Stanley Kubrick's final film that continues to divide opinion.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21028 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-09-10
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 153 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Visually beautiful, Stanley Kubrick's last completed film Eyes Wide Shut blends the sinister, the sensual and the clinical in a combination that is rather too personal and idiosyncratic to be entirely successful as the final statement about gender and sexuality he intended it to be. Adapted by Frederick Raphael from the Dream Story of Freud's friend Schnitzler, it shows a young successful couple confront the dangers that lurk beyond monogamy; Nicole Kidman's Alice does little more than fantasise, flirt and dream, but even this causes guilt and pain. Doctor Bill (Tom Cruise) does rather more--he visits a whore, crashes an orgy and continues to ask questions when warned off; if no disaster ensues, and it is possible that two people die as a result, it is only luck that averts it.

Much of the best of what is here is to be found in occasional moments of stillness--Cruise walking through a morgue--or wild comedy--Cruise's attempt to hire a costume in the middle of the night interrupts major shenanigans at the fancy-dress shop. Cruise and Kidman do what they can with material that never means as much as it aspires to, and the standout performance is Sydney Pollack's, as a worldly wise client.

On the DVD: Eyes Wide Shut on DVD is presented in lavish Dolby Sound that makes the most of the obsessive Ligeti piano piece and Shostakovich waltz that dominate the score, and in the 1.33:1 ratio that was Kubrick's considered choice. It has subtitles in English, Arabic, Bulgarian and Rumanian, two TV spots and informative interviews with Kidman and Cruise, as well as with Steven Spielberg, to whom Kubrick had talked at length about his artistic intentions. --Roz Kaveney

Video Description
DVD Special Features

Subtitles: English (HOH), Arabic, Romanian, Bulgarian

Synopsis
Stanley Kubrick's final film is a mature, highly intelligent, thrilling masterpiece of sexual obsession and marital (in)fidelity. Tom Cruise stars as Bill Harford, a doctor who becomes obsessed with a sexual fantasy that his wife, Alice (Nicole Kidman), confesses to him. Although the fantasy (involving a naval officer) occurred only in Alice's mind, Bill can't get it out of his own head; his obsession leads him through a series of potential sexual encounters, each one surrounded by the specter of death. His whole world threatens to unravel as he falls deeper and deeper into a web of mystery, lies, and deceit.
Kubrick's film breathes with vivid blues, reds, and blacks, the threat of illicit sex and death lurking around every corner. Cruise and Kidman, who are married in real life, are utterly convincing as a happy couple suddenly forced to reexamine their faith in each other. Sidney Pollack, Todd Field, Julienne Davis, Marie Richardson, and Vinessa Shaw sparkle in minor roles. Based on the novella TRAUMNOVELLE by Arthur Schnitzler, EYES WIDE SHUT is a brilliant examination of the psychological nature of sex and marriage, of faith and faithlessness, of obsession and desire. Kubrick said that his last film (he died shortly before the film opened) was 'my best film ever'; while that is debatable, there is no doubting that the film is a splendid finale to a glorious career.

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Customer Reviews

Kubrick at his overrated swan song...
It seems that previous reviews are as interesting as the film itself, people tend to have extremely mixed, divided reactions to it. I have to admit that I am ambivalent too. During 3-hours replete with Kubrickesque moments, sometimes I hated it and thought it was nothing but a garbage; sometimes I got a bizarre enjoyment and thought it was a masterpiece. It's just like riding a roller-coaster. Neither a garbage nor a masterpiece, it has a strange kind of enchantment that nailed me off the couch until the very last credit rolled.

Kubrick films are not easy pills to swallow. They pose lots of questions but give little answers. He likes to confuse viewers utilizing lots of red herrings, creating dreamlike ambiances, and leaving tremendous amount of wiggle room. The result: they are open to various interpretations and misunderstandings. They ask for a contribution from the viewer. "Eyes Wide Shut" is no exception. My interpretation is that the film is not about jealousy, emotional infidelity or promiscuity.

These are by-products of a bigger theme. Rather it is about the domination of élites in the society that manipulates, even enslaves lower classes with their power and wealth. Especially, their mistreatment and perception of women just a "possession" creates these kind of complications in relationships. Look closer at Ziegler character, famous orgy scene and parallellism between Alice and red-haired hooker, you'll get what I mean.

In terms of technical aspects, "Eyes Wide Shut" is a pure Kubrick film, an exemplar of his glorious cinematic style: having dreamlike quality, bizarre narrative structure, lots of vivid colors, exquisite reverse & forward tracking shots and impeccable use of lights and wide angles.

On the other hand, thematically it is the least weapon in his arsenal: lots of plot holes and unexplained points (e.g. identity of dead hooker & her self-sacrifice is unclear); weak characterization (Kidman delivers an outstanding performance, but Cruise and Pollack are miscasts. Both have no integrity, no intimacy, no believability); and absence of necessary sub-plots. The final relies too much on Ziegler's overexplanations and this is another weak point. Also, it is unnecessarily long (due to poor editing). Unfortunately, all these flaws undermine the power and intended effect of the movie.

Here, Cruise proves again and again that he is just a movie-star, not an actor.

Overall, not a bad film at all. Interesting and worth watching.

