This essay will not engage in that kind of analysis.]. The film stock itself had been pushed two stops and had taken on a grainy, otherworldly look. One of Stanley's assistants even started to show the models images from the Kama Sutra, according to the interview with Vulture. It seems to appear whenever Bill is wrestling with the underlying lie of his situation. Dylan Parker is a list and content writer and editor working for Valnet Inc. since 2017. Here, Helena Harford walks by a toy called Magic Circle - showing that the occult elite's ways seep through popular culture, but are not noticed by those who have their eyes wide shut. To exaggerate the distrust between their fictional husband and wife, Kubrick would direct each actor separately and forbid them to share notes. If the man represents Ziegler (and I think the evidence is extensive that this is the case), the men in blue must correspond to the power of his money. He wanted them to start on the ground. The actress was coming off a breakout performance in 1997's "Oscar and Lucinda" and then a star-making . And when we were shooting Eyes Wide Shut, it took Tom as long as it would have taken him to make three movies. The director also thoroughly blended fact and fiction, creating a feeling of distrust between Cruise and Kidman by choosing to "direct each actor separately and forbid them to share notes. The rich are too busy screwing the world over to screw each other with any imagination. Jocelyn Pook was a composer I knew, [who had a piece called] Backwards Priests. I was using that in the rehearsal studio because it felt very appropriate. Something that might give you some insight into Eyes Wide Shut is the German television of adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler's novel. He was throwing all these compliments at me about this little film. Nobodys been here, nothings been touched. Yes, there is. CENSORED! Great analysis OP, a good read, well done! The results were strange, disturbing, creepy, erotic, ridiculous, and unforgettable. It wasnt his stuff, to be honest with you. I think the words he used were surreal and suggestive. Eyes Wide Shut 1999 Now, get undressed. However, the 1999 film also contained a famously controversial scene with multiple naked women taking part in a ritual with a bunch of masked rich men. The length of the shoot caused a lot of press. The idea for the scene was to feature erotic vignettes as opposed to full-on sexual acts. The most famous version has it that he used Eyes Wide Shut to rat on the Illuminati, who retaliated by having him killed on 7th March, 1999666 days before 1st January, 2001 a gruesome nod to his most famous film. Chronic disillusionment. It had been used during the war for a secret command center. Or, to put it another way: Eyes Wide Shut may have been based on Arthur Schnitzlers 1926 Traumnovelle (Dream Story), but it also plays like a sex-drenched variation on Its a Wonderful Life, a warning to its protagonist to learn to appreciate his lot in life and love. Id love to hear more stuff. I remember a car came within a few hours to collect the little cassette I made. Bill is sent for by Ziegler to attend to a prostitute named Mandy who has overdosed and needs medical attention, which Bill provides. And a lot of the characters stood still that was part of the style of the scene. But he was conscious that we were treading in pretty dangerous territory. Home; Videos; Categories; Webcams; Eyes Wide Shut Ritual Scene. He invited me to select the ones that were the most striking. The movie began filming in November 1996 and ended in June 1998, holding the Guinness World Records for longest constant movie shoot at over 15 months, with 46 weeks of unbroken shooting. The theory goes that to protect the nefarious leaders, Warner Bros quietly had the picture re-editedand now denies this ever happened. It doesnt make it genius.. Kubrick also never let his actors see any daily footage, and this inability to track his own performance across the film gave Cruise an ulcer, which he hid from Kubrick. He then begins a night-long journey to explore and possibly give in to his own temptations, stumbling upon a secret society participating in a masked orgy. The Harfords standard of living raises questions about their money, and where it comes fromfrom Bills sparsely scheduled private practice, or the sorts of under-the-table services we see rendered upstairs at the party? Bill is used to having all of the power in their relationship, so her admission leaves him bewildered and emasculated as he aimlessly wanders the city streets. And it's not clear what his intentions are regarding that. There's no doubt that his movies will continue to be seen as masterpieces for decades to come. Ive never been. There was a fragile consensus about "Eyes Wide Shut" when it debuted back in 1999: that it was a bit of a letdown. In line with the film's illusory mood, the mask could also be an imagined indication that Bill's brush with infidelity would always haunt him. Written by Timothy Sexton The Star of Ishtar Youd very rarely do less than 20 takes. He said his surgery was a success, but he needs time to heal before he can tour again. It felt like a sort of research period, with me playing around with ideas and presenting them to him, and him looking at them and feeding back. The movie is based on a German