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IMDbPro

Eyes Wide Shut

  • 19991999
  • TV-MATV-MA
  • 2h 39m
IMDb RATING
7.5/10
348K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
359
13
Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman in Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Home Video Trailer from Warner Home Video
Play trailer1:03
5 Videos
99+ Photos
DramaMysteryThriller
A Manhattan doctor embarks on a bizarre, night-long odyssey after his wife's admission of unfulfilled longing.A Manhattan doctor embarks on a bizarre, night-long odyssey after his wife's admission of unfulfilled longing.A Manhattan doctor embarks on a bizarre, night-long odyssey after his wife's admission of unfulfilled longing.
IMDb RATING
7.5/10
348K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
359
13
    • Stanley Kubrick
    • Stanley Kubrick(screenplay)
    • Frederic Raphael(screenplay)
    • Arthur Schnitzler(inspired by "Traumnovelle" by)
  • Stars
    • Tom Cruise
    • Nicole Kidman
    • Todd Field
    • Stanley Kubrick
    • Stanley Kubrick(screenplay)
    • Frederic Raphael(screenplay)
    • Arthur Schnitzler(inspired by "Traumnovelle" by)
  • Stars
    • Tom Cruise
    • Nicole Kidman
    • Todd Field
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 1.7KUser reviews
    • 289Critic reviews
    • 68Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards

    Videos5

    Trailer [EN]
    Trailer 2:26
    Watch Trailer [EN]
    Eyes Wide Shut
    Trailer 1:03
    Watch Eyes Wide Shut
    Cate Blanchett Almost Played Clarice Starling?
    Clip 3:37
    Watch Cate Blanchett Almost Played Clarice Starling?
    'Eye Wide Shut' | Anniversary Mashup
    Clip 1:19
    Watch 'Eye Wide Shut' | Anniversary Mashup
    A Guide to the Films of Stanley Kubrick
    Clip 1:38
    Watch A Guide to the Films of Stanley Kubrick

    Photos332

    Leon Vitali in Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
    Stanley Kubrick, Tom Cruise, and Nicole Kidman in Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
    Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman in Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
    Tom Cruise and Leon Vitali in Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
    Alice
    "EYES WIDE SHUT" TOME CRUISE, NICOLE KIDMAN
    "EYES WIDE SHUT" NICOLE KIDMAN
    "EYES WIDE SHUT" TOM CRUISE
    "EYES WIDE SHUT" TOM CRUISE
    "EYES WIDE SHUT" TOM CRUISE
    "EYES WIDE SHUT" NICOLE KIDMAN
    "EYES WIDE SHUT" SYDNEY POLLACK, TOM CRUISE

    Top cast

    Edit
    Tom Cruise
    Tom Cruise
    • Dr. William Harford
    Nicole Kidman
    Nicole Kidman
    • Alice Harford
    Todd Field
    Todd Field
    • Nick Nightingale
    Sydney Pollack
    Sydney Pollack
    • Victor Ziegler
    Madison Eginton
    Madison Eginton
    • Helena Harford
    Jackie Sawiris
    • Roz
    Leslie Lowe
    • Illona
    Peter Hans Benson
    Peter Hans Benson
    • Bandleader
    • (as Peter Benson)
    Michael Doven
    Michael Doven
    • Ziegler's Secretary
    Sky du Mont
    Sky du Mont
    • Sandor Szavost
    • (as Sky Dumont)
    Louise J. Taylor
    • Gayle
    • (as Louise Taylor)
    Stewart Thorndike
    Stewart Thorndike
    • Nuala
    Randall Paul
    • Harris
    Julienne Davis
    Julienne Davis
    • Mandy
    Lisa Leone
    Lisa Leone
    • Lisa
    Kevin Connealy
    • Lou Nathanson
    Marie Richardson
    Marie Richardson
    • Marion
    Thomas Gibson
    Thomas Gibson
    • Carl
      • Stanley Kubrick
      • Stanley Kubrick(screenplay)
      • Frederic Raphael(screenplay)
      • Arthur Schnitzler(inspired by "Traumnovelle" by)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    Director's Trademarks: A Guide to Stanley Kubrick's Films

