EYES WIDE SHUT - Blu-ray review

Main Review By John J. Puccio:

The films of Stanley Kubrick have never been easy. Not to define, not to categorize, not to understand. So it goes with "Eyes Wide Shut," the filmmaker's last motion picture before his death in 1999. Steven Spielberg said that Kubrick never made the same movie twice, that he always tried for something different. Some were masterpieces, like the black comedy "Dr. Strangelove," the sociopolitical satire "A Clockwork Orange," the antiwar drama "Paths of Glory," and the lyrical outer-space saga "2001." Others were near greats: the gorgeously photographed "Barry Lyndon," the wickedly bizarre "Lolita," the epic "Spartacus." Even Kubrick's flawed films, like "The Shining" or "Full Metal Jacket," transcended the work of his contemporaries. It's fitting, then, that Kubrick go out in style, with an uneasy film like "Eyes Wide Shut," one that had critics divided and audiences baffled.

Now, we have "Eyes Wide Shut" in high definition picture and sound, which might just help to divide critics even further since neither the picture nor the sound is exactly the epitome of "high def." But with a slew of extras, at least audiences will get a better idea of what Kubrick was up to in the movie.

Inspired by Arthur Schnitzer's psychosexual "Traumnovelle" ("Dream Story"), "Eyes Wide Shut" was co-scripted, produced, and directed by Kubrick. It is a Freudian look at the lives of a seemingly happy married couple, Dr. William Harford (Tom Cruise) and his wife Alice (Nicole Kidman), attractive New Yorkers with money, security, a nine-year marriage, and a seven-year-old daughter. Then one day things begin to fall apart. Alice confesses an erotic fantasy to her husband, and he, having always maintained his fidelity to her, suddenly feels threatened by her honesty. Although she tells him she has never been unfaithful except in thought, it perturbs him and he becomes jealous, anyway, going out on the town in a funk. During the course of the next day and a half, he experiences a sexual odyssey that opens his eyes to the world around him and to his relationship with his wife, a relationship he had apparently taken for granted all the years of his marriage.

His sensual adventures increase in complexity throughout this period, each time taking him to the brink of infidelity. Yet each time, fate steps in and saves him. He must fend off two ravishing models, the grieving daughter of a recently dead patient, a street-corner hooker, the roommate of the street-corner hooker, the very young daughter of a costume-shop proprietor, and a gay hotel clerk. His escapades culminate in an elaborately staged and exceedingly creepy orgy in a country mansion, a sequence with the tone of "The Shining" or Mozart's "Don Giovanni" to it, and one that in turn takes the story in the direction of a mystery thriller.

In all probability, Kubrick doesn't expect the viewer to believe that all of these ominous and sexual encounters really happened so quickly; and, thus, we must view them as more probably the workings of William's imagination, a walking dream, as he experiences a psychological awakening.

All well and good, but the more I watch this film, the more convinced I am that Kubrick meant it as every bit a satire as "Lolita" or "Dr. Strangelove." The director often asks his actors to overarticulate their dialogue, sometimes to comical effect. As the husband and wife test one another's fidelity (note the password to the manor house is the title of Beethoven's opera, "Fidelio"), we get some amusing coincidences. The Hungarian lothario the wife meets at a party is surely a parody of a seducer. The prostitute has books on sociology in her apartment, and the color of her apartment-house door is a vivid red. Then, too, you'll notice references to almost all of Kubrick's other films in this one: a dance tune from "The Shining," costumes reminiscent of "Barry Lyndon," a young Lolita-like temptress, and so on. I can only assume that while Kubrick was making serious points about love and marriage and faithfulness, he was also poking a little fun at the seriousness of it all.

The American poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti defined poetry as "what exists between the lines." Perhaps Kubrick was, above all, a poet. He used images the way writers use words. Ferlinghetti also wrote that "Like a bowl of roses, a poem should not have to be explained." When you try to explain Kubrick's films, they don't seem to amount to much. What was "2001," after all? One could spell out its plot, like that of "Eyes Wide Shut," in a minute. But watching these movies unfold is the experience. Maybe one should leave "Eyes Wide Shut" unexplained. Otherwise, it isn't much more than a husband learning to better appreciate and understand his world and his wife. On second thought, maybe that's more than enough.

Technical Review by Dean Winkelspecht:

Video:

Stanley Kubrick's "Eyes Wide Shut" is presented in a 1.85:1 16x9 friendly widescreen format that is not concurrent with the director's original vision. Kubrick preferred a 1.37:1 ratio and many of his earlier films were shown in his intended near full-frame scope in the earlier DVD box set. "Eyes Wide Shut" was originally shown in regards to Kubrick's wishes, but the recent Blu-ray and HD-DVD releases have seen them reformatted in 1.85:1 to fit today's widescreen televisions. This release also features the first time the ‘unrated' version of the film has been available in North America and the little black digital figures that previously hid racy sex scenes are not removed. Therefore, this Blu-ray release features a wide picture and the most sex ever seen by American audiences in Kubrick's final bow.

