Eyes Wide Shut

Released Year: 1999

Directed by Stanley Kubrick

Casted by:

Tom Cruise as Dr. William "Bill" Harford

Nicole Kidman as Alice Harford

Sydney Pollack as Victor Ziegler

Marie Richardson as Marion Nathanson

 Story: 

Dr. Bill Harford and his wife, Alice, are a young couple from New York. They go to a Christmas party thrown by a wealthy patient, Victor Ziegler. Bill meets an old friend from medical school, Nick Nightingale, who now plays piano professionally. While a Hungarian man tries to pick up Alice, two young models try to take Bill off for a tryst. He is interrupted by a call from his host upstairs, who had been having sex with Mandy, a young woman who has overdosed on a speedball.

The next evening at home, while smoking marijuana, Bill's wife asks him if he had sex with the two girls. After Bill reassures her, she asks if he is ever jealous of men who are attracted to her. As the discussion gets heated, he states that he thinks women are more faithful than men. She rebuts him, telling him of a recent fantasy she had about a naval officer they had encountered on a vacation. Disturbed by Alice's revelation, Bill is just then called to the deathbed of the father of a now-engaged female friend, Marion Nathanson, who impulsively kisses him and says she loves him. Putting her off, Bill takes a walk. He meets a prostitute named Domino and goes to her apartment.

Bill's wife phones as he begins to kiss Domino, after which he calls off the awkward encounter. Meeting Nick at the jazz club where he's just finishing his last set, Bill learns that Nick has an engagement where he must play piano blindfolded. Bill presses for details. He learns that to gain admittance, one needs a costume, a mask, and the password. Bill goes to a costume shop. He offers the owner, Mr. Milich, a generous amount of money to rent a costume. In the shop, Milich catches his teenage daughter with two Japanese men and expresses outrage at their lack of a sense of decency.

Bill takes a taxi to a country mansion. He gives the password and discovers a quasi-religious sexual ritual is taking place. One woman takes Bill aside and warns him he does not belong there, insisting he is in terrible danger. They are interrupted by a masked porter who tells Bill that the taxi driver wants to speak with him. However, the porter takes him to a room where a masked, red-cloaked Master of Ceremonies confronts Bill with a question about a second password. Bill is unable to answer. The Master of Ceremonies insists that Bill "kindly remove his mask," then his clothes. The masked woman who had tried to warn Bill now intervenes and insists that she be punished instead of him. Bill is ushered from the mansion and warned not to tell anyone about what happened there.

Just before dawn, Bill arrives home guilty and confused. He finds Alice laughing loudly in sleep and awakens her. While crying, she tells him of a troubling dream in which she was having sex with the naval officer and many other men, and laughing at the idea of Bill seeing her with them. The next morning, Bill goes to Nick's hotel, where the desk clerk tells Bill that a bruised and frightened Nick checked out a few hours earlier after returning with two large, dangerous-looking men. Nick tried to pass an envelope to him when they were leaving, but it was intercepted, and Nick was driven away by the two men.

Bill goes to return the costume — but not the mask, which Bill has misplaced — and Milich, with his daughter by his side, states he can do other favors for Bill "and it needn't be a costume." The same two Japanese men leave; Milich implies to Bill that he has sold his daughter for prostitution. Bill returns to the country mansion in his own car and is met at the gate by a man with a note warning him to cease and desist his inquiries. At home, Bill thinks about Alice's dream while watching her tutor their daughter.

Bill goes to Domino's apartment with a gift. Her roommate Sally(Fay Masterson) is home, but not Domino. After Bill attempts to seduce Sally, she reveals to him that Domino has just tested positive for HIV. Bill leaves and notices a man is following him. Bill reads a newspaper story about a beauty queen who died of a drug overdose. Bill examines what is revealed to be Mandy's body at the morgue. Bill is summoned to Ziegler's house, where he is confronted with the events of the past night and day. Ziegler was one of those involved with the ritual orgy. His own position with the secret society has been jeopardized by Bill's intrusion.

Bill asks about Mandy, whom Ziegler has identified as the woman at the party who'd "sacrificed" herself to prevent Bill's punishment, and about Nick, the piano player. Ziegler insists that Nick is safely back at home in Seattle. He says the "punishment" had nothing to do with Mandy's death; she was a hooker and addict and had died from another accidental drug overdose. Bill does not know if Ziegler is telling him the truth, but says nothing further.

When he returns home, Bill finds the rented mask on his pillow next to his sleeping wife. He breaks down in tears. He decides to tell Alice the whole truth of the past two days. The next morning, they go Christmas shopping with their daughter. His wife muses that recent events do not define their lives, that they should be grateful they have survived, are still together and that she loves him. As to what to do next, Alice says "fuck," as soon as possible.

 L² Scored: 7.5/10

L² Comment: 

Based on the fiction of Arthur Schnitzler "Novella Dream Story" in 1926, Cruise and his ex Kidman show us this hot sexy movie. The (ex) married couple was so hot that time in Hollywood, of coz it definitely attracted many audience to buy tickets into the cinema :) Well, for me the movie is ok, i understand it better rather than the first time i watch it 10 years ago, which i keep staring at those boobies lol~