Review of Eyes Wide Shut (1999) by Broker2022 — 16 Mar 2023

It's very difficult to rate this movie for the masses as it's so complex that even though I've watched it so many times, I still find new meaning in almost every scene. One should first look at the old works of Stanley Kubrick in order to understand this work of art.

A film for eternity, a film for the intellectual mind and a real zeitgeist film, even after 24 years, I still enjoy watching this masterpiece because it is just so good that it put all of Stanley Kubrick's previous films into the shades.

Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman were also a couple in real life during filming and the viewer feels involved in the tension between the two actors' marriage. Fantastically acted, also all supporting roles perfectly cast.

Special mention should be made of the great, unfortunately already deceased, Sydney Pollack, also Sky Du Mont as a Hungarian seducer, admirable performance. Simply perfect, the ambience, the facilities, the acting, the story, the camera everything is great.

A successful composition. A complete work of art, multifaceted and intense in every scene, penetrating, sometimes repulsive, sometimes attractive. Drama, seduction, sexual fantasies, abuse of drugs, degeneration, abnormalities, prostitution and prostitution of minors, human abysses.

It also, for the first time, portrays the one percent of our society, the super-rich and powerful, in a very different light that astonishes and repels viewers. The lesson Stanley Kubrick wants to convey to us is simple.

Too much power and money corrupts. Even ordinary people like our protagonist Bill Harford may deviate from his path as a normal and blameless citizen. It takes a strong and composed character to resist the temptations.

At the end the warning, don't dare to go too far, it can kill you. After watching, the viewer understands the criminal energy of e.g. Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Very complex movie.