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Eyes Wide Shut poster

Eyes Wide Shut

year 1999decade 90sdirector Stanley Kubrickgenre Drama

159 minutes

Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Tom Cruise Dr. William Harford
Nicole Kidman Alice Harford
Sydney Pollack Victor Ziegler

Eyes Wide Shut | The Rewatchables

host Bill Simmonshost Chris Ryanhost Sean Fennesseyhost Mallory Rubin
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Producer credits not yet identified.

Most Rewatchable Scene

Stoned marital fight, two choices; masked party, one choice

In the discussion (15)
Approx. transcript time · 00:36:58Read transcript
  • Stoned Alice confronting Bill is nominated.
  • Alice’s dance with the Hungarian is praised as intensely sexy and revealing about marriage; opposing reactions find him creepy and his performance poor.
  • The confrontation over Bill’s certainty of Alice’s fidelity is a personal favorite; the performances are defended as right for this strange film even if conventionally bad.
  • Alice’s confrontation is praised for musical delivery, rhythmic strangeness, and its escalation from reassurance into a carefully controlled fight.
  • The confession about abandoning husband and daughter for the naval officer is read as a deliberately wounding disclosure, not merely an honest admission.
  • The entire night-out sequence from Marion through Domino to Nick is nominated.
  • Marion’s painful love confession is praised and interpreted as a clue toward dream logic because it seems implausible for someone Bill barely knows.
  • The masked party builds from spectacle into unpredictable danger, producing uncertainty about where the story could possibly go.
  • The escalating strangeness of Marion, Domino, Nick, the costume shop, and the masked party is admired as a progression.
  • The costume-shop encounter is nominated for its unsettling wigs and the proprietor’s remarkable comic performance while trying to serve his customer.
  • Bill realizing he is being followed through New York is nominated, particularly the creepy music.
  • The pool-table conversation is nominated, with Pollack’s performance praised as consistently smooth and excellent.
  • The final conversation in the store is nominated.
  • Alice’s dream account is nominated for its savage description of humiliating Bill, with astonishment that a real married couple performed it.
  • The stoned fight receives two final preferences; the masked party receives another.

What’s Aged the Worst?

Married-star casting; thin mystery; later divorce; medical competence; tame party; no male nudity; harassment criticism withdrawn

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 00:51:37Read transcript
  • The harassment by the fraternity-like group is called a poorly aged scene.
  • The street harassment criticism is withdrawn after its purpose is explained as further undermining Bill’s sexuality; the scene’s execution remains questioned.
  • Casting an actual married couple is both fascinating and painful because their insecurities become material for the film.
  • The secret-society mystery is considered insufficiently interesting or developed for the long running time; the defense is that it serves the marriage crisis rather than a solvable puzzle.
  • Cruise and Kidman’s divorce two years later is nominated.
  • Bill’s medical competence is mocked: the overdose response is minimal, he constantly displays his doctor ID, and he falsely invokes confidential test results to obtain information.
  • The masked party seems tame by contemporary standards even in the uncut version; censorship and added obscuring bodies are acknowledged.
  • The absence of male full-frontal nudity is criticized given the volume of female nudity.

What’s Aged the Best?

Party joke; Kidman; redheads; Pollack; Shining echoes; piano music; natural bodies; home marijuana; taxi era; masks; timeless desire and relationship concerns

In the discussion (12)
Approx. transcript time · 00:55:39Read transcript
  • The masked party has endured as a reusable cultural joke, comparable to the key party in The Ice Storm.
  • Late-1990s Kidman’s beauty and sexual confidence are praised, from the opening nude shot to her final line.
  • The film’s many redheads are celebrated, including Sally.
  • Pollack, especially in suspenders, is praised as an accomplished director giving a major performance; his eagerness to learn from Kubrick is offered as an explanation.
  • The opening ballroom’s use of music associated with The Shining and its visual resemblance are appreciated.
  • The eerie, simple piano motif is memorable enough to imagine a child learning it.
  • The natural appearance of the nude performers is praised, with a qualification that cosmetic surgery cannot be known merely by looking.
  • Smoking marijuana at home, keeping it in a Band-Aid container, and unwinding into frank conversation are nominated.
  • The taxi era without GPS or spouse-tracking smartphones enables Bill’s wandering, though an early mobile phone is acknowledged.
  • Masks, secret societies, and the exploration of sexual appetite feel timeless rather than tied to1999.
  • Marion’s confession broadens the film beyond the real stars’ marriage by showing desire expressed in front of a father, fiancé, and desired man; grief-driven vulnerability is an alternative interpretation.
  • The film’s emotional concerns and nonspecific period make it a candidate for the best-aged1999film, with modern tracking and communication as the main differences.

Apex Mountain

Large masked orgies; London standing in for New York

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:13:23Read transcript
  • Large masked orgies are affirmed as an apex through their cultural exposure.
  • London standing in for New York receives an explicit apex selection.