Fan-Made trailer
A complete shot-by-shot analysis (or mere description to some) of the late director's last film
By Jerry Saravia
Bill arrives home at four in the morning with his costume in a bag (the entrance door to his apartment is a dark blue color). He walks around the apartment to his daughter Helena's bedroom, which is again lit in blue by the color outside her bedroom window. He shuts his eyes and then opens them, perhaps glad he is home and that his family is safe. Bill walks to his blue-lit study and puts the costume in a cabinet. He comes to his bedroom where Alice is laughing while sleeping, presumably dreaming. Bill wakes her up and she confesses that she dreamt of the naval officer who was mocking her. She then continues describing sexual acts (not all that different from what Bill had seen at the orgy) and her frolicking and having sex with all the men watching her with the naval officer. She says that she saw Bill in the dream and laughed at him mockingly, as she did in their earlier argument scene. Bill is again nonplussed, not to mention speechless, and she hugs him tightly. Fade to black.
It is the next day, and Bill is seen arriving at the Sonata cafe in a taxi with the costume in his bag. He walks to the cafe but it is closed. Bill walks into a coffee shop called Gillespie's and asks for coffee from a waitress (Carmela Marner) with a British accent and a faded pink shirt. As he sits contemplating, he asks her if she knows of when the Sonata cafe will open again and if she knows Nick Nightingale, the pianist. She says, "Sure. He comes in here." Interestingly, she starts speaking in a New York accent and then reverts back to her British accent almost as is she is disguising herself (I cannot be sure why but it does lend to the film's dreamlike pull). To lend credibility to his fictitious story of supposed medical tests for Nick, he shows his State Medical Board card once again.
Bill arrives at the hotel where Nick had been staying. Still carrying the bag with his costume, he speaks to a gay clerk (Alan Cumming) who is immediately smitten by Bill. Bill again presents his State Medical Board card, and asks him if he saw Nick and if anything unusual had happened to him. The gay clerk tells him that Nick was escorted from the hotel in the early morning by "two big guys, the kind you don't fool around with," chucking at the possibility of making a sexual reference. He also mentions that Nick had a bruise on his cheek and that he looked scared. Bill leaves without much information about Nick's whereabouts.
Bill travels in another taxi to the Rainbow shop to return his costume. He sees Milich again who notices that Bill had forgotten his mask. Bill says he had not left it in the party, though where he had left it is never made clear. Milich's daughter introduces herself to the doctor, and again we see the two Japanese men from the previous night, who have made some arrangement with Milich. Bill is confused and we sense that Milich is a pimp and his daughter is a prostitute. The other possibility is that on the previous night, Milich was only faking his incredulous behavior towards his daughter's sexual antics.
Next we see Bill in his office, which has a pinkish glow coming from the shades. He is fantasizing further about his wife Alice with the naval officer, who are now shown to be nude and making love. His secretary comes into the office and he tells her that he needs to cancel his afternoon appointments.
This time, Bill is driving his Ranger Rover out to Long Island to the mansion. He may either try to retrieve his mask or inquire about Nick, though we are not sure of his intentions. A bluish glow seems to appear in long shot as Bill parks his Ranger Rover in front of the front gate of the mansion. As he walks towards the blue gate, there is a slow zoom to the surveillance camera which is tracking him. Bill then notices a limo arriving at the other side of the gate. An elderly man steps out and hands him an envelope, then abruptly leaves. Bill opens the envelope and reads that it is a warning not to make any further inquiries about what he had seen at the mansion the previous night. This sequence is all accomplished with images and the discordant piano theme by Ligeti. There is no dialogue at all (none is necessary) and it further shows Kubrick's mastery of the film medium to tell a story with visuals.
It is now nighttime again, as we see a master shot of Bill's apartment building (the same shot that opens the film after Alice's undressing before the camera). Bill arrives home and is greeted by Alice (wearing a faded pink shirt) and his daughter, Helena, as they sit on the table going over math problems. There are various books on the table, all representing the colors of the rainbow, and the table cover is a faded red. He tells Alice that he needs to go back to the office for more appointments. Bill gets a beer from the refrigerator and hears Alice's voice from the previous night where she confesses to her sexual orgy dream. The scene ends with a close-up of Alice smiling at Bill.
Bill returns to the office and, outside his office, we see the Christmas tree with a rather faded pink glowing star. There is the final flash of Alice's sexual fantasy with the naval officer, and she seems to really be enjoying herself. He decides to call Marion Nathanson, the patient's daughter who made a pass at him the night before. Carl, her boyfriend, answers the phone however and Bill hangs up on him.
