Episode 314: EYES WIDE SHUT (1999)

Trylove

EYES WIDE SHUT is a 1999 psychosexual thriller film starring Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise and directed by Stanley Kubrick in his final feature film. After New York City doctor Bill Hartford (Tom Cruise) and his wife Alice (Nicole Kidman) attend a Christmas party hosted by one of Bill’s patients, Alice reveals to Bill in a stoned haze that she’s fantasized about having sex with other men. The revelation sends Bill reeling, and his wandering eventually leads to him infiltrating a masked orgy in a secluded mansion outside the city. His meddling puts him on the radar of a dangerous secret society and down a paranoid rabbit hole, driven all the while by visions of Alice in the arms of another man.

In this episode — our first on Kubrick! — we wander the twisting pathway to the heart of EYES WIDE SHUT, stopping along the way to remark on everything from the movie’s leering gaze and its dark humor to Bill’s remarkable ineptitude and Jacob Frey’s weird balls.

References:

• Give to the Trylon’s Film Forever Fund so they never have to increase ticket prices!
• Check the calendar, preview upcoming series, and buy tickets at https://www.trylon.org/
• Contribute to Perisphere, the Trylon blog
• “A Stanley Kubrick Christmas: Intense Paranoia and Masquerade Orgies” by Dan Howard for Perisphere, the Trylon blog

#NicoleKidmansFearlessPerformances #35mm

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Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro: “Musica Ricercata, II (Mesto, rigido e cerimoniale)” composed by György Ligeti and performed by Dominic Harlan from the EYES WIDE SHUT soundtrack.

Timestamps

0:00 - Episode 314: EYES WIDE SHUT (1999)

2:21 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary (under exclusive license from AG Enterprises, Ltd.)

4:49 - When we first got eyes on EYES WIDE SHUT

10:42 - Casting Tom Cruise as Bill

27:32 - The veil of clinicality Bill hides behind

35:33 - “An episode of The Twilight Zone for perverts”

45:40 - Angles, shot composition, lighting, and how the story is framed

51:57 - Will Bill ever belong?

58:29 - Alice doesn’t have very much to do, but she doesn’t have to do very much

1:04:47 - Cody’s uncanny impression of Aaron

1:08:33 - How the score parallels the worlds Bill straddles

1:15:56 - The Junk Drawer

1:21:23 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1999

1:27:29 - Cody’s Noteys: Treyes Wide Shut (guessing sound clips from movies we’ve covered)