Eyes Wide Shut is a slow-burn, interwoven erotic thriller about the boundaries of the human sexual psyche and the institution of marriage. The film follows Dr. Bill Harford (Tom Cruise) and his slightly distant wife Alice (Nicole Kidman) as a late-night party filled with temptation brings sexual revelations to both of them. Upon admitting to Bill afterward that Alice has thoughts and dreams of other men even while having sex with him, Bill decides – and feels justified in doing so – to explore the extreme fringes of sexuality, desire, and pleasure elsewhere in New York City. Through a bar pianist friend, he discovers a primitive, ritualistic sex cult where all present are accepted masked members; Bill is quickly unmasked and ostracized with death threats hanging on his soul for his outsiderness. He must stay safe, find what he needs most, and fix his marriage – before death do he and Alice part.

For Stanley Kubrick’s very last film before his heart attack, right after Wide’s release, it is his most comfortably stylized. Elaborate set designs captured in relatively unchanged wide shots; flattened gazes at adult characters to make them appear much younger, only for their actual ages to feel jolting afterward; a slow cascade of interpersonal and marital revelations that, though physically separate, psychologically collide into a mass emotional orgy. While he shuffles through reality and dreams alike with the rhythmic consistency of a turtle, Wide displays both the values and flaws of monogamous normativity. Alice, even when awake, “dreams” of a different man in the minutiae of her life. As she slow-dances with a hopeless romantic at the film’s premiering party, shots fade into each other; when she’s with Bill, romantically or sexually, shots cut normally. She fantasizes for more because routine dissolves novelty, and marriage is nothing but routine. Once Bill learns, he uses a mental image of Nicole’s fantasies to excuse his desire-driven adventure – Bill learns to dream. While they refuse to split, it takes seeing other (dangerous) life- and sex styles to understand what they need to cherish in each other: the love they have and the reality they share. “[We need to be] grateful that we’ve managed to survive through all of our adventures – whether they were real – or only a dream,” Nicole explains to Bill after Bill’s near-death sexual experience explanation. Together, they learn to be fully awake and not take important things for granted despite the journey’s perilous perversions. Kubrick rips into sex, desire, and impulsivity, delivering a cunningly tense – if overly long and tumultuous – thriller about loyalty vs. pleasure.

Screens in 35 mm Saturday, 8/31, 7:30 pm @ Somerville Theatre
Introduction by film critic Jake Mulligan
Afterparty to follow at the Crystal Ballroom
The conclusion of IFFBoston’s repertory series: Hot Summer Nights