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+ 2nd Best Movie of the Year
+ Best Erotic Movie of the Year + Best New York Movie of the Year + Best On-Screen Couple of the Year: Nicole Kidman & Tom Cruise
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| A mysterious, curiosity-sparking poster for Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut |
A wealthy married couple from New York goof around and flirt at a jet set party, and the wife admits to nearly having had an affair the year before. This provokes her husband to venture out on a sexual nightmare.
Eyes Wide Shut is an adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler's (Beatrice (1901)) novella Dream Story/Traumnovelle (1926)), written by Frederic Raphael (Far from the Madding Crowd (1967)) and New Yorker master co-writer-director Stanley Kubrick (The Shining (1980)), whose last film it is.
Nicole Kidman (Moulin Roge! (2001)) and Tom Cruise (Risky Business (1983)), in one of the definitely most exciting and electric instances of a real-life couple starring in a film, are outstanding in Eyes Wide Shut, and so is Sydney Pollack (The Sopranos (2007), TV-series) in a key supporting part.
Eyes Wide Shut is intense and impossible to remove oneself from. It feels raw and is incredibly well-crafted, with sets of New York erected in London's Pinewood Studios appearing impressively authentic. It presents itself in an expressive color scheme, stemming, among other things, from its Christmas setting, so-called push processing and excellent lighting work; Kubrick wanted only natural lighting, only helped along in places by Chinese paper ball lamps. The terrific cinematography is by Larry Smith (Only God Forgives (2013)).
The film has a few scenes that drag out a bit. But the feeling that anything can happen is there throughout, which is unique. The ending and the title adds to the thought-provoking nature of Eyes Wide Shut, which is a worthy and rich final film for one of cinema's absolute best.
Related posts:
Stanley Kubrick: A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) - A robot fairytale with both heart and mind (concept only)
1999 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
Top 10: The best adaptations reviewed by Film Excess to date
The Shining (1980) - Kubrick's descent into madness is a timeless masterpiece
Barry Lyndon (1975) - Kubrick's elegant 19th century costume whopper
Top 10: Best future-set movies
A Clockwork Orange (1971) or, Outrage! The intellectual sci-fi-prison-crime-drama Shocker!
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) or, Humanity and Space
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb/Dr. Strangelove (1964) or, The Wrong Men, the Wrong Suits, the Wrong Invention
Cost: 65 mil. $
Box office: 162 mil. $
= Even Steven
[Eyes Wide Shut premiered 13 July and runs 159 minutes. Kubrick bought the rights to the novella in the 1960s and had plans of making it with Woody Allen or Steve Martin as a comedy, which never happened. Several elements and character facts from the novella are changed in the film. Filming took place in England and New York from November 1996 - January 1998 with reshoots in May - June 1998. The shoot is recognized by Guinness World Records as the longest constant movie shoot, at 15 months, including an unbroken 46 week-long period of shooting. Kubrick's perfectionism was at its height, with meticulous recreating of parts of New York's Greenwich Village, as the master's fear of flying barred him from simply traveling there. Kubrick died 6 days after showing his first cut of the film to Kidman, Cruise and the executive producers. There are different accounts of the completion of the film (with Full Metal Jacket (1987) actor R. Lee Ermey stating what appears slanderous claims as to the master's satisfaction with the work), but it appears that Kubrick was extremely pleased with Eyes Wide Shut and his stars. The North American cut was altered in post production to disguise nudity that might have given it an NC-17 rating, which has drawn widespread criticism, (but probably helped it make a good deal of money in the market.) The film opened #1 to 21.7 mil. $ in North America, dropping to #4 the following weekend and then leaving the top 5, eventually grossing 55.6 mil. $ (34.3 % of the total gross). It was Kubrick's second highest-grossing film there, behind 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), and is Martin Scorsese's fourth-favorite film of the 1990s. The film was nominated for a Golden Globe, a César Award (France's Oscar) and won an award at Venice International Film Festival. Kidman and Cruise were divorced in 2001. Eyes Wide Shut is certified fresh at 74 % with a 7.5 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
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