We are now back in the nighttime streets of New York, specifically Greenwich Village. Bill arrives at Domino's apartment in a cab. He enters the apartment carrying a small cake-box'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">cake-box'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">cake-box. He knocks on the door but it is her roomate, Sally (Fay Masterson), dressed in a light blue shirt, who answers the door. She lets him in and is unaware of when Domino will be back. Signalling him to go to the kitchen, she slowly pushes herself against him and he stars to get cozy with her. A rainbow effect stars to form at the bottom of the screen where blue is the most prominent color. Bill grabs Sally's breast, but she tries to get out of the flirtatious spell by asking him to talk about Domino. They sit at the kitchen table'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">kitchen table'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">kitchen table and she tells him that Domino is HIV positive. Bill is stunned, unable to know how to cope with what has been a relatively unlucky night for him.
Bill is again walking the streets at night, and the discordant piano theme starts up again. He passes a green-lit store, two phone booths'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">phone booths'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">phone booths lit by yellow lights, realizing that he is being followed by a bald man. Bill tries to evade him by taking a taxi but is then told by the driver that he is off-duty. Bill walks by a magazine stand and grabs a newspaper. Bald man is seen again and stops in his tracks staring at Bill. Bald man continues walking and leaves Bill's sight. Bill walks further down the street to a coffee shop and orders a cappuccino. He reads the paper (which has the headline "Lucky to be Alive" on the front page'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">front page'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">front page) and comes across an article about an ex-beauty queen who had a drug overdose in a hotel room. Bill discovers it is the same mysterious woman who warned him of danger at the orgy. Once again, Bill's dark blue coat appears black in this scene, which has warm color tones.
Puzzled by the newspaper article, Bill goes to the hospital to inquire about the mysterious woman, who is now named Amanda Curran (also known as Mandy at Ziegler's early party scene). He again shows his State Medical Board I.D. card for verification, claiming she was one of his patients. The receptionist tells him that the patient died earlier in the day. Bill goes to the morgue to I.D. her body (the inside of this room is grayish, making it a cold and sterile environment, only this time, some red, green and blue bottles are seen in the distance). In a canted high-angle shot of her corpse, we hear her voice-over from when she warned him and that her life would not be spared for helping him. Bill leans down to presumably kiss her but then he slowly stands back up. While leaving through the hallway, he walks past several abstract paintings'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">abstract paintings'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">abstract paintings, each representing a color of the rainbow. His mobile phone'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">mobile phone'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">mobile phone rings, presumably Ziegler.
Bill reports to Ziegler's mansion and enters the billiard room where Ziegler is playing on a red pool table'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">pool table'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">pool table with green lamps overhead. Once again, a lighter blue light is shining from the outside windows. Bill and Ziegler have some drinks, and then Ziegler slowly reveals information about Bill. Ziegler is aware of Bill's visit to the Somerton mansion since he was there and witnessed the whole scenario. Bill is shocked, first denying it, then telling him that Nick Nightingale's involvement was minimal. Ziegler tells Bill that he had him followed and knows Bill had been making inquiries earlier in the day about Nick. Throughout this pivotal scene, there is a dramatic distance between Ziegler and Bill (recalling similar scenes in the chateau climax of Paths of Glory), and some knowing sexual references in dialogue. Also Bill's dark blue suit changes, once again, to an almost black color when he walks across the room due, I imagine, to shifts in lighting.
Ziegler: (referring to Nick) "By now, he is probably back with his family...probably banging Mrs. Nick."
That line is hardly significant in mentioning yet it is followed by Ziegler's downgrading comments regarding Mandy, aka Amanda Curran, and that she is nothing more than a hooker and a junkie who was going to die anyway. Bill is shocked at what he is hearing, especially when Ziegler says that the whole situation at the Somerton mansion (last-minute interventions, threats, etc) was fake and intended to scare Bill. Ziegler finally puts his arm on Bill's shoulder, trying to comfort him and tells him, "People die. It happens all the time. Life goes on. It always does until it doesn't."
We come to a close-up shot of the mask Bill lost, though we are not sure when or where he lost it (the mask itself may not literally be there but it may remind Bill of where he should be). Nevertheless, it is seen resting on a pillow and the camera slowly pans to the left as it reveals Alice sleeping next to it (obviously, this is where Bill should be, sleeping next to his wife). Once again, blue light fills the room from the outside. Cut to Bill arriving home, a bit distraught and aching for a beer. He walks to the kitchen, turns off the Christmas lights in the tree (which has a distinct pinkish glow), and sits at the kitchen table drinking beer.
Dissolve to Bill coming into his bedroom when he notices the mask on his bed pillow'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">bed pillow'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">bed pillow. He approaches and sits on the bed with teary eyes, and starts crying uncontrollably. This wakes up Alice who places his head on her breast. He tells her: "I'll tell you everything. I'll tell you everything."
