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 Director
: Stanley Kubrick
Starring
: Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Sydney Pollack, Marie Richardson,
Rade Sherbedgia, Todd Field
Picture 4:3 fullscreen, DD 5.1,
Single-Side Dual-Layer, Snap Case
Running
Time : 159 mins
The
story:
Stanley
Kubrick's final lavish masterpiece is a tale of guilt and
of jealousy and a pschycological journey into an erotic
world where nothing is as it seems. Dr William Harford (Tom
Cruise) and his wife Alice (Nicole Kidman) are a fulfilled
and loving married couple. But one evening Alice shares
her most intimate sexual feelings of longing with her husband.
He feels betrayal, jealousy and anger. In a night that seems
to last forever he embarks on a voyage of sexual discovery
that embroils him into another world. A place where your
inhibitions and moralities are left at the door and your
only protection is the mask that you choose to wear. Opulence
and excess is there in abundance but everything has its
price, or so it would seem.
The
summary:
To explain why this is a good film would do nothing for
the final chapter in the work and the art that Stanley Kubrick
fought so hard to achieve during his long and selective
career. Instead we must look at the reasons why this is
not a GREAT film.
Tirelessly
shot over a period of two years, Eyes Wide Shut was a work
of perfection and obsession, like most of Kubricks previous
films. The casting of Cruise and Kidman as the central married
couple was a brave decision and does pay off with breathtaking
performances from them both. The sets, the camera work and
the sheer lavishness of the whole film is also a testament
to a film maker at the pinnacle of his career. But the one
thing that hinders the film from greatness is the sluggishness
of the story. The slow and sometimes stuntedness of the
plot detract from the perfect way that it is told to its
audience and that is why it is not a great film. If you
can stick with it through its 159 minutes you will be rewarded
with its beauty but will still come away thinking that so
much more could have been achieved.
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