EYES WIDE SHUT - Movie Review

Added: 2026-05-27

[00:00:00]Hi guys, it's Debbie and recently here in Italy,  Stanley Kubrick's final film, Eyes Wide Shut, was brought back in theaters. And although  there is absolutely nothing I could possibly add to the staggering amount of information,  analysis, reviews out there about this film, I still wanted to humbly share my thoughts on  this movie as somebody who had already seen the film multiple times and now got to see it  on the big screen. Also, after all the Epstein scandals and everything surrounding elite secret  circles becoming more mainstream discussion. Every time I bring up this movie, I share this fun  fact about the first time that I ever watched it. First of all, I was way too young to be  watching it. But I remember being so shocked by the opening scene with Nicole Kidman peeing,  which I thought was so intimate and scandalous when little did I know what was in store for  me for the following 2 hours. Don't worry, I won't be covering major spoilers in this video,  but if you want to preserve the mystery of this film and go in without knowing anything about it,  then this isn't really the right video for you.

[00:00:57]I'd recommend sticking to the trailers, which  for once spoil too much about the story. We're actually very lucky here in Italy because even  regular cinemas constantly bring back older movies in rebusted versions, often in original language.  Sometimes it's huge mainstream movies. Right now, I think it's Top Gun, but I think that's a  worldwide thing at the moment. But we also get way more niche directors and films. I've seen  Sion Sono's movie screened. Hirokazu Kore-eda is coming up now, lots of anime, Wong Kar-wai films,  even Bruce Lee movies. And this time it was Eyes Wide Shut. Now I'm pretty positive that some 15  years ago while studying German literature in high school, we did actually cover the novella  on which this film is based, Dream Story.

[00:01:38]But I'm going to be totally honest with you: I  can't remember anything about it. So this video is based just on the film. Eyes Wide Shut was  Kubrick's final film before dying. And of course, there are endless conspiracy theories about  him suddenly dying right after completed movie, which also includes the elite, secret parties,  hidden societies, but that's not really my place to discuss that. What I want to discuss is just  how beautiful this film is, especially when seen on the big screen. In the movie, Tom Cruise plays  a wealthy, respected doctor whose world completely shatters after discussion with his wife in which  she admits she had fantasies and explains how attraction and desire are natural even for women,  even if you don't act on them. And with that, the doctor's world completely collapses. He can't  shake off this image of his wife with another man, and he sets off into this beautiful wintery New  York night and lets himself drift off into a world he probably would have never met otherwise:  prostitutes, temptation, fantasies, secret gatherings, and through a series of coincidences,  and his curiosity, he ends up at a mysterious masked ball, and that's where everything slips  out of control. Now, you could read this movie very literally, a couple sort of breaking up,  who admit that they have desires of cheating, partly also just out of spite. Or you can read it  more metaphorically as reaching the point in life in which you feel trapped and stagnant and become  obsessed with the fantasy of freedom, desire, temptation. And maybe it's not even about the sex  itself. It's the thought of it, the pursuit of it, the fantasy. The film often refers to dreams  and fantasies, saying a dream is never just a dream. And for such a narcissistic man as the  protagonist, even just the idea of these fantasies existing is devastating (unless, of course,  it's him having them). Disobeying the dictates of society and your own conscience can feel both  liberating and terrifying at the same time. And honestly, this film feels timeless because man's  obsession with sex and fantasies and temptations is timeless. This film could have been released 20  years earlier or 50 years later and it still would have worked. Because of all this discussion around  sex, Eyes Wide Shut is often sold on its horniness when in reality it's a really sad and lonely  movie. There's far less sex than people expect.

[00:03:50]And although part of you is curious, wants to  see the nudity, wants to be see these characters, on the other hand, part of you is begging  the characters to not do it because of the consequences and because you know that the  outcome is not what they expect. Kubrick's wife Christiane actually said "This film  has nothing to do with sex and everything to do with fear". This film is scary, not only  because of what happens within a relationship, but also because of this idea that somewhere out  to there, there is this elite society living by completely different rules. We all joke about  Tom Cruise flashing his medical badge around the city as if it's some sort of sheriff badge  that gives him access to everything. But if society is so quick to trust and respect somebody  merely based on the fact that they're a doctor, think about how quickly we bend over when  billionaires and elites tell us how to live, what to buy, what to admire. The movie also puts a  big emphasis on the contrast between this polite, respectful society and the unpleasant side  of society. Fancy apartments, doctors, glamorous Christmas party on one side, prostitutes  and drunks and seedy streets on the other. But the movie constantly shows how these two worlds  are not that far from one another. Wealthier, respected men are doing the exact same things.  They just do it in more luxurious settings behind closed doors. Street prostitution is treated as  disgusting and shameful, but then at upper class parties, we see rich men having sex with very  young women, their their drugs involved. If the exact same thing had happened on a street and not  in some fancy mansion, would it have been morally worse? The problem, as the movie shows, is that it  is a very slippery slope. And we're all very quick to judge. I personally don't know what a lot of  people would do if they ended up in one of those parties. I mean, in a totally adult consensual  manner. I'm absolutely not talking about some Epstein type of horror situation. The  movie questions, is it really worth it?

[00:05:40]Is it really worth throwing your relationship  out of the window just for a night of fantasy or pushing it to the extreme? Is it really worth  attending one of these parties? It's all fun and games until you're caught in a situation with no  escape. Once you're in those circles, there's no easy way out. Setting aside the story itself, the  actual movie is visually beautiful. First of all, because it reminds me so much of tacky '9s  Christmas,, when everything was vibrant and colourful, unlike now that we have beige and  gray Christmas, Eyes Wide Shut is absolutely drenched in colour, even though most of it takes  place at night. And it makes me sad when I compare it to modern movies where nighttime scenes are  often just dark gray mush where you can barely see anything. And I also love how it captures  the beauty of New York in the winter without excluding its dirtier side. I lived in New Jersey  for a while and I visited New York many times and I always love seeing that look recreated on film.  Cast wise, I think the fact that Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman were married at the time adds an  extra layer to all of this. Kubrick actually wanted a married actor couple. And in hindsight,  the fact that they were even close to divorce makes it all even more realistic. And then  there's the film in itself. Basically, all of Kubrick's films are considered masterpieces. And  I rewatched this film keeping my eye out uh to spot if I could see some scenes that felt weak or  awkward or badly edited. And honestly, I didn't.

[00:07:04]But this is a guy who would make Tom Cruise  walk through a door 95 times. And that's not an exaggeration. That's an actual fact from the  film. So there was a wide range to get one good shot. And the cast of Kubrick's films constantly  talk about how exhausted his perfectionism was.

[00:07:18]Because he was so obsessed with controlling every  tiny detail, when he died a minor final adjustment still had to be made. People wondered whether the  movie could ever truly be exactly as he intended, especially because apparently he kept on tweaking  and re-editing his film as sometimes even after the first early screenings. But honestly,  even if some tiny adjustments were missing, I think what we got is still overwhelmingly the  masterpiece Kubrick envisioned. I would now love to hear what you think of Eyes Wide Shut. Do you  think it's the masterpiece? Do you think it was lengthy and overrated? Let me know everything  with a comment down below. If you haven't seen this film, do you think it's something that  interests you? Again, I would love to know. I hope you enjoyed this video. If you did, make sure to  subscribe and I'll see you in the next one, bye!