The analysis tries very hard to cram square pegs into round holes. Great analysis OP, a good read, well done! It was supposed to inspire a sense of mystery. It used a vocal sampled from another earlier recording. And Stanley wanted the smoke coming out of the incense burner to be in the shot in a particular way, and smoke is fairly uncontrollable. The story is strange and winding, adding to the dreamlike quality of filmmaking that takes influence from the original "Dream Story." 2023 Vox Media, LLC. Given Kubricks fear of flying, the entire thing was shot in England with sound-stage works at Londons Pinewood Studios, which included a detailed recreation of New Yorks Greenwich Village. PE: The cut was sacred; they werent going to change one frame of it. This was a fate no one could have predicted back in July 1999, when it was released to dismissive reviews and disappointing box office, owing in part to a fully revved-up Hollywood hype machine that touted the sex appeal of stars Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman and prepared audiences for a much different film. Because you never see his face. (aka R-rated version). The attendees are in many ways wearing masks too. Something that might give you some insight into Eyes Wide Shut is the German television of adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler's novel. Offscreen, he was one himself. Eyes Wide Shut | In-Depth Explanation and Analysis - YouTube AG: Leon came back one day with pictures from the Kama Sutra and said, Stanley would like you to draw inspiration from these images, at which point we were all sort of like, Okay, thats not really what we signed up for. But we knew each other very well at this point, so taking on more of a sexual nature was not so shocking. LV: When Tom was shooting that picture, he was the biggest box-office star in the world. Hed allowed the dreamy, Mitteleuropa-n mood of Schnitzlers original novella to seep into his picture. and gives me extra appreciation to Kubricks ideations. Jeff Bezos, it turns out, sends awkward sexts. Eyes Wide Shut is a 1999 erotic mystery psychological drama film directed, produced, and co-written by Stanley Kubrick. Bill and Alice both acknowledge that they have awakened from their dreams of infidelity just before turning their reality into a nightmare. I came up with a weird piece called Dionysus, which didnt ultimately get used in the film. AG: They would just say, Right, okay, you bend over, and you do that one like that, and you lie there, and you do it like that. I know we were wearing masks and we had our anonymity and we could have just never told anybody wed done it, but its not an easy thing to do. Very often, Stanley would say to me that I wasnt on my mark. For months, wed call them in once or twice a week and I would take a video camera and wed improvise a lot of stuff. National reviewers myopic focus on sex, and the shallow psychologies of the films central couple, the Harfords, at the expense of every other element of the film-the trappings of stupendous wealtheven the sum Dr. Harford spends on a single night out-says more about the blindness of the elites to their own surroundings than it does about Kubricks inadequacies as a pornographer. Shelley Duvall on the set of "The Shining,". Eyes Wide Shut | Masked Ball Video | Tom Cruise - YouTube A lot of the timing of that whole scene was queued by Russell because he had his stick. With this film, Kubrick is taking on "the causes and effects of depersonalized sex." Masked Ball in Eyes Wide Shut: Lyrics? - Cafe Society - Straight Dope [After] the emphasis shifted onto that, I went out with him and Leon and the production designer to look at different locations, one of which was the big venue we eventually used. Dr. Harford is on call to that class of person who can afford not to wait in emergency rooms or die in hospitalspeople like his friend Victor Ziegler, whose name denotes him as one of the worlds winners. Home; Videos; Categories; Webcams; Eyes Wide Shut Ritual Scene. Child sex slavery, rape, drug overdoses, money can be used to buy everything. Or perhaps members of the nefarious secret society placed it there as a threat. We see her rolling deodorant under her arms (whilst looking in one of those ever present mirrors) as Helena brushes her teeth next to her, this mother/daughter grooming ritual repeated when we see Alice brushing the young girls hair. It's only after he starts talking to Nick Nightingale that he becomes actively engaged in getting into the orgy. Dude . The clincher for me is the image of the man in the red cloak with two anonymous men in blue standing extremely conspicuously at his side. 2:10:32. Wealth is Ziegler's most important quality; he's not necessarily more illusory or deceitful than others in the film. There was one woman, Abigail, who ended up having this larger role. Of course, 'Eyes Wide Shut', the phrase itself, is a calling card among secret societies, meaning 'my eyes are shut to your misdeeds, brother.' This anonymity is required of participants, in order to cloak society's moneyed elite. Eyes Wide Shut - Rotten Tomatoes According to the documentary "Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures," Kubrick was in the middle of post-production when he showed what Warner Bros. executives claim was a relatively final cut of the film on March 1, 1999. He was throwing all these compliments at me about this little film. The