'Eyes Wide Shut' - the Film
Created | Updated Nov 17, 2011
Stanley Kubrick's swan-song is not a film for everybody. Without going into specifics and spoiling it for those who have not yet seen it, Eyes Wide Shut would classify as soft porn, and is intended to confront. Kubrick creates dilemmas, and breaks quite a few cinematographical rules, leaving the viewer with very few clues about what is going to happen next.
Although the first shot is of a naked Nicole Kidman, and the last is of her uttering a profanity, the story centres upon Tom Cruise's character. His search for fulfilment takes him to many different and frankly weird places. The characters are well cast, and utterly believable despite the oft improbable scenarios. If you are looking for a light night out, you won't find it here, but although this is a well made film, and sets up some interesting dilemmas, it is not as thought provoking as some of the other similarly styled films of recent times, such as The Thin Red Line, and the re-shot version of Lolita.
The film is a good one, but is unlikely to either make box-office records, or to become the definitive Stanley Kubrick film.