Eyes Wide Shut
dir. Stanley Kubrick · 1999
Feature
Moral Ambiguity
Mood
Dark / Tense
Look
meticulously composed, with a cold, clinical color palette and haunting lighting
Structure
fragmented and dreamlike, blurring the lines between reality and fantasy
Plot
After Dr. Bill Harford's wife, Alice, admits to having sexual fantasies about a man she met, Bill becomes obsessed with having a sexual encounter. He discovers an underground sexual group and attends one of their meetings -- and quickly discovers that he is in over his head.
Why watch
"Eyes Wide Shut" invites viewers into a labyrinth of desire and deception, where the boundaries of reality blur in a haunting exploration of sexual obsession and moral ambiguity. With Kubrick's signature visual precision, this film challenges the viewer to confront the darker corners of human desire.
Cultural context
late 1990s sexual liberation discoursecritiques of bourgeois moralityexploration of male privilegethe intersection of fantasy and reality