Whatever you expect from Eyes Wide Shut forget it...
Eyes wide Shut ,like all Kubrick films, should be judged by it's own merits. According to all the ill informed(unofficial) hype that preceeded it's release we were to expect a lurid erotic vehicle for Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. Nothing could be further from the truth, most of the stories stemmed from the fact that much of the media (perhaps with the exception of the Evening Standard's Alexander Walker) was so frustrated by the lack of information on the film that they decided to do what they do best and start filling in the blanks with anything they fancied. This, after 2001:A space odyssey, is without any doubt Kubricks finest moment. I promise you that the film will be nothing like you've been led to expect. I really don't want to give much away ( I believe a review should cover the quality of a movie,not it's plot) but much of the film takes place on one long night after Bill Harford (Tom Cruise) has just been through a mesmerising revelation with his wife(Nicole Kidman). The film fills a space in the subconscious often neglected by modern films and we get carried deep into the heart of something truly compelling by the main character who is played with an eye opening honesty by Mr Cruise. I'll have to admit that I have never been a fan of Tom Cruise,often even avoiding his work because of his association with all that awful american apple pie stuff, but this is the most astonishing 'solo' performance I've seen since Harvey Keitel in Bad Lieutenant. This film proves to be Cruise's best work and I am now a believer in his talent, with this film he has shifted his axis and I hope his priorities in movies. Kidman is also very 'real' although her screen time is limited to crucial key moments. The camerawork and editing is the usual tight and specific high standard you get from any Kubrick picture and all the music and sound equally efficient. This is an important DVD release for several reasons: The high standard of lighting demanded by Kubrick would probably be wasted on VHS (all DVD owners know about the importance of picture clarity) and much of the more eccentric shots which give the movie it's dreamlike quality deserve a decent medium to give them depth. This is also a movie which is quite demanding on the audio front. There is masses of dialogue which needs the DVD format to help you hang on every word (and believe me you'll need to pay attention to whats being said) and some very sonically demanding musical sections (I guarantee you'll be fixated with the groundbreaking acoustics on chapter 16 of the disc) so much so that I know of several home cinema retailers using this disc for demos on some of their systems. I have been fascinated by this movie since seeing it on it's cinema release and I haven't had any negative feedback from anyone I know who's seen it. As I said,have no expectations other than this is a film from a true craftsman,no one ever came close to Kubrick for pure quality and as Steven Spielberg accurately mention on his interview in the special features section of this top DVD title,once you start watching a Kubrick movie,you cannot turn it off until the very end. Get this disc,I promise you won't be disappointed.

Mesmerizing in its emotional complexity
I don't think it's possible to truly explain Eyes Wide Shut to anyone who hasn't seen it. For some, it will be too darn weird, far too lengthy, and too abstract and open-ended to be enjoyable. Others, however, will find themselves as fascinated as I was while watching this extraordinary film, especially after it transforms itself into something totally unexpected about midway through. There is a sort of surreal atmosphere around everything that happens here, although I must say I sensed no dreamlike qualities to any parts of it. I really didn't know what to expect going in - besides a bunch of nudity and the whole erotic Cruise-Kidman relationship - but that was a good thing (especially since the movie isn't really about those things). Eyes Wide Shut is so unusual that it's probably better for the viewer to go in with no expectations whatsoever.

I came to this film for Nicole Kidman, just as many probably came to it for Cruise. It's really a Tom Cruise feature, I have to say, with Kidman scoring a lot less screen time than I expected. Now, I love Nicole Kidman, and I was mesmerized by this entire movie, but I don't think this was one of Kidman's better performances. Maybe it's just the fact that racy language coming out of her mouth just doesn't sit right with me, but I was definitely uncomfortable watching Kidman work her way through the more emotional scenes (which seemed a little overdramatic). Cruise, for his part, is great, and the whole supporting cast (including Leelee Sobieski in a small but scintillating role) is excellent.

Bill and Alice Harford have a complex relationship. Following a strange party which finds them each flirting with other people, Alice starts a discussion that ends with her recounting her fantasies about another man. Bill, who sits there with a blank look on his face throughout the uncomfortable scene, then gets called away to the home of a patient who has just died. As you might expect, images of his wife with another man just keep running through his mind, and the unexpected advances of his dead patient's daughter sort of tip his precarious grip on reality a little too close to the edge. Opportunity begins to become temptation, and he moves ever closer to infidelity. Just when you think you have the movie figured out, though, it runs off like the Road Runner escaping the grasping hands of Wile E. Coyote. Bill finds his way to an exclusive, secretive party of costumed men and women doing things that are far removed from the morality of the everyday world. The whole scene is just amazingly surreal and weird - yet certainly exciting and stimulating. The things Bill witnesses at this party set the stage for the rest of the film. This is as much as I want to say about the plot, but I must emphasize just how multi-layered the story is. It's a brilliantly complicated film that touches all sorts of emotional buttons.

In the end, Eyes Wide Shut is a movie about relationships, particularly marriage, with infidelity and jealousy standing as the touchstones of Kubrick's elaborate exploration of the most intense and vulnerable of emotions. People wear all sorts of emotional masks, they indulge in fantasies and sometimes give in to temptation, and Eyes Wide Shut plays extremely well on these themes. Kubrick really weaves all sorts of disparate elements together in the most mesmerizing of ways. I can certainly understand why some people just don't like the movie at all, though. Daring, complex, surreal, intellectual, visionary motion pictures usually divide critics and viewers, inspiring either love or hate. I can barely begin to do the movie justice here, but I personally feel that this is a brilliant motion picture that will garner more and more critical acclaim over time.