scene known as Masked Ball, depicting an occult satanic ritual orgy, from Stanley Kubrick's final masterpiece Eyes Wide Shut - when played in reverse, it is actually a Romanian Orthodox chant.The lyrics of the chant are as follows: nc ne rugm pentru mila, viaa, pacea, sntatea, mntuirea, cercetarea, lsarea i iertarea pcatelor robilor lui Dumnezeu, nchintori, miluitori i binefctori ai sfntului lcaului acestuia. But that doesn't mean that there isn't any controversy. Its somewhere up in the Hollywood Hills, or around that area. In one of the final scenes, Bill sees the mask on his pillow beside his sleeping wife. Jason Statham and Aubrey Plaza do not seem like a match made in action-comedy-chemistry heaven, but it somehow works. Required fields are marked *. Eyes Wide Shut - Wikipedia AG: When all the other girls left, I was in this amazing position of being able to work with two incredible artists. Of it, Kubrick told Playboy: Its not a message that I ever intend to convey in words. Those who have also seen author Jon Ronsons 2008 documentary Stanley Kubricks Boxes, will however be familiar with the extreme obsessions of the master director himself. LV: It was Cate Blanchett! God, I sound like a bit of a bimbo! I had three lasers on the Steadicam, pointed to the ground, and when they all lined up, a grip would drop a plumb line from a string from the lens; then Id line my lasers up, and then the grip would talk me into the mark, saying I was two inches, one inch on the mark. LV: The cut was locked a week before Stanley had showed it in New York to Tom and Nicole, and he told them that was his final cut. "Eyes Wide Shut" recognizes how earth-shattering disloyalty can be, even if it just occurs in your mind. After Bill and Alice return home from a Christmas party (where they both flirted with strangers), they have sex and smoke weed; in their late-night haze, Alice reveals that she once daydreamed about leaving her family to run off with a handsome Naval Officer she spied on their Cape Cod vacation. You\'ll receive the next newsletter in your inbox. During the course of shooting Eyes Wide Shut, the director filmed 95 takes of Tom Cruise walking through a door. (aka unrated, international theatrical cut). It would shut off the viewers appreciation and shackle him to a reality other than his ownthe momentum of a movie often prevents every stimulating detail or nuance from having a full impact the first time its seen. The director died six days later, on March 7, 1999, at the age of 70. "Think of the orgy sequence as a dream. The Truth About Stanley Kubrick's Most Controversial Scene Eyes Wide Shut Ritual Scene Free Porn Videos - XXX Porn Youve got some Janning to do! I like cats and Danzig. The first day he was there and they were just shooting him entering into the ballroom, he was standing there with his mask on. It all was choreographed as we went. The ending of the movie Eyes Wide Shut shows us that Bill and Alice know too much about each other and the adultery they are capable of committing, yet they would prefer to live blissfully, ignoring it all. Just as things are heating up, Alice interrupts the encounter with a phone call, again seeming to have a sixth sense about things. There are three popular theories, several of which are detailed byScreenRant. CENSORED! Photo: Warner Bros. It doesnt make it genius.. Great analysis. After Dax Shepard asked her about her musical chairs relationship situation. Mmkay. But yes, I wasnt directed to walk like that really. The actress was coming off a breakout performance in 1997's "Oscar and Lucinda" and then a star-making . Eyes Wide Shut Explained (detailed) : r/StanleyKubrick In 1994, Stanley Kubrick sent the screenwriter Frederic Raphael a novella about a doctor who embarks on a dark odyssey of the soul . What do you think? Even though it had Tom Cruise as its star, it was not a successful movie and therefore not seen as one of Tom's most profitable movies. EYES WIDE SHUT, regrettably, continues that trend, even though some mainstream critics (and filmmakers) are still struggling to shower Kubrick with undeserved kudos. 2020 was a tough year and although I don't see things getting better anytime soon this channel and the community it's gradually developing is more than enough to keep me going spiritually, I guess. A member of the Blast Beat Network. Instead, he said it would be more a kind of modern dance with the inference of sex. With a somewhat surprising open mind, Stanley let Yoldane and others help him form what has gone down as his most controversial scene. She is still open with him about her past sexual fantasies, but in the end they stay loyal to each other, happy that their marriage and mutual sexual attraction have survived this long. The first is that Alice found the mask and left it out in order to provoke a confession. These soulless copulations at the orgymirror Bill and Alice's potential affairs: they would be nothing but meaningless physical encounters that could never replace the profound intimacy of their marriage a genuine type of closeness that allows them to be their true selves. Anthony Frewin (assistant to Stanley Kubrick): I had a friend who lived in the south of France, G. Legman. AG: Stanley said I reminded him of Lady Lyndon from Barry Lyndon. Much of the movie is a Playboy-inspired, demonic circus of smut that exploits the bodies of women, while hypocritically keeping male modesty intact. In