Unfortunately there are some pretty hefty spoilers here, so I would like to warn you about them. Scrubbing Bubble has written, what I consider to be a damn fine look at EYES WIDE SHUT with quite a bit of thought and emotion, but... well it may contain some bits that you didn't want to know. Scrubbing Bubble felt that 'EWS is the finest film Stanley Kubrick has ever made.' So that pretty much wraps up his thoughts on the film, but feel freen to go on and read, if spoilers do not concern you Admiral...
Harry and Co.
I can't say how, nor can I say where. All I can say is this-
Eyes Wide Shut is the finest film Stanley Kubrick has ever made. It is a mature film that clearly states his feelings about monogamy and marriage. It is a very moral film.
At it's simplest, EYES WIDE SHUT, is about a man who in the course of one night, gets very lost on a spiritual and moral level, and at the end of th film, finds his way back home.
It is a very moving film. Although what moved me about it is hard to define. The only other time I was actually moved while watching a Kubrick film was when Gomer Pyle shot himself in Full Metal Jacket. In that instant I decided that if ever drafted to war, I would flee to Canada. In that instant I also mourned the loss of a character who entered the marines pure and innocent and was corrupted, on a mental and spiritual level, by those who trained him.
Why am I lingering over this whole spiritual thing? Because I really feel that EYES WIDE SHUT is about that. I really feel it's a religious film, but not in a conventional sense.
Gone are the sterile, empty, alien characters Kubrick has specialized in. People we watched with interest, but had a lot of trouble relating to. Much praise should be directed to Cruise and Kidman, who have fueled their characters with such an incredible degree of humantity and sympathy, that there is hardly one moment in this film that is impossible to relate to.
Nothing drives people to the edges of sanity like the knowledge that someone you have a sexual and emotional relationship with might also have it with someone else.
We can all relate to that.
Kubrick has left a monumental work. It's neither puzzling, nor ambiguous, though I feel many will say that it is. His direction is flawless. The amount of information he gives us just through the visuals is astounding. It is never boring. It is never slow. Those who say that are a bit too accustomed to the Michael Bay school of direction. As we all know, Kubrick films have their own rules and their own pace. Walk in expecting this one to take a while to unravel.
Mr. Kubrick's final lesson to us does not reach out into the infinite beyond of space, or into the horrors of war. Instead Mr. Kubrick seems to have come to some point in the final years of his life where his real interest was in how we relate to each other. The great mystery of the sexes. The aliens who we have lived with since the beginning of time. The mysterious other who we wake up beside every morning and fall asleep beside every night. We are drawn to each other like magnets, but our differences are so abundant that we might as well be strangers to each other.
Mr. Kubrick's final lesson to us is an important one. Go see it and learn.
As always,
Your Constant Pal,
THE SCRUBBING BUBBLE