novella from 1926 called "Traumnovelle," or "Dream Story," which focuses on a man in Vienna who finds out his wife has fantasies of other men, and goes on a two-day journey dealing with personal realizations about sex, individualism, and morality. At the beginning, he just asked me to try some ideas for the masked-ball scene and the orgy scene. Solves the mysteries of Mandy's redemption, the masked man on the balcony, and whether Alice was at the ritual: https://wp.me/p6pteV-1U 23 15 Related Topics Stanley Kubrick Movie 15 comments Add a Comment andrew_stirling 3 mo. By using our Services, you agree to our use of cookies. However, it was clear to Yolande Snaith that Stanley didn't precisely know what he wanted from the scene. It wasnt an easy thing to do because none of them were porn actors or actresses; they were all models and dancers. It's safe to say that Kubrick had a reputation for being quite the demanding and unusual filmmaker. Things are happening and that means I have less time to dedicate to YouTube. The film is full of puzzles, riddles, and games, symbols helping to reveal the truths of the unconscious mind, this large symbolic dimension helping foster emotional involvement. Great analysis. It was clear to Yolande Snaith that Stanley didn't precisely know what he wanted from the scene. The director took take after take of the same scene, but not because he had a detailed vision in mind. LV: It was Cate Blanchett! It is based on the 1926 novella Traumnovelle ( Dream Story) by Arthur Schnitzler, transferring the story's setting from early twentieth-century Vienna to 1990s New York City. And then I had to find, of course, the people who were willing to be a part of that. XXX PORN. But look hard enough at this tale of an embittered husband seeking sex in the wake of his wifes admission of adulterous longing, and you can sense a familiar structure. The vocalist had been improvising and had used some words from the Bhagavad Gita. In one of the final scenes, Bill comes home and as he comes to bed he sees Alice ( Nicole Kidman) sleeping next to the same Venetian mask he wore at the party. A member of the Blast Beat Network. Very often, Stanley would say to me that I wasnt on my mark. These scenes, which Kubrick and his team developed and rehearsed over months, have since passed into legend, being referenced in works from Moonrise Kingdom to Get Out to Men in Black: International to HBOs Succession. I think the two interpretations are related. And so on and so forth. "Eyes Wide Shut" opened on July 16, 1999, and did well at the box office and with critics. The owner of the New England Patriots allegedly patronizes low-rent massage parlors. In one of the final scenes, Bill sees the mask on his pillow beside his sleeping wife. I remember one of our animators, Sally Goldberg, talking about animating what people do when theyre standing still. Though his films had always had provocative elements, the director had never tackled something so directly about sex and jealousy and fantasy before. Firstly, the movie had to be censored to hit the R-rating, with the orgy scene taking a large hit. They actually have women there in masks and guys in evening suits who patronize them. She never acted on her desires, but Bill is baffled by the idea that his docile wifehas her own urges and is not sexually passive. Stanley had talked about finding this voice and this quality that we needed. JD: They came to us and said, Theres been a change of plans. They explained that the women would no longer be wearing their G-strings and that the men would be completely naked except for a cup over their bits. What was fascinating for me was how, depending on the particular angles and the particular shots, the circle of women would be reorganized every time. In Barry Lyndon the narrator's dialogue and the filmed action often contradict each other. Along with how long it took to film the movie, Kubrick put his main two actors through a lot of intense experiences. He rebuffs the patient's daughter and only reluctantly goes with the prostitute he meets on the street which he doesn't end up doing anything with. Citing contractual obligations to deliver an R rating, Warner Bros digitally altered the orgy for the American release, blocking out graphic sexuality by inserting additional figures to obscure the view, avoiding an adults-only NC-17 rating that limited distribution. Dr. Harford is on call to that class of person who can afford not to wait in emergency rooms or die in hospitalspeople like his friend Victor Ziegler, whose name denotes him as one of the worlds winners. Wealth is Ziegler's most important quality; he's not necessarily more illusory or deceitful than others in the film. Lines, roads, walking, processions towards a threshold or towards an altar. The clincher for me is the image of the man in the red cloak with two anonymous men in blue standing extremely conspicuously at his side. Kubrick tested this idea on his powerhouse stars Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise in their roles of Dr. Bill and Alice Hartford. It was all very Stanley. Subscribe Now! Now that Meredith is gone, it is business as usual at Grey Sloan Memorial. Eyes Wide Shut was roughly based onArthur Schnitzlers 1926 Traumnovelle (Dream Story), according to an interview by Vulture. The film's dreamy nature may be confusing, but