Eyes Wide Shut Unrated Two-Disc Special Edition

Many reviewers have made comments on the script, soundtrack, artistic direction, and acting in Eyes Wide Shut. All are superb, especially the interior photography, but I would rather focus on the profound story-telling in this exceptional film. The plot of Eyes Wide Shut weaves together the path of man's fall from Grace, his struggle and journey to regain that state, and the amazing almost accidental way that Grace is restored to the human spirit. Tom Cruise plays Dr. Tom, the Everyman. Nicole Kidman plays Allison, his wife. In the beginning of the film she plays the Eve archtype, who stimulates the fall from Grace with a curious note of discord and jealousy. Tom, the Adam/Everyman character, has it all in his Garden of Eden. He has a wonderful medical practice near Central Park. His beautiful wife, who is shown in total naked innocense in the first scene of the film, manages an art gallery in SoHo. They have a multimillion dollar apartment overlooking the Park. They have a bright and lovely young daughter that loves them. They have a beautiful and to all appearances perfect life. They attend a Holiday Party at the home of an ultra-rich, ultra-powerful patient of Dr. Tom. While separated, the Devil (disquised as a suave sophisticated older man) asks Nicole to dance and within minutes begins to seduce her and try to get her to go upstairs and have sex with him. The actor who plays this Devil character was perfect. He was slim with a big head full of white hair. He wraps himself around Nicole Kidman like a slinky boa constrictor. She avoids the seduction despite being slightly intoxicated. Yet she does not escape unharmed for he has planted the seed of discord in her mind. She performed well and she would like to be praised for resisting this seduction, but she realizes her husband will never know. Dr. Tom in the meanwhile is tending to the herion overdose of a very high priced prostitute. Laying nude and unconscious, this woman appears to be the apex of earthly beauty. Dr. Tom revives her and treats her with extreme kindness and dignity and handles the entire situation very diplomatically. Again, in mirror image to his wife, he has performed beautifully yet he can't really tell his wife what he has experienced. They both leave the party with secrets they can not share. After smoking a join at home, Allison challenges her husband that he really does not understand the sexual desires of women and he really doesn't know her thoughts and secrets. The Devil has done his work! Adam is about to be handed the apple! Allison admits that she had a consuming overwhelming sexual fantasy while the family was on Cape Cod based on a military officer she saw eating dinner in a restaurant. Dr. Tom's fall begins here and boy does he fall! He journeys through the night-life of Manhattan but eventually gets caught up in the nest of Devils in their sexual orgy hideaway. His life is in danger and yet a beautiful prostitute saves him and he is allowed to leave. Later he finds that she has died of an overdose. Remember that a sacrifice is required when one falls from Grace, a maxim of every religion. In some ways his journey is like Ullyses trying to make his way home to the waiting Penelope. This is especailly true with the wild encounters he has with Manhattan low-life on his night's journey. He is almost seduced by a street walker who he finds out later has AIDS. He makes his way back to his wife, full of contradictions and uncertainties, but resolved to rejoin with her - to renew the emotional bonds that he lost during his night of journey into dark places. The film ends in a gigantic toy store, a place of renewed innocence, and when Dr. Tom asks Allison where to they go from here, she acknowledges that they move forward together for they were "lucky". It is this word "lucky" that resolves the story from a theological point of view, for they have been saved by the Grace of God. They don't deserve this gift,they really didn't ask for it, they just struggled in the dark like all human beings. Yet, in the end they are the recipients of this Grace. Stanley Kubrick based this film on Arthur Schnitzler's short novel "Traumnovelle", but surely Schnitzler based his novel on the eternal story of Adam and Eve, the fall and the redemption. This film that was judged obscene turns out to be sacred. Read more

Whether or not you like Tom Cruise probably won't matter 'as much' in a movie like Eyes Wide Shut. The basic premise is about a very wealthy doctor and family man (Tom Cruise), opening his eyes to the world around him while living in New York City with his wife (Nicole Kidman), and daughter. This movie is more on par with a psychological thriller. Basically Tom is one curious cat, and is out to live life a little bit on the wild side. Along the way he finds himself at a very private party in a huge mansion out in (I'm guessing), West Chester County, New York. Actually that part of the movie might be the most action-packed part. I'm going to talk about this party scene for a little bit not only because it was probably one of the more remembered scenes in the movie, but also because I think the late director, the great Stanley Kubrick, was trying to tell us simple folks a few things. This party that Tom Cruises manages to sneak in uninvited is as I said a very upscale and private party. Everyone at this party wears masks. The only way people can get in is if they know the password. Tom's friend (a piano player who can play blindfolded), was invited to this party to play the piano or some other instrument. He somewhat braggingly gave Tom the password to get in. When Tom Cruise's character makes his way into this party he comes across a huge room where there seems to be some type of quasi-religious ritual going on. This ritual involves barely clothed beautiful women. Then the women each go and join with a few of the men surrounding them, (Everyone wearing a mask and cloak is basically a male). Anyway, Tom gets discovered and is told to remove his clothes when one of the women shouts "I redeem him!". Basically she is sort of "sacrificing" herself for Tom. Tom is then given a very threatening and stern warning to never speak of what he witnessed at this party. My take on this scene goes back to what Stanley Kubrick himself once said about the lost art of observation. These masked men at this party were most likely not just American politicians but politicians from all over the world. The sexual ritual was some type of Satanist-pagan ritual. My own opinion (and I know not everyone believes in this), is that Stanley Kubrick was trying to subtly convey the message that the Illuminati are real, and that this type of depraved ritualistic sex parties are the types of things that the most powerful and elite people in this world engage in. And that perhaps they are all devil worshippers. As someone who has done a lot of research on the Order of the Perfectibilists, I can say this movie seems to almost directly call out what most "conspiracy theorists" believe are the "Illuminati". Anyway, this is a very chilling and psychologically thrilling movie and I highly recommend it to anyone. Read more