Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

A New York City doctor, who is married to an art curator, pushes himself on a harrowing and dangerous night-long odyssey of sexual and moral discovery after his wife admits that she once almost cheated on him.

Director:

Stanley Kubrick

Writers:

Stanley Kubrick (screenplay), Frederic Raphael (screenplay),

Stars:

Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Sydney Pollack

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 5 wins & 15 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tom Cruise	...	Dr. William Harford
Nicole Kidman	...	Alice Harford
Madison Eginton	...	Helena Harford
Jackie Sawiris	...	Roz
Sydney Pollack	...	Victor Ziegler
Leslie Lowe	...	Illona Ziegler
Peter Benson	...	Bandleader
Todd Field	...	Nick Nightingale
Michael Doven	...	Ziegler's Secretary
Sky du Mont	...	Sandor Szavost (as Sky Dumont)
Louise J. Taylor	...	Gayle (as Louise Taylor)
Stewart Thorndike	...	Nuala
Randall Paul	...	Harris
Julienne Davis	...	Mandy
Lisa Leone	...	Lisa

Storyline

A doctor becomes obsessed with having a sexual encounter after his wife admits to having sexual fantasies about a man she met and chastising him for dishonesty in not admitting to his own fantasies. This sets him off into unfulfilled encounters with a dead patient's daughter and a hooker. But when he visits a nightclub, where a pianist friend Nick Nightingale is playing, he learns about a secret sexual group and decides to attend one of their congregations. However, he quickly learns he is in well over his head and finds he and his family are threatened.

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Plot Keywords:

party | patient | sexual fantasy | doctor | city | 

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Taglines:

Cruise. Kidman. Kubrick.

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong sexual content, nudity, language and some drug-related material

Details

Official Sites:

Warner Bros. [us]

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 July 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

EWS

Filming Locations:

Berners Street, Fitzrovia, London, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$65,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£1,189,672 (UK) (10 September 1999)

Gross:

£5,065,520 (UK) (22 October 1999)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hobby Films, Pole Star, Stanley Kubrick Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

159 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Stanley Kubrick:  [114]  The room in the morgue visited by Bill is in wing C, room 114 (C-Rm114, or CRM-114). CRM-114 was the name of the decoding machine in Kubrick's film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, as well as the number printed on the medicine that Alex is given in A Clockwork Orange.

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Goofs

When Doctor Harford is in his office sitting at the desk thinking, late at night, there is only a pen in the middle of the desk. A moment later there is also an elastic band.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Dr. Bill Harford: Honey, have you seen my wallet?
Alice Harford: Isn't it on the bedside table?
Dr. Bill Harford: Now listen, you know we're running a little late.
Alice Harford: I know. How do I look?
Dr. Bill Harford: Perfect.
Alice Harford: Is my hair okay?
Dr. Bill Harford: It's great
Alice Harford: You're not even looking at it.
Dr. Bill Harford: It's beautiful. You always look beautiful.

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Crazy Credits

Special thanks to the staff of Hamleys of London.

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Connections

Featured in The Pervert's Guide to Cinema (2006)

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Soundtracks

"Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing"
(1995)
Performed by Chris Isaak
Courtesy of Reprise Records
By Arrangement with Warner Special Products
Music and lyrics by Chris Isaak
Published by C. Isaak Music Publishing Co. 1995

User Reviews

Kubrick's finest achievement

One of the most under-rated films of the decade, Eyes Wide Shut is a brilliant masterpiece, from the very opening of the film to its very end. Kubrick succeeds in what many good filmmakers failed before him- and conveys a beautiful imagery of our state of dreams, full of sexual symbolism and other dream-like symbols (notice the stop signs in the streets in front of Tom Cruise), and creates a feeling of total wandering; although consistent, due to the fact that every scene and dialogue is vital and neccecary for the film's development.

Moreover, Kubrick's use of music is even more genius than always, and Ligeti's motif from Musica Ricercarta shows us the repetitive nature of dreams, together with a feeling that we don't know where to go next.

And of course there is a note of marriage life, men's sexuality (and the attempt to deny women's sexuality) and the very fine acting of Cruise and Kidman, which was a postlude of there own relationship.

For me, this is the finest, most perfect film of Kubrick, and therefore one of the best films of all. A must see! 10/10