I was about to say I'm not a Kubrick fan until I realised he directed Clockwork Orange and Dr Strangelove, both of which I did like, not loved, but enjoyed mostly. The Moon Landing was pretty rad too. (J/K)
I hate the Shining, however. I absolutely couldn't stand the kid, Shelley Duvall is too overwrought not to be borderline comical, and while Nicholson basically carries the film, I still don't like him as an actor. Full Metal Jacket was fine but again I'm not into war movies, I wouldn't sit through it again because his movies are lengthy if you're not enjoying them. I don't think I'll see 2001, I've had that wrecked by references as well, I may attempt it.
He's an amazing visual storyteller, I wouldn't fault his technical abilities, and high def remasters really can bring out what was intended with his films. I just don't like the way he directs his actors in some cases. Eyes Wide Shut is one of those examples.
Now, you can look at this movie from many significant angles. It's Kubrick's last film, it's the vehicle that could have saved Nicole and Tom's marriage and finally disengage him from Scientology, it contained explicit moments between the pair that were blown way out of proportion compared to the rest of the film. Nicole couldn't defeat Scientology, sadly. I do feel sorry for her. Allegedly a sex therapist was involved to make their sex scene appear natural (it's not even that, they kiss naked in front of a mirror for half a minute and that's it, and soooo much hype was generated around that, we wanted an actual sex scene). A tabloid was sued over this, as it didn't happen. There was too much made of their pending separation for this to save everything. Scientology's absolutely to blame for this, like if he had some sense of critical thought and wasn't so easily led, I think he'd have been able to break their hold. Being on set seemed to be a way of keeping Tom absorbed and out of reach of the church but he doubled down later, whether he felt betrayed or the church's promises were too tempting.
But I don't get Nicole's performance in parts. She's very capable but she can't act drunk or stoned. When she's in a fit on the floor, it looks like first year actor's interpretation of a stoner during an improv performance. When she's drunk at the party, she's - well, see above. She has amazing moments when she's just being a bored housewife. I think she sucks at the other stuff. The scene she admits to wanting to leave the husband for a naval officer, which precipitates the whole mess, I really hate the way she stumbles around and casts aspersions, even when he's like, oh honey, of course other men want to fuck you you're amazing, I think she'd have been better off taking the fucking compliment. I feel like this is a story of mutual infidelity and how fucking pointless it is. It really feeds into an idea married couples don't fantasise of other people.
Now, I don't know if the implications were set up that the doctor is a womaniser, he was about to go off with two models, he wasn't dissuading them at all. I'm assuming from how their relationship is set up from their boring apartment life to the lavish party where they're both seduced by other people, that he's already capable of cheating and has done. It's more obvious she's having fun flirting with someone, she's seen him, he's seen her. They can't write it off as a mutual transgression and admit their hypocrisy and move on, not until the end really. She has to prove in some obnoxious, overblown way, that women have fantasies about men, because he ignorantly assumes otherwise. Her execution is so ludicrously childish and pointless, but the point is she admits to wanting to leave him, so he finally gets jealous, just as she always wanted, and goes out with the intention of cheating, only to make a bunch of really stupid decisions. I feel like a certain maturity and sober discussion might've prevented all this, but then you wouldn't have a movie.
Yes, it's a movie about secrets and deception, maybe with a dash of class disparity. But that particular scene bothers the shit out of me. It's terrible. I don't think Tom's performance is bad, it's Nicole being too theatrical at the start. Oh, and her Australian accent really slips out later on, it's really there when she's upset. The scene where she's recounts her dreams is better acted, she carries this through until the final scene. I just can't believe she hasn't ever been stoned enough to know how to act that way. You see their humanity when they're exhausted and keeping up appearances for the daughter. What I think people wanted was a return to the chemistry they had in Days of Thunder, but it's really not there, just the gut-wrenching sensation it's all going wrong.
The only other thing that irks me is Tom playing doctor in such a stupid manner when he's dealing with the hooker passed out from a speedball. All he does is nudge and cajole her into opening her eyes, which she does. When we cut back to the bathroom, she has a blanket around her and she's feeling better. I don't know what else you should do, I understand he's there in lieu of cops/paramedics/causing a scene/covering up the host's transgressions. But at least in Almost Famous, we see the stomach pump, we see the ugliness. I have a feeling Tom didn't want to touch a naked lady. He tells the host to keep her there and get an escort home since the host was kinda hoping the good doctor would take out his trash, he tells her to give up the drugs and that's about it. She's integral to the story. So's Vinessa Shaw's character, who's great and sadly I've never seen her in anything outside Hocus Pocus.
He's never bad in this but I think he could've done better. I have no idea what he was thinking during this performance and what it would mean for his marriage; superficially all I can assume is he loved her and thought the church was best for them, and she couldn't leave her family for him, why would you when they are literally attacking her and it seems to me Tom did little to defend her. (Attacking her father just because he was a mental health professional was so underhanded and sick). Tom's kinda all over the shop.