    Director's Trademarks: A Guide to Stanley Kubrick's Films

    2001: A Space Odyssey and Eyes Wide Shut are just the beginning of Stanley Kubrick's legacy. Are you up to speed on the film icon's style?
    Watch the video
    Image caption not available
    1:38

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    A Clockwork Orange
    8.3
    A Clockwork Orange
    Lolita
    7.5
    Lolita
    2001: A Space Odyssey
    8.3
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    Barry Lyndon
    8.1
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    Full Metal Jacket
    8.3
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    The Shining
    8.4
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    7.9
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    Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
    8.4
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    8.0
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    6.9
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    8.0
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    Storyline

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    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Stanley Kubrick died just four days after presenting Warner Bros. with what was reported to be a final cut of the film, after a legendarily long shoot. His friends and family, as well as the cast and crew of the film, all claimed that Kubrick's death was completely unexpected and that he never seemed to be in poor health while making the film.
    • Goofs
      Bill Harford arrives at Rainbow Fashions by taxi from the Sonata Cafe, and, as he talks to Milich, Gillespie's Diner can be been seen across the other side of the street. Earlier in the story, it was seen that Gillespie's is next door to the Sonata Cafe; there's no way he would have taken a taxi just to cross the street.
    • Quotes

      Victor Ziegler: Listen, Bill. Nobody killed anybody. Someone died. It happens all the time. Life goes on. It always does, until it doesn't. But you know that, don't you?

    • Crazy credits
      The end credits are a slideshow. This is unusual for a film of its time, when many employed rolling end credits.
    • Alternate versions
      The Europeans version is completely uncensored. The orgy scene was partially censored in the American release to avoid an "NC-17" rating. Computer generated people were placed in front of the sexually explicit action to obscure it from view.
    • Connections
      Edited into Hai-Kubrick (1999)
    • Soundtracks
      Musica Ricercata II: Mesto, Rigido e Cerimonale
      (1950)

      Performed by Dominic Harlan, piano

      Written by György Ligeti

      Published by Schott Musik International GmbH & Co. KG

    User reviews1.7K

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    10/10
    Eyes Wide Open
    Stanley Kubrick's final film is perhaps the first of its kind: it is the only film I have watched that exists within the state of death itself. It's no surprise; Stanley Kubrick died 4 days after submitting the final print into Warner Bros., Sydney Pollock died in 2008 and my grandparents, who saw this film at a screening in 1999, are dead. However, these aren't merely the reasons this film evokes a death-like state, this film evokes a death-like state throughout Bill Harford's sexual odyssey. During the Masonic orgy, which is arguably the film's center-piece, women are used and discarded as corpses who are only valued for their material gain. This film is shroud in ultra-violet blue, especially at the end of the film where it accentuates the characters' trembling flesh and vulnerable humanity, and the powerful red which contrasts against this blue reflects one of Kubrick's favorite themes: dominance. Perhaps it's inexplicable that Eyes Wide Shut evokes a man's dying thoughts. Ironically, this film feels more fresh and timeless than many of its contemporaries, only reaffirming the inestimable value of Kubrick's contributions to cinema and a decade of a cinematic drought aptly followed his death. It was fashionable to deride Stanley Kubrick's final film during its theatrical run, regardless of the fact that he considered it his personal favorite. It seems that the audience expected Kubrick to inundate them with gratuitous eroticism as opposed to ideas. Yet, Eyes Wide Shut has outsmarted time and the film industry itself. It was almost incongruously released a week before American Pie and the abysmal Will Smith star vehicle Wild Wild West. It continues to hold a mere 7.2/10 on IMDb in contrast to escapist science-fiction film The Matrix which holds an 8.7/10 rating and is listed in the top 30 films of all time, above Kubrick's more cerebral science-fiction classic 2001: A Space Odyssey. All of this may be due to the fact that Kubrick argued that 'Observancy is a dying art' and Eyes Wide Shut requires an attention to detail and an attention span that transcends the average summer blockbuster; it's easy to get lost in the terrifying labyrinth of Kubrick's musings. Though, unlike other films, Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut refutes the transcendent imagery and magic that is featured in the majority of Kubrick's films, even in Eyes Wide Shut itself, and strips humanity down to its fragile human core, figuratively speaking; Kubrick comes to the conclusion that when man is confronted with the cold and harsh reality, he favors comforting self-delusion and blissful ignorance.

