Eyes Wide Shut
Movie, 1999, The '90s, Set in New York at Christmas
Eyes Wide Shut is #13 of 13 in release order and #13 of 13 in chronological order in the Stanley Kubrick.
The story
After Dr. Bill Harford's wife, Alice, admits to having sexual fantasies about a man she met, Bill becomes obsessed with having a sexual encounter. He discovers an underground sexual group and attends one of their meetings -- and quickly discovers that he is in over his head.
Eyes Wide Shut recap
Eyes Wide Shut (1999) sends a Manhattan doctor on a night-long erotic odyssey after his wife confesses she once nearly left him for a stranger. Stanley Kubrick adapted it from Arthur Schnitzler's 1926 novella Traumnovelle, moving it to modern New York at Christmas. Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, then married, play Dr. Bill Harford and Alice Harford. At a party thrown by Victor Ziegler (Sydney Pollack), Bill helps a woman named Mandy who has overdosed. Stung by Alice's fantasy about a naval officer, Bill wanders the city: a patient's daughter kisses him, he goes home with a sex worker named Domino, and his old friend Nick Nightingale (Todd Field), a pianist, gives him the password "Fidelio" for a masked orgy at a mansion outside the city. Bill is unmasked there, and a woman offers to "redeem" him. In the following days Nick vanishes and a model is found dead of an overdose. Eyes Wide Shut is Kubrick's thirteenth and last film, following Full Metal Jacket.
Eyes Wide Shut ending explained
Eyes Wide Shut ends with Bill and Alice in a toy shop with their daughter. Ziegler tells Bill he was at the orgy, that the threats were staged to scare him off, and that the dead model was Mandy, who died of an ordinary overdose; Bill is not sure he believes him. Bill finds his lost mask on his pillow beside the sleeping Alice and breaks down, telling her everything. In the shop, Alice says they should be grateful to be awake and that there is something they must do as soon as possible. Kubrick died days after showing his cut to the studio.
Post-credits scenes
No. Eyes Wide Shut has no mid- or post-credits scene.
Where to watch Eyes Wide Shut
Eyes Wide Shut is streaming on HBO Max in the US. You can rent or buy it on Apple TV, Google Play, and YouTube.
Ratings
IMDb 7.5/10, Rotten Tomatoes 77%
Where it fits
- Release order: after Full Metal Jacket, the latest.
- Chronological order: after Full Metal Jacket, the last.
Cast
- Tom Cruise as Dr. William Harford
- Nicole Kidman as Alice Harford
- Sydney Pollack as Victor Ziegler
- Marie Richardson as Marion
- Rade Šerbedžija as Milich
- Todd Field as Nick Nightingale
- Vinessa Shaw as Domino
- Alan Cumming as Desk Clerk
- Sky du Mont as Sandor Szavost
- Fay Masterson as Sally
- Leelee Sobieski as Milich's Daughter
- Thomas Gibson as Carl
Directed by Stanley Kubrick.