Speaking of shops, the costume shop scene is also ridiculous and I don't know if this is for comic relief or tension building, it is in the original story. Tom's also supposed to be the sexiest guy in the world and every woman/nubile child (the costume store owner's daughter)/obviously gay coded hotel receptionist wants to fuck him. He just obsesses over his wife fucking the basically mythological naval officer, who in reality could be absolutely anyone, including a gay guy. I think the story, which is an adaptation, has potential that's a bit wasted on this version in some parts. I think the draw card was having Nicole and Tom, and another couple, whether married or not, wouldn't have created the media stir that brought this to the mainstream. They were interested in a more Harrison Ford looking male lead, the culmination of Kubrick working with Tom and Nicole adds such a significant layer to the film. Other versions existed in Kubrick's mind given he'd had the rights since the 60s. Baldwin and Basinger were considered, she would be appropriate in terms of sex appeal. Jennifer Jason Lee and Harvey Keitel were filmed but had to leave for other projects, so it seems understandable Kubrick wanted Tom and Nicole to commit to this until its completion.
It's a clean and well-funded art house film that I don't think would've worked without Kubrick's eye in some places. However, his use of quick zoom ins for dramatic effect seems incredibly corny and dated by this point, the weight of the interrogation scene is diminished by the acting as well, everyone's using theatre voices. The sense of danger almost feels real, yet not completely. He's sweating bullets but I feel like someone needed to pull a knife or gun, the woman being taken away for "sacrifice" isn't quite ominous enough to me. Even the slowly executed ritual with the incense and Latin chanting was more mysterious than threatening.
It was hard then to put erotic thrillers out in large distribution without some controversy and blowback, However, the argument is it's not that at all, based on the fact it's missing the level of eroticism and "steaminess" needed for that category. So it's really a psychological thriller. The orgy scene is pretty sedate compared to scenes like in the Witcher and True Detective season 2. Basically, if you're doing more than the average film goer's conception of "erotic" then it's over the top, but it's not a sexy film. I think this disappointed that crowd as much as other mainstream films promising the same in their marketing. Oh, but you get a couple of guys slow dancing later, so progressive! More women are doing stuff with other women, of course. There were complaints about the women being more naked than the men, nudism should be an equal opportunity role, obviously, but most male directors aren't that keen on having a lot of peen on screen, and I'm sure there's a level of insecurity involved there. If you want that, go watch Game of Thrones. Hell, the new Queer as Folk had a split second of transpenis, if you're into that.
Also the ADR department had to work overtime with all the loud music and masks. (Weirdly Cate Blanchet did the overdub for the speedball woman when she was in the mask, she said very little in the scenes you see her face, and I was more surprised Tom's character doesn't recognise her by her tits). That's reasonable but very noticeable. The interminable piano score for the second half of the film is very draining in terms of dragging out the tension, which is a Kubrickian thing, for sure. One thing I do despise is a drawn out denouement. The ending still feels very abrupt however, I can't even say what I was expecting, but Nicole and Tom in a toy store at Christmas deciding what to do about their failing marriage is kind of hilarious. Apparently Christmas is important in terms of symbolism (desire for toys is similar to a desire for sex) but seriously I think that's a little stretchy. There was a bit more to the final scene, which does tie everything together, but the tragedy of their separation in real life is playing out in Nicole's face so much at this point, and she nails it here, this is actually heartbreaking and real in the context of their failed marriage, something you'd not get from two actors not going through this.
The whole idea of the doctor getting in over his head is diminished if you consider this is some shallow threat to him, which is mentioned, the dead speedball woman is still dead, she's an expendable to the bad guys. We're supposed to identify with a guy who's realised he's crossed too many boundaries. The way he's gaslighted and left to question his experiences ties into the theme of the lines between dreams and reality being blurred. But until this point, he hasn't done anything that redeemable for me to care what happens. If maybe he hadn't been acting like a womaniser from the beginning, if his wife was less sympathetic and perhaps actually cheated, and he's a broken man over it, okay, sure. You feel more sorry for the woman who sacrifices herself, which she only does in return for him treating her overdose. Man also shows up with a fuckin' taxi out the front, I'm sure that's not allowed. He chases this idea and gets a bunch of people in trouble and I can't say I feel sorry for the fuckin' idiot. If the implication is this is all completely real, the doctor doesn't seem so long suffering to have such a knee-jerk reaction to his wife fantasising of other men. He goes back to Vinessa Shaw's character again when he thinks his wife is just dreaming of other men. A dead body is what it takes for him to stop fucking with his life and fix his marriage.
I understand the themes involved, I'm not confused about anything, I don't know why other people were, shit it's not a film by Lynch but I'd watch his interpretation for sure. This movie's fine, it's interesting, I don't hate it but I wasn't largely impressed by it either.
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