truth, fashioning the orgy and the scenes around it may well have been one of the biggest challenges of Kubricks career. Bill wears a mask in order to infiltrate the private ritual, but he also wears a figurative mask in real life to be an ideal husband and conceal his own sexual curiosity outside of his relationship with Alice. His eyes may be open, but they are metaphorically shut to the truth of these secret desires. I wasnt willing to be accommodating. "Instead, he said it would be more a kind of modern dance with the inference of sex.". Citing contractual obligations to deliver an R rating, Warner Bros digitally altered the orgy for the American release, blocking out graphic sexuality by inserting additional figures to obscure the view, avoiding an adults-only NC-17 rating that limited distribution. In scenes that Warner Bros now refuses to release, the director apparently expounded at some length on the existence of actual cults. JD: Our rehearsals for that lasted a month. I'm pasting the relevant section from my piece below. For a few weeks, most of the rep houses in the city were screening Stanley Kubricks Eyes Wide Shut. I tried to create a visual experience, one that bypasses verbalized pigeonholing and directly penetrates the subconscious with an emotional and philosophic contentI intended the film to be an intensely subjective experience that reaches the viewer at an inner level of consciousness, just as music does; to explain a Beethoven symphony would be to emasculate it by erecting an artificial barrier between conception and appreciation. And then in the later scenes, its Leon [playing him]. All his films after and including 2001followed a similar vein, with Kubrick getting involved in everything that went on. A sub for fans to discuss the work of Stanley Kubrick, Press J to jump to the feed. But that doesn't mean that there isn't any controversy attached to the film's release. Sex and illusion, on the other hand, isn't an important contrast that would need to be symbolized. Abigail Good (the Mysterious Woman): They took this space which is now a really beautiful hotel in St. Pancras. This email will be used to sign into all New York sites. Stanley Kubrick's final film "Eyes Wide Shut" is loosely based on Arthur Schnitzler's novella "Traumnovelle (Dream Story)," and transfers the action from 1900s Vienna to the late 1990s in Greenwich Village. Legman also recommended Flicien Rops, a very famous artist who specialized in all sorts of weird erotica. An uncompromising film, placing a heavy intellectual burden upon the audience, compelling each viewer to unravel for himself its deeper meaning and significance. "After a few weeks, he started to talk to me about the ritual, the masked ball, and the disrobing ritual. It's safe to say that Kubrick had a reputation for being quite the demanding and unusual filmmaker. Conspiracy theorists argue that Kubrick had never been shy about ratings (A Clockwork Orange was originally given an X-rating). Bill is sent for by Ziegler to attend to a prostitute named Mandy who has overdosed and needs medical attention, which Bill provides. I am reminded of a Kubrick quote from his famous 1968 Playboy interview about 2001: A Space Odyssey, The very meaninglessness of life forces man to create his own meaning.. Page updates daily! Eyes Wide Shut Ending Explained: No Dream Is Ever Just A Dream I told him, Its not that Im saying that I wont do it; Im saying that I cant do it. I was upset. Finances are a separate issue. But Bill's actions don't feel that way to me.Initially, Bill is called away by to see a dying patient before the full weight of Alice's words have had time to sink in- plus he's a bit stoned. The hidden meanings of Eyes Wide Shut explained. It was actually Tom and Nicole who came up with the idea of Cate. *Sorry, there was a problem signing you up. Remember, absolutely nothing in this film will have been left to chance everything is painstakingly nuanced to paint the precise picture Kubrick was getting at. Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut Orgy Featured Cate Blanchett - IndieWire And no dream is ever just a dream. So nice to meet you. And he started talking about a film that Id made for TV called Swinger. "Eyes Wide Shut" opened on July 16, 1999, and did well at the box office and with critics. After a few weeks, he started to talk to me about the ritual, the masked ball, and the disrobing ritual. To exaggerate the distrust between their fictional husband and wife, Kubrick would direct each actor separately and forbid them to share notes. In the most famous scene, Harford ends up at a mansion where he finds dozens of masked elites taking part in cult-like, ritualistic sex ceremonies with masked, naked women. 100 Times. The literal definition of telling instead of showing. most of the rep houses in the city were screening, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. There was another scene on beds or sofas. But not explicit. In this movie, the world of wealth and privilege is a world of illusion and facade. Kubrick has no clothes. A worthy read.My one disagreement with you is about Bill's reaction to Alice's confession. We were playing around with different ritualistic formations. "Eyes Wide Shut"recognizes how earth-shattering disloyalty can be, even if it just occurs in your mind. 11:00. But it unfolds in the manner of a dream, with its events and characters based on real events.".