Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

Thanks for the memories!

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Eyes Wide Shut was the last film directed by the legend Stanley Kubrick and because it starred the then A list couple Cruise and Kidman, along with many sex scenes the film was way overhyped. And probably didn't live upto this expectation either critically or commercially. But now Eyes Wide Shut is being rediscovered as a cult and already there are a host of blogs and articles online talking about how great the film is. I love it- I think this is one of the finest psychological films ever made. It reeks of atmosphere and the story- based on an Austrain novel is very good. Go see this soon to be declared masterpiece.

I really believe this film, and the acting from Cruise and Kidman were sorely overlooked. Always a mind F, but very very good. Impressed.

I was led to believe for a long time that this was a bad film that was not worth my time. I can see how this movie could be divisive, but I think it is well worth the time. I feel that what the movie is really trying to say is hidden under the symbolism. This film is chock full of crazy stuff that I do not have the space to mention here. I was so impressed with this film that I decided to read the novel it was based on, Dream Story by Arthur Schnitzler. Other than a few things, this is an extremely faithful adaptation of the story, and many of the problems people had with the film they would find in the book as well. Except for Tom Cruise, of course.

First, lets start with technical aspect. The dialogues and the scenes in the movie are something else - they are long and slow, which is quite unusual for movies. The scenes are very slow, but they glue you to the screen. You have intense feeling while watching the movie and the movie is mysterious. You have to watch this movie in a slow, relaxed, immersed state - don't expect action here. This movie is really well directed and is truly a piece of cinematographic art in different ways - dialogues, story, meaning, scenes, looks. Tom Cruise is beautiful, more adult and already looks more like Ethan Hunt here, which is cool. Nicole Kidman is beautiful as well. Keep in mind there's really a lot of nudity here, so you might not want to show or recommend it to everyone. * What is the movie about and what is the lesson? * The whole movie I was asking myself "Why would she tell her husband that she wanted to have sex with another man?! That can totally ruin their relationship, it was not necessary to tell that!". However, after reading reviews, it seems that actually the movie is about on sexual relationship and fantasies and that you NEED to be open about some things like that. When a couple does not share their fantasies or desires then they might start fantasizing bad things, like cheating with someone else who can fullfill these desires. As a result, they both started fantasizing about cheating. Thus, it is important to tell your desires or thoughts to the partner, to make sure they know what you want. As some people have noticed, there are really many sexual scenes in this movie with different types of people, which all might represent something, no one knows for sure, so there are many theories, but I guess it is open for interpretation on purpose.I think it is worth reading fan theories, for example on reddit I've seen some really interesting theories.