Director: Stanley Kubrick
Screenplay: Stanley Kubrick and Frederic Raphael
Based on the novella Traumnovelle by: Arthur Schnitzler
Starring: Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Sydney Pollack, Marie Richardson, Rade Šerbedžija, Todd Field, Vinessa Shaw, Alan Cumming, Sky du Mont, Fay Masterson, Leelee Sobieski, Thomas Gibson, Madison Eginton, Julienne Davis, Gary Goba, Abigail Good, Leon Vitali
Country: United States and United Kingdom
Running Time: 159 min
Year: 1999
BBFC Certificate: 18
The year 1999 is often considered the best year in modern cinema. The number of high-quality classics that were released in the year is startling. Paul Thomas Anderson brought us Magnolia, Spike Jonze directed Being John Malkovich and David Fincher helmed Fight Club. The world went crazy for The Matrix and The Blair Witch Project earned around $247 million more than its budget, and watercooler conversations focused on ‘that twist’ in The Sixth Sense.
It was also the year of The Mummy, Toy Story 2, American Beauty, The Green Mile, Three Kings, The Virgin Suicides, The Iron Giant, The Talented Mr Ripley, and Election. And, occasional aforementioned film aside, that’s not even considering the year’s blockbusters.
The year 1999 – which is certainly one of my favourites in cinema history – also brought us the final masterpiece, the final film by the great Stanley Kubrick, a movie that vies for top spot for my personal favourite of the director’s films. That film is the subject of this review, Eyes Wide Shut.
Based on the novella Traumnovelle by Arthur Schnitzler, and scripted by Kubrick and Frederic Raphael, Eyes Wide Shut follows Dr Bill Harford (Tom Cruise) and his wife Alice (Nicole Kidman) one Christmas in Manhattan, New York.
Bill and Alice, who have a young daughter called Helena (Madison Eginton), attend a Christmas party hosted by Victor Ziegler (Sydney Pollack), which seemingly starts a growing divide between the couple. Both spend much of the party apart and flirt with other guests and, the next day after smoking marijuana, Alice admits to a past longing for a naval officer and her contemplation of cheating on her husband.
This revelation hits hard for Bill and jealousy ensues. He undergoes something of a nighttime odyssey wandering the streets of New York, meeting memorable characters, the type of people he wouldn’t normally have the time for, and reconnecting with an old friend, Nick Nightingale (Todd Field), whom he had met at the party the night before and who tells him of a secret high society masked orgy. Bill becomes obsessed with going to experience the event.
What plays out is a dangerous 24 hours of revelations and rediscovery, wrapped around a murder mystery that Bill is caught in the middle of: Nick disappears, apparently roughed up before he was last seen, and a masked woman who saves Bill at the orgy also seemingly has a dire fate in store for her.
Kubrick had gained the rights to the novella on which the film is based in the 1960s but it would take him three decades to bring it to the screen. The film would transfer the story from early 20th century Vienna, Austria, to late 1990s New York City, and from a carnival to the festive season and a masked event.
The cast is wonderful, headlined by the then married couple of Cruise and Kidman, who were together until 2001. Kidman is the star of the show for me, running the spectrum from playful and loving to flirtatious, vindictive, despairing and everything in between. She has a few scenes where she’s under the influence of alcohol or drugs, where revelations come out, and she plays these brilliantly.
Cruise also gives ones of his greatest performances, and a lot of that is down to looks and mannerisms. He spends parts of the film without dialogue; observing, contemplating, jealously obsessing and trying to discover himself.
It is also a pleasure to see the late, great Sydney Pollack, whose character Victor plays a pivotal role. Pollack was an actor and producer but was also know for directing classics like Tootsie (1982) and Out of Africa (1985).
There are also some fine small performances from Alan Cummings as a hotel receptionist to Leelee Sobieski as a young girl and Vinessa Shaw as Domino, a sex worker, whom Bill meets. Rade Šerbedžijaas as Mr Milich, a costume shop owner who Bill goes to after-hours to try and get a mask for the masked ball, steals the show too, with a fantastic, hilarious performance. It’s Milich’s shop where Bill meets Sobieski’s character, Milich’s daughter.
Kubrick’s perfectionism led to a record that the film still holds – the longest continuous shoot of 400 days, with dozens and dozens of takes happening for some scenes. His perfectionism would lead to him overseeing every moment of the production design and colour scheme, approving everything that would appear in shot. There are some gorgeous pieces of artwork in many shots, including paintings and sculptures, and the costume design in the masked ball is fantastic too.
The look of the film is another of its strengths, not just that production and costume design and the choice of art. The world feels lived in, the design of every set perfectly thought through. The colour scheme is also exquisite – the blue hues of some of the scenes, among the striking uses of colour. Particularly the imaginary sequences of Alice having sex with a naval officer she had considered having an affair with in the couple’s past. The use of red – often associated with danger – in the masked ball is also striking.
The majority of the film was filmed in England, with New York sequences filmed in London. There are some establishing shots and back projection that was filmed in New York, but the rest was all shot overseas, but it’s so well brought to the screen, that you’d be forgiven for thinking more of it was shot in the real location.
It is all beautifully lensed by Larry Smith, with some great tracking shots throughout. The camera is frequently moving, giving life to the film, but equally strong are the static shots, particularly those of Cruise’s Bill looking devastated, jealous and who knows what else, as he imagines his wife having sex with the naval officer. The nighttime shots of Cruise walking along empty New York streets is also really creepy and the way the masked ball is shot – and scored – also creates a sense of unease.