what is important to remember is that ultimately "Eyes Wide Shut"is about the reconciliation of a couple who intentionally blinded themselves from the hard truths of their insecure relationship. I tried to create a visual experience, one that bypasses verbalized pigeonholing and directly penetrates the subconscious with an emotional and philosophic contentI intended the film to be an intensely subjective experience that reaches the viewer at an inner level of consciousness, just as music does; to explain a Beethoven symphony would be to emasculate it by erecting an artificial barrier between conception and appreciation. "He supplied us with a lot of information about secret societies and sexual mores in Vienna at the time of Schnitzler. When we were shooting, somebody said I think it was Tom Do you think these places really exist? And Stanley said, Well, if they dont, they will soon.. PE: The cut was sacred; they werent going to change one frame of it. She was trying to get a more kind of sensual approach to it. Password must be at least 8 characters and contain: As part of your account, youll receive occasional updates and offers from New York, which you can opt out of anytime. When Kubrick died, the cut was known to be locked. We went through the shots and picked out the offensive bits of sex and tried to work out the least annoying way of covering it up. While he almost gives in a few times, he makes it through the encounters unscathed until he gets to the main event, the secret society's weird orgy. During the course of shooting Eyes Wide Shut, the director filmed 95 takes of Tom Cruise walking through a door. Its true meaning is tied in with the genocide of Native Americans, because of the imagery throughout associated with the American West for instance, cans of Calumet Baking Powder noticeable in the background of two central scenes because a calumet is a ceremonial pipe, and the cans featured the image of a Native American, therefore American imperialism is the subtext of the film, duh. For months, wed call them in once or twice a week and I would take a video camera and wed improvise a lot of stuff. YS: Stanley had a whole collection of Italian masks, the commedia dellarte masks. The literal definition of telling instead of showing. He was really excited about some music he was listening to, and he talked me through the section he wanted me to work on. A Review of Eyes Wide Shut by Tim Kreider. Legman also recommended Flicien Rops, a very famous artist who specialized in all sorts of weird erotica.". I like cats and Danzig. Not only did he ask the pair to pose in over 50 sex positions, he banned Cruise from the set and forbade Kidman to assuage her husbands tension by telling him what happened during the shoot.). This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google The soft twinkle of Christmas tree lights in the background and buoyant camera lends Kubrick's mysterious drama a fantastical atmosphere. The mansion in which the orgy scenes were filmed also just so happens to be Mentmore Towers in Somerset, England, built for the Rothschild family in the 1850s, a family with many ties to conspiracy theories because of their history of running the banking industry; which effectively made them the wealthiest family in human history. Charged as his last film is with symbolic references to death, we should not overlook the fact that in all of Kubricks films fear of dying is a constant presence and an apparent mirror image of his obsession with control. Once a symbol of civility and domestic uniformity, theyre worn to chilling effect in the film, and wellthe rest is history. Even though it had Tom Cruise as its star, it was not a successful movie and therefore not seen as one of Tom's most profitable movies. They had guts. Fifteen years ago, on July 16, 1999, Stanley Kubrick's final film, "Eyes Wide Shut," opened nationwide. LV: When Tom was shooting that picture, he was the biggest box-office star in the world. But Kubrick wasnt after realism with these scenes. JD: Stanley had asked me to be in the orgy scenes, but I felt so vulnerable and uncomfortable with the idea of doing that kind of action in front of a crew. And apparently, there were some real-life influences for this story beat. It ties together many of the recurring themes and elements quite nicely. It actually got used in Gangs of New York. Eyes Wide Shut | In-Depth Explanation and Analysis LUMOSHROOM 19K subscribers 1.2M views 2 years ago #EyesWideShut #Explained Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=27056817 Merry. National reviewers myopic focus on sex, and the shallow psychologies of the films central couple, the Harfords, at the expense of every other element of the film-the trappings of stupendous wealtheven the sum Dr. Harford spends on a single night out-says more about the blindness of the elites to their own surroundings than it does about Kubricks inadequacies as a pornographer. Eyes Wide Shut Ending Explained: No Dream Is Ever Just A Dream, 20th anniversary retrospective on the film. Britains royal family cheats in the most boring ways. A yuppie who likes to smoke a little pot before bed, Harford embarks on a night-long endeavour, during which he infiltrates an unnamed secret societys masked orgy. But red and blue! It was a collaborative process, but I did feel I was more of an artistic assistant