubt in many people’s minds as to whether or not he considered the film truly complete – and this observer was struck by the abrupt and unsatisfying manner in which the film ends, with more than one question mark still apparently unresolved.

A second viewing will certainly be required, but taken on its own, Eyes Wide Shut is a resounding success, one of those increasingly rare films that will actually keep people talking for months. Kubrick has created better films before, but his parting shot is still resonant enough to be heard around the world, and stands as a fitting monument to one of the last great auteurs.