Eyes Wide Shut
| Year: | 1999 |
| Director: | Stanley Kubrick |
| Writer: | Stanley Kubrick |
| Cast: | Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Sydney Pollack, Leelee Sobieski, Rade Serbedzija, Alan Cumming |
I wonder if Kubrick, one of the most revered filmmakers of the 20th century, would have taken this film on if he'd known he'd only just see the end of it before leaving this world behind. He was so much of a legend, he got his name above the title with the stars. Not even Spielberg has ever done that.
It's well documented he only agreed to this if Universal gave him AI as well, and what might have been rather than Spielberg's Pinnochiop story is really intriguing.
But if he'd known this would be his last legacy in the world of cinema, would he still have gone for it? Married couples get sexually jealous because of each other - we live with it and get over it every day, why couldn't Kubrick and Cruise?
I don't mention Kidman, because everything about this movie had Cruise's mark, and although nobody in Hollywood will ever say so out loud, I think Kidman was far less interested in doing this than Tom 'desperate-for-cred' Cruise.
It's a pseudo-porny story of a wealthy New York doctor (Cruise) and his attractive wife (Kidman). She once saw a guy and she fantasises about him years later. He wants to get into a regular orgy held by the upper crust on an elite estate. What's the big bloody deal? Consult the back catalogue of Peter North and Rita Faltoyano for far better grot, and watch Office Space for a far more contemporary comment on the modern human condition.
It's well documented he only agreed to this if Universal gave him AI as well, and what might have been rather than Spielberg's Pinnochiop story is really intriguing.
But if he'd known this would be his last legacy in the world of cinema, would he still have gone for it? Married couples get sexually jealous because of each other - we live with it and get over it every day, why couldn't Kubrick and Cruise?
I don't mention Kidman, because everything about this movie had Cruise's mark, and although nobody in Hollywood will ever say so out loud, I think Kidman was far less interested in doing this than Tom 'desperate-for-cred' Cruise.
It's a pseudo-porny story of a wealthy New York doctor (Cruise) and his attractive wife (Kidman). She once saw a guy and she fantasises about him years later. He wants to get into a regular orgy held by the upper crust on an elite estate. What's the big bloody deal? Consult the back catalogue of Peter North and Rita Faltoyano for far better grot, and watch Office Space for a far more contemporary comment on the modern human condition.