for Stanley to develop a clearer vision of what that whole scene was. Its about the cover-up in the Catholic church, wasnt it? The very first one or first two that came through, I said, Well, what made you think that? When it began to be just a maelstrom of these calls, I would hang up. Just because it never happened doesnt mean they cant get back together. For those with their eyes open, there are plenty of money shots. But there were a couple of times when we [agreed to use] somebody and their agents actually made them go out and get breast enhancements. Loosely based on Arthur Schnitzler's novella Traumnovelle ( Dream Story ), Eyes Wide Shut is about an upper-middle class doctor (Cruise) who finds out his wife (Kidman) once fantasied about cheating on her husband. Related: Heres Why It Was So Hard For Stanley Kubrick To Direct 'The Shining', "I think his vision of the orgy scene over the course of the time we worked on it became much more of a literal orgy," Yolande explained. Kubrick, left, on set with Cruise, Kidman, and Sydney Pollack. Setting records for the longest shoot in movie history, it was an excruciating labor of love for lead stars Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman -- one that would often be traced back to the alleged start of their marriage's decline. There was a very extensive museum in his basement. He was great. Cruises Bill Harford wanders a nocturnal landscape of potential transgressions, all of which remind him of the warmth of domestic life. The object that shields the truth sits in clear view, causing him to break down and reveal to Alice the details of his journey. There were two parties. (aka unrated, international theatrical cut). Eyes Wide Shut has gained a reputation as the unfinished Kubrick film, despite its creator hanging on just long enough to oversee the final cut. It was actually Tom and Nicole who came up with the idea of Cate. Currently, he is both a writer and an editor at TheThings where he specializes in entertainment, film, and celebrity news. They know how to do this, Stanley. Full 1080p HD Show more Show more Movie. Todd Field (Nick Nightingale): The ball began at Elveden Hall. His process: repeated takes designed to break down the idea of performance altogether. But all the [CGI] figures are moving slightly. Somewhere in that scene, he said, there was a light out. We also arguably see Alice grooming her daughter, Helena, throughout the film. According to the documentary "Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures," Kubrick was in the middle of post-production when he showed what Warner Bros. executives claim was a relatively final cut of the film on March 1, 1999. A frequent collaborator of Kubrick, writer Michael Herr, revealed in a Vanity Fair piece that Kubrick called him shortly before he had to show the Warner Bros. executives a cut the film, saying that "there was looping to be done and the music wasn't finished, lots of small technical fixes on color and sound; would I show work that wasn't finished?" 2:10:32. I stuck to my guns about what I would do. We had a lot of illustrations, contemporary and even much older, of some ceremonies. You dont! We used to have a laugh about that. He wanted them to start on the ground. The second half of Eyes Wide Shut sees Bill being given ominous warnings from this secret society, and he can't seem to find his mask from the party. I disagree with the association of blue with money. During the making of The Shining, hed put Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall through so many takes to figure out what he wanted, he notoriously caused Duvall to have a nervous breakdown. Page updates daily! I was a model and Id done a lot of catwalks, so I knew how to walk in heels. All about Eyes Wide Shut Ritual Scene. This has also fed some theories that the orgy scene was at least somewhat inspired by the Rothschild family and those they associate with. I didnt think the orgy really needed a lot of choreography in the end, from what it became. [After] the emphasis shifted onto that, I went out with him and Leon and the production designer to look at different locations, one of which was the big venue we eventually used.". Because you never see his face. Jason Statham and Aubrey Plaza do not seem like a match made in action-comedy-chemistry heaven, but it somehow works. Hes the one playing the master of ceremonies [in the red cloak] with the incense burner in the middle of the circle. I am reminded of a Kubrick quote from his famous 1968 Playboy interview about 2001: A Space Odyssey, The very meaninglessness of life forces man to create his own meaning.. Some scenes had been lit solely with Christmas lights. I really enjoyed this. this was some brilliant stuff. