Susan Granger’s review of “EYES WIDE SHUT” (Warner Bros.)
Do you remember the fable: “The Emperor’s New Clothes”? Because this film was made by the late Stanley Kubrick, because two of Hollywood’s top stars devoted two years of their lives to its creation, because the “hype” has been so carefully orchestrated…few have dared to call this exquisitely photographed film what it is: shallow soft-core pornography. Despite Kubrick’s meticulous direction, it’s a wretchedly written, clich?-filled dirge about sexual obsession, based on Arthur Schnitzler’s “Traumnovelle” (1926). The slow-paced story begins with Tom Cruise, as a Manhattan physician, and his wife, played by Nicole Kidman, preparing to attend a lavish Christmas party, hosted by Sydney Pollack. That evening, as she flirts with a suave Hungarian, he’s hit on by two giggly models – until he’s called upstairs by the host to revive yet another model who has overdosed. Later, while stoned, Kidman taunts Cruise with an erotic tale about a naval officer in Cape Cod. Reeling with jealousy, he indulges in his own angst-filled fantasy, involving a kinky tryst with a hooker and a sinister, masquerade orgy. And he flashes his doctor’s ID card more often than an FBI agent. Why Kidman and Cruise chose to indulge in this heavy-handed, exhibitionistic carnal endeavor is best left to their personal therapists – and the gossip columnists. Sure, the color-drenched cinematography is stunning but, having said that, it’s like leaving a Broadway musical singing the scenery. In evaluating Jocelyn Pook’s moody score, a friend put it best commenting: “The music sounds as if were composed by a piano tuner, pounding on one note.” On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Eyes Wide Shut” is a perverted, pretentious, numbing 3. It may be deliberately depraved but you won’t be deprived if you wait for the video.