Cut to the early morning as we see Alice with no makeup sitting on the sofa with a dangling cigarette (this is clearly a moment of reality, not a dream any longer since Alice had always looked ravishing through most of the film). Bill is then seen sitting on the adjacent sofa full of remorse and shame, and we sense that Bill has told her of his sexual escapades and near-death occurrences (Lucky to be alive indeed). She reminds Bill, who is trying to comport herself, that they need to go Christmas shopping with their daughter, Helena.
We see Alice wearing glasses and wearing a light blue sweater, Bill and Helena are in tow at a toy store'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">toy store'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">toy store. Helena is hopeful she will receive a huge teddy bear'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">teddy bear'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">teddy bear from Santa. Bill finally gets the courage to speak to Alice, asking what they should do. Alice tells him they should be grateful that they survived all their adventures unscathed (of course, Alice using the word "we" signifies she has had some adventures herself outside of the Hungarian from Ziegler's party). Alice's next line is: "Whether they were real or only a dream." Alice then reassures him that they are awake now and hopefully for a long time to come. Bill tells her: "Forever." Alice smiles and then shakes her head, saying that the word frightens her though she does love him. What follows is the controversial last line by Alice in close-up that closes the film:
Alice: "But I do love you...and you know there is something very important we need to do as soon as possible."
Bill: "What's that?"
Alice: (pausing while staring at him) "Fuck."
The sound of the noise from the store fades out and there is an abrupt cut to black with the title reading: "Produced and Directed by Stanley Kubrick."
"Eyes Wide Shut" had its share of detractors and admirers when released back in July 1999. I am sure the film was not fully completed, despite the fact that Stanley showed a rough cut in New York to Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman that was considered finished. There was talk that Stanley intended to show the film in August of 1999 to allow more time for fine-tuning. This goes without saying considering how Stanley's past films have always had minor trims and/or changes, particularly Dr. Strangelove (where he deleted a pie-fight scene), "The Shining" (he deleted an alternate ending with Shelley Duvall after the film's initial premiere), "A Clockwork Orange" (where he deleted a graphic shot of Alex killing the Cat Lady), and so on. It has been of much speculation as to what Kubrick may have changed or deleted in "Eyes Wide Shut" had he lived to do the fine-tuning. Perhaps the orgy scene could have been restored if Stanley fought it. Some have suggested that the toy store ending is all wrong and would have been deleted, but I think it is far too essential. It is left open to interpretation but I think the scene shows that humans are not civilized yet (or as evolved) to otherwise think that sex cures problems in a marriage (or as Alice refers to women's sexual history as "millions of years of evolution," a very Kubrickian theme) Alice's inability to say their marriage is forever yet very able to say that sex is something they have to look forward to shows that she is no different than Bill - they both want sex but have trouble communicating their feelings to each other in what seems to be a fragile marriage. Some may see it as an optimistic ending - I see it as Kubrick's own joke about marriages and sex. It has the right tone to it because as the film ends abruptly, we are then back to our own reality - the spell or trance that Kubrick kept us in has been broken. It works in the same way as Arthur Schnitzler's novella - a dreamlike trance with moments of reality.
I have been describing the colors and compositions in the film with each sequence since they correspond to Kubrick's intentions in telling this story of sexual adventures and, in some cases, subtle foreshadowing of future events as they unfold.
The color red equals the decadence of sexual appetites and the possibility of some harmless sexual fun - it is the color of Alice and Bill's bedsheets and their curtains. Red is quite predictably prominent at the orgy in the Somerton mansion. Domino, the prostitute, has a red doorway entrance to her apartment. Ziegler has a red pool table (when they are usually green).
Blue is the color of purity and the color of home and hearth - whenever Alice is on screen at her home, blue is prominent. Bill sees blue at the Somerton gate, his office has blue carpeted areas and blue doors, his flirtatious behavior with Domino's roomate has hints of blue, especially her light blue shirt and blue eyeshadow. The apartment windows in every character's house has blue light filtering through or sometimes flooding through. I think that blue is an indicator of where Bill should be - at home with his wife. It is at the end of the rainbow - the end of his journey or odyssey. As for the pinkish glows from certain Christmas trees or the light pinkish shirt color worn by the waitress at Gillespie's corresponding with Alice's similarly colored shirt when helping with her daughter's homework, one can assume that pink is another indicator of where Bill should be at night - after all, pink is also the color of the star on top of the Christmas trees. Maybe pink is the Northern Star, a guide to the ethereal blue color of his home with his family.