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us. Also rainbows are mentioned more than once! Paddy Eason (supervising digital compositor): Fairly soon after [Kubricks death], my producer Rachel Penfold and I were called up to the Kubrick place to have a meeting about something to do with Eyes Wide Shut, with the inner circle charged with finishing the film. It's just that the storytelling of the second night resembles that of a dream. According to Vanity Fair, Kubrick's "theory was that once his actors bottomed out in exhaustion and forgot about the cameras, they could rebuild and discover something that neither he nor they expected." That level of precision was pretty exceptional. I remember going back to London and telling my doctor, Give me anything to get me through these scenes.. He described the whole scene being in this secret huge mansion with this secret society of men with prostitutes. Read this thread it is almost definitely the meaning behind the film https://www.reddit.com/r/StanleyKubrick/comments/994q4h/what_eyes_wide_shut_is_really_about/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf. There are pictures readily available on the internet from a large gathering in the 1970s that the Rothschild family hosted with masked guests and somewhat disturbing table decorations of shattered porcelain baby dolls. The sex orgy party has a dream like quality as it's completely unrealistic but while this can indicate it's mediated by Bill's subconscious it can also be attributed to the fact that we are watching a commercial, major studio film and what can and cannot be shown has always been a factor with Kubrick. I think we actually agree on this point. LV: I spent years getting telephone calls from Illuminati fans, and theyd always start off with Wheres the power? The best musical instrument is a love triangle. Eyes Wide Shut, the phrase itself, is a calling card among secret societies, meaning 'my eyes are shut to your misdeeds, brother.'. After hed died, I was looking for someone. Those who have also seen author Jon Ronsons 2008 documentary Stanley Kubricks Boxes, will however be familiar with the extreme obsessions of the master director himself. The ending of the movie Eyes Wide Shut shows us that Bill and Alice know too much about each other and the adultery they are capable of committing, yet they would prefer to live blissfully, ignoring it all. "I did feel I was more of an artistic assistant for Stanley to develop a clearer vision of what that whole scene was," Yolande said. I did watch some soft-core porn and Red Shoe Diaries, just to see really what the general idea of the limits was. According to a 1999 New York Times article, "65 seconds of the movie were digitally altered. Simply the Worlds Most Interesting Travel Site, The Truth About Stanley Kubrick's Most Controversial Scene, purchase the rights of Singin' In The Rain, The Truth About Tom Cruise's Character In 'Tropic Thunder', Heres Why It Was So Hard For Stanley Kubrick To Direct 'The Shining', Amy Poehler Compares Hosting The Golden Globes To A Stanley Kubrick Movie. LV: There were certain things that Stanley wanted to use [in the orgy]. Of it, Kubrick told Playboy: Its not a message that I ever intend to convey in words. And the same with Nicole. And the next day, the car returned to pick me up, and I went to see him in Pinewood studio. Its a deliberate kind of movement. RT: I remember getting very, very precise instruction from Stanley Kubrick and Tom Cruise about the timing for that scene, about when Tom Cruise enters the room. A sub for fans to discuss the work of Stanley Kubrick, Press J to jump to the feed. Luckily, Yolande was there to help. His eyes may be open, but they are metaphorically shut to the truth of these secret desires. We would meet and rehearse and come up with ideas. Brian Cook (first assistant director): I used to say to Stanley, We should get Adrian Lyne or Tony Scott to come and shoot this stuff for us. I was apprehensive for a second but my worries were put to rest very early on with [Note: Most analyses of this film that Ive seen are largely about conspiracy theories and cults that are vaguely referenced by the movies imagery. And who you can expect to see performing and presenting. Hasan Minhaj Brings His Powerpoints and Power Suits to Independent Spirit Awards, Travis Barkers Finger Is Now the Enema of Blink-182 Fans. I made it very clear to everybody who came and their agents. So physically and intellectually, it was demanding. Dreams and the subconscious are powerful, and have the ability to transform our waking lives. The documentary, filmed at the Kubrick household in St Albans, England one half of the house taken up by these boxes, relics explores among other things the photographic research for 1999sEyes Wide Shut, everything from doorways to mortuaries and every costume shop in the South East of England. God, I sound like a bit of a bimbo! Here, his collaborators discuss how it all came to be. Russell Trigg (dancer): Yolandes practice involves lots of contact work and improvisation, so that guided the rehearsal. There was a problem because the models would have to be paid a lot more to do that, and some of them didnt want to do it. Prostitution is literally the oldest profession but none of us realized the interplay of money/sex/power until you tripped into the room with your heavy-handed, intentionally confusing story meant to add mystery to something thats not mysterious. He had his unique fascinations, which is ultimately what led him to purchase the rights of Singin' In The Rain. very persuasive. Remove your clothes. There is freedom in anonymity, but also isolation and a complete dearth of emotion" (Reel Views). Although many people are familiar with his abuse of Shelley Duvall on the set of "The Shining," some might not know just how crazy it was to make "Eyes Wide Shut," the director's last film. When Stanley was looking at the tapes of rehearsal, he asked, What is that music?.