The high definition transfer of "Eyes Wide Shut" looks very good, but is marred by the director's artistic style. Kubrick was a very talented filmmaker and had a unique eye for visuals. When he shot "Eyes Wide Shut," he had lighting cameraman Larry Smith shoot most of the scenes with natural lighting. This results in some darker than normal interior scenes. It also creates a softer-than-expected level of detail and colors that do not always pop out of the frame. The level of detail is quite good, but not inconsistent depending upon the lighting. "Eyes Wide Shut" may be maligned for its subject matter, slow pacing and story, but there is no doubt that it is a beautiful looking film. Colors are natural and look quite good. Skin tones tend to be a little on the orange side, but generally look good. Black levels are true and deep, with good shadow detail. Source materials are clean, but a little film grain is present. The film looks incredible, but the director's vision does not make for the best high definition experience.

Audio:

"Eyes Wide Shut" comes packed with an English 5.1 channel Uncompressed PCM soundtrack that sounds warm and detailed. Dolby Digital tracks are also provided for English, French, Spanish, German, Italian and Japanese. This is a lot of foreign language support. There are even more subtitle choices with English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese and Swedish. The film itself is lively and effective in its sound. This is a film with heavy moments of dialogue and the vocals are always intelligible. Music is another important part of "Eyes Wide Shut" and sounds warm and nicely fills the room with enveloping sound. I've always felt that "Eyes Wide Shut" is a little light in ambient sound and when music is not present, it is a generally silent film. The sound is clean, but limited. The .1 LFE channel is mostly ignored and the rear surrounds are not given much to do beyond helping with the music.

Extras:

The rear packaging lists Digitally remastered Movie Selectable in Both Rated and – for the First Time in North America – Unrated Versions as a feature of the disc. As John J. Puccio pointed out with his review of the HD-DVD version, this selection does not seem to exist. I've compared the Blu-ray to the original DVD release and feel pretty safe in stating that the Unrated version plays by default, but I believe the R-Rated version is missing in action. The packaging lists an ‘R' rating, but I do not feel it made the cut and agree with John that the packaging is a little off. The differences between the versions were some digital figures that hid some of the more ‘hard-core' sex scenes. They are not present in this high definition version.

The "Behind the Story" portion of supplemental materials contains the lengthy documentary The Last Movie: Stanley Kubrick and Eyes Wide Shut (43:08). This documentary can be played as a whole, or in three parts. Tom Cruise, Sydney Pollack, Nicole Kidman and others lend words towards the late director. The Haven/Mission Control (13:59) is the first part of the three part documentary and this reflects on Kubrick's storytelling and style as a filmmaker. This discusses how Kubrick tried to push hard for the biggest and best shot possible. The second chapter, Artificial Intelligence or the Writer as Robot (13:24) discussed how Kubrick wish he had made more films and his selectiveness as a filmmaker. The third and final part, Ews, A Film by Stanley Kubrick (15:44) talked about Kubrick's last movie, "Eyes Wide Shut."

Also included on the "Behind the Story" section of the bonus features menu is Lost Kubrick: The Unfinished Films of Stanley Kubrick (20:19). Legendary actor Jack Nicholson joins Sydney Pollack and others to talk more about Kubrick and his disappointment in creating more films. It talks about projects Kubrick never finished, such as his "Napoleon" project and a planned concentration picture called "The Aryan Papers." It discusses the ideas Kubrick had for the projects and the reasons why he never got to make these stories he was very interested in telling. DGA D.W. Griffith Award Acceptance Speech, 1998 (4:03) finds Nicholson introducing the taped speech from Kubrick's Director's Guild of American ‘Icarus' speech.

The remaining features on the Blu-ray disc are not as lengthy as the main documentary, but still worth checking out. The "Interview Gallery" includes three interviews. The first interview features Tom Cruise (8:43) talking about first meeting Kubrick and how he dealt with the sudden news of Kubrick's death. The second interview features Nicole Kidman (18:29) spending a great deal of time talking about how Kubrick impacted her, her thoughts on the director and the eventual death of Stanley Kubrick. The third and final interview features director Steven Spielberg, who would later finish the film "A.I.," (8:07) talking about his friendship with Kubrick. Finally, two "TV Spots" called Jealousy and Combo join the Theatrical Trailer to complete the bonus offerings.

Parting Thoughts:
In the Blu-ray version of the movie, whatever its rating, expect lots of nudity. Kubrick establishes the movie's tone at the outset when Ms. Kidman drops her dress in the opening scene, revealing purely Ms. Kidman beneath. Still, for all its sex and nudity, "Eyes Wide Shut" is not a sexy or erotic film. Kubrick does not want to show how sexy life is but how much sex affects us. He keeps the viewer as detached from the film's eroticism as the good Doctor Harford is while examining one of his beautiful, naked patients. The film is a visually stunning achievement, a meticulously photographed exercise in mood and imagery, the poetic evocation of a dream. Yes, it is overlong, and, yes, it is slow going. And, no, it does not sustain our attention as "2001" does. But "Eyes Wide Shut" is fascinating every inch of the way, and people will no doubt talk about it, pro and con, for years to come.

Warner Bros. have made "Eyes Wide Shut" available in HD DVD, Blu-ray, and standard-definition. All three formats are available individually, and the SD versions are also available in the big "Stanley Kubrick Director's Series" box, which includes "2001: A Space Odyssey," "A Clockwork Orange," "The Shining," "Full Metal Jacket," "Eyes Wide Shut," and the documentary "Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures." Most of the films in SD come in two-disc special editions, with the exception of the single-disc "Full Metal Jacket" and the documentary.