    Sydney Pollock's Ziegler argues, during his amazing final monologue, that the Masonic orgies are practiced by society's elite which excludes Bill. Bill spends the duration of the film's first half attempting to engage in infidelity after his wife reveals that she was willing to choose one night with a naval officer over their future. Naturally, this enrages Bill and he spends the night attempting to fulfill his personal need to subjugate his feelings of impotence, sexual and otherwise. Even in the very beginning, when Bill walks with two models, his short stature implicitly denotes his lack of power. Bill is convinced that he has been subjected to a life of domesticity and his wife is responsible; he vows to reaffirm his masculinity. Kubrick paints long shots of New York at midnight which is designed to inspire the viewer with dread. Almost every single beautiful shot capturing the very essence of soft, warm colors in the beginning soon descends into the dark and strong colors that reflect the very dream-state many describe when they watch this film. Yet, to me, it evokes a foreboding death-like state which suggests impending doom.

    Bill's quest for reaffirmation of his masculinity only renders him emasculated when he enters a Masonic orgy and is rendered socially powerless by a group of the masked elite. Bill's journey neither leads him towards enlightenment nor satisfaction but humiliation and understanding that he has been domesticated by the higher classes. Ironically, his quest for sexual empowerment only led him to the understanding of social domesticity; Bill is not as influential or elite as he had initially anticipated. Not unlike the elite's perception of women; they use the high-class prostitutes as objects valued for their material value which reflects their perception of the masses that are responsible for their success. As in the beginning, when Ziegler needs Bill to revive a dying woman who almost overdoses on a combination of cocaine and heroin, Ziegler values Bill for his medical expertise which prevented trouble with the law rather than his personality. Kubrick's film argues that we live in ignorance of others perceptions of us and this is the ultimate existential fear of Harford; the elite have seen Harford unmasked, vulnerable and exposed. Pollock says 'If you knew who was there, you wouldn't sleep so well.' Kubrick has finally exposed man for who he really is; vulnerable and ignorant of the mysterious forces which govern him. The final and most playfully complex of cinema's closing lines concludes that Bill and Alice Harford have learned to stop worrying and love the bomb. They refuse to acknowledge their social impotence and would prefer for their eyes to remain wide shut, ignorant to the mysterious forces that govern them. On a more optimistic note, however, perhaps Bill's odyssey only made him aware of his vulnerability, and Kubrick evokes this through the dark imagery that recreates the sense of subjective paranoia that Bill is experiencing. Bill realizes what ultimately matters: love and family, as opposed to the power which he initially craved but only realized he was at the mercy of others' application of such social power. I'm open to many interpretations of this film, because Kubrick wanted the audience's eyes to remain wide open soon after they finished experiencing this masterpiece.
    helpful•234
    41
    • AlexDeLargeisHere
    • Feb 2, 2012

    FAQ17

    • How many versions of Eyes Wide Shut are there?
    • What is Eyes Wide Shut actually about?
    • What does the chanting at the mansion party mean?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • July 16, 1999 (United States)
      • United Kingdom
      • United States
      • Warner Bros. (United States)
      • English
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • Elveden Hall, Elveden, Suffolk, England, UK
    • Production companies
      • Warner Bros.
      • Stanley Kubrick Productions
      • Hobby Films
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • 2 hours 39 minutes
      • Color
      • DTS
      • Dolby Digital
      • SDDS

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