The film also has distinctive rainbow effects, considering it is set during Christmas time and so there are Christmas trees in practically every scene. Bill's apartment has colors of the rainbow represented in different objects and in paintings (the latter done by Kubrick's wife Christiane, who also did the paintings in "A Clockwork Orange"). Bill goes to the Rainbow shop, and is told by two models at Ziegler's party that he should go with them "where the rainbow ends." Perhaps at the end of the rainbow is red (the color of sexual decadence) but Bill chooses a different path - blue is clearly at the end of the rainbow for him. Consider two scenes where a deliberate rainbow forms on screen: when Bill is attacked by a homophobic gang, a rainbow forms at the bottom of the screen where blue is most prominent (plus he falls back on a dark blue car parked on the street). When he flirts with Domino's friend, a rainbow forms at the bottom of the screen where blue is again prominent. Blue is a reminder, and a sort of sexual blocking signal for Bill, who tries to act on his sexual impulses and always gets interrupted.
The whole film has a dreamlike effect - most significant are the pauses and repetitions in the dialogue. The characters say their dialogue by dragging out each syllable, and in some cases, repeating what they had just said. The film is also shot in grainy colors - apparently most shots were filmed with no real studio lights'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">studio lights'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">studio lights, sometimes only capturing light from whatever available source or from the lights on Christmas trees. This is not that different from Stanley's approach in the beautiful Barry Lyndon, which was shot with special lenses so that a scene at night could be lit from just the candles that were on display.
Another factor is how much of the film is sexual, implicitly or explicitly. Kubrick has never shown sex or copulation of any kind on film. The only example I can only think of is the speeded-up romp in the hay Alex has with two young girls in "A Clockwork Orange" to the tune of a speeded-up version of the "William Tell" overture. Here is a filmmaker who has always hinted at sex, especially in his adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, which has sexual entendres and connotations galore, but has never truly shown it. Every scene in "Eyes Wide Shut" revolves around sex in some form or another, and every encounter Bill has with other characters is sexual or suggestive of some sexual nature, from the romantic advances of Marion to the flirtations of Domino's roomate, Sally, to the unexpectedly funny scene of the hotel desk clerk eyeing Bill. Of course, the film was advertised as a sexual thriller where we would get a chance to see Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman engaging in full-frontal nudity while having sex (there were rumors prior to the film's release that Cruise and Kidman played psychotherapists who have sex with their patients.) But anyone who has studied Kubrick's career knew that anything was further from the truth - the advertising promised a film of "bad, bad things" and Kubrick teased us yet again. The audience wanted outright fornication and only got as far as 158 minutes of foreplay with no climax.
Finally, "Eyes Wide Shut" is the kind of film that is left open to interpretation. There is no clear resolution in the story and certain characters are kept in an obscure light. One can ask what finally happened to Mandy, the hooker? Was she intentionally killed or did she O.D.? What was so secretive about the orgy in the mansion that would cause the leader, Red Cloak, to threaten Bill's life and family? Was it an all an act to scare him? Is Ziegler telling the truth about what went on the mansion, or can we ever really trust anyone with a red pool table? Did Alice ever get it on with the naval officer or did she only fantasize about it? And what about the mask, how did it appear on Bill's pillow? Who put it there? Did Alice find it in his study or did someone else place it there? You can go insane trying to find the answers to such questions when Kubrick purposely leaves them open-ended - this allows the audience to come to its own conclusions, something which Hollywood rarely does anymore.
"Eyes Wide Shut" is a great film that becomes richer and more enveloping with each viewing. It requires patience, demands attention, and allows one to think about its characters and the subtle nuances in their dialogue exchanges in the context of its theme about the possibility of marital infidelity in a fragile marriage. Some have seen it once and hated it only to gradually admire it on second viewing. Do yourself a favor: in this mindless fall season of mediocre films, check out Kubrick's last film "Eyes Wide Shut." If you hated it or disliked it the first time, you may find yourself at least admiring, on second viewing, the world Kubrick has created on screen and how he fashions this world before our eyes, as he has with all of his films. Keep those eyes wide open.
Selected Bibliography:
American Cinematographer: Oct 99, Stanley Kubrick Retrospective, author: Ron Magid.
Kubrick: Inside the Film Artist's Maze, Indiana University Express, author: Thomas Allen Nelson.
Reviews of some Kubrick films: Killer's Kiss (1955) The Killing (1956) Paths of Glory (1957) Spartacus (1960) Dr. Strangelove (1964) 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) A Clockwork Orange (1971) The Shining (1980) Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Tarantino: the rise and slight dip of a rock n' roll director
An introspective look at cinema's other American master, Martin Scorsese
Tom "Billy Jack" Laughlin's strange commentary on EWS
TAXI DRIVER VS. BRINGING OUT THE DEAD
Who the HECK is FIGARO WEAVER?
ROGER EBERT: OUR BELOVED CRITIC
INDIANA JONES AND THE WEB OF GOLD outline