That aforementioned score is marvellous and quite eclectic. It’s a mix of original score by Jocelyn Pook, which is quite sinister, mixed with classic music pieces by the likes of Shostakovich, Ligeti and Mozart, alongside tracks like Chris Isaak’s Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing. Pook’s music for the masked orgy – which includes chanting played in reverse – is incredibly ominous and unsettling, with these sequences almost played like they’re from a horror movie.
The masks, many of which are menacing, are a marvellous symbol for the film and its mystery and of never really knowing someone or how people can hide their true selves, and of danger. At its heart, the film is a journey of self-discovery for Bill, of never being sure if you ever really know someone – even your husband or wife – and of desire promising more than it delivers, just like the Christmas setting of the film.
We are frequently reminded it is Christmas with the festive trees and lights that appear in most scenes. Yet there is never a sense of Christmas cheer and no festive music to be found at all. The only real hope that the festive season brings for many comes from Helena and her joy for the season, particularly in a toy shop where she’s telling her parents what she would like for Christmas. This scene is juxtaposed with the couple’s conversation, which I shall not spoil as it comes at the end of the film.
Eyes Wide Shut is also a film about high society, the classes who think they are above the law and how many are kept out of these social cliques. It is also about how those involved will go to great lengths to protect that society, particularly from outsiders. That element hits hard in 2026.
It is also a film about obsession and jealousy – throughout the film, the imaginary images of Alice having sex with the naval officer repeatedly occur. Bill is haunted by Alice’s revelation that she considered cheating on him, and can’t get the images of what that sexual encounter could have been out of his head, even though it never happened. Often described as an erotic thriller, for me Eyes Wide Shut is more of a drama focused on a couple and their desires, which happens to contain some sexual content and nudity alongside a mystery.
I adore Eyes Wide Shut. There are times when I feel it is my favourite Kubrick film, although I also love his other movies, particularly The Shining (1980) and 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). It’s a hypnotic film that always grips me from start to finish and haunts me in the days after I’ve watched it.
The core mystery is intriguing, the central dynamic between Cruise and Kidman compelling, and the descent into danger that sees the former’s character Bill wandering the New York streets at night, ending up at a masked orgy, equal parts hypnotic and terrifying.
The look and feel of the film evokes a strong atmosphere – the blue and red colour scheme and this being a story at Christmas time and all the colourful lights that the festive season brings – the score is unsettling, the filmmaking prowess on show through the technical aspects and tracking shots, sublime.
It is a film full of themes and motifs that rewards repeat viewings and always leaves me feeling it’s two-and-a-half hours or so well spent. It’s a masterpiece that I will return to again and again. The last masterpiece of a masterful auteur, one of the greatest directors of all time.
Film: 
Eyes Wide Shut is available in a limited edition dual-format 4K UHD and Blu-ray steel book from Warner Bros. The transfer is outstanding. The film was shot on 35mm and looks astonishing. Detail is incredibly fine, the colour scheme feels very natural but pops from the screen at the right time – this being Christmas, there are a lot of twinkly lights, which looks great. In short, it looks phenomenal. The audio is also excellent, everything coming across clearly and richly evoking the atmosphere of the film.
Special features:
The Last Movie: Stanley Kubrick and Eyes Wide Shut
Lost Kubrick: The unfinished films of Stanley Kubrick
DGA D.W Griffith Award Acceptance Speech, 1998
Separate interviews with Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman and Stanley Kubrick
TV spots
Trailer
The 4K UHD disc contains no extras, they are all on the accompanying Blu-ray.
The Last Movie: Stanley Kubrick and Eyes Wide Shut is a strong three-part archival documentary from 1999 that runs for 43 minutes. It provides an illuminating insight into the director through interviews with his family, collaborators and other filmmakers, and those involved in the filming of Eyes Wide Shut. It feels like a pretty honest documentary where we get a bit of a sense of Kubrick the man, not just the director. Yet, given the title, it is surprising at just how little there is about Kubrick’s final film. It’s a fascinating documentary overall, though.
Lost Kubrick: The unfinished films of Stanley Kubrick is another archival documentary which is equally fascinating and, for me, the standout extra on the disc. Narrated by A Clockwork Orange (1971) star Malcolm McDowell, it tells us about some of Kubrick’s un-filmed projects like Napoleon through a range of interviews. We learn about a few films that were not made, including a holocaust movie and, of course, A.I Artificial Intelligence which Steven Spielberg would eventually make.
The D.W Griffith Award Acceptance Speech runs for four minutes and sees Kubrick reference Icarus in comparison to Griffith’s career. It’s a nice inclusion.
Three interviews follow, one each with Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman and Steven Spielberg. They can be played separately or together in a 35 minute piece. They’re all really strong, with plenty of reflections on Kubrick, and the trio’s feelings for him, as well as about him as a director and, for Cruise and Kidman, making the film.
Two teaser spots, totalling 60 seconds in total and which can be played separately, do a great job. The first showcases the unsettling tone that the film will bring, and the second is scored to Chris Isaak’s Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing.
The trailer also contains that Isaak song and runs for one minute, so plays like an extended TV spot.
In closing, Warner Bros have provided a first class audio-visual presentation for Stanley Kubrick’s final film, the masterful Eyes Wide Shut. The film shines in its UK 4K debut and looks absolutely brilliant from opening frame to closing shot. Warner have also included some very worthwhile archival extras, including a brilliant documentary looking at the projects Kubrick was sadly unable to complete. Highly recommended.
Disc/Package: 