While I was a student I was briefly seeing a Norwegian girl who was working over here as an Au Pair. One day we were in a pub and she pointed to the TV that was showing a trailer for one of Tom Cruise’s movies that was going to be on TV later in the day. She made a comment about him being really nice, I thought at first she meant something different but it actually transpired that she had met him (on several occasions) and found him to be a charming and funny man. Stunned by this casual reference to knowing one of the biggest stars in the world I was keen to know more. She explained that when she first came to England the agency she worked for placed he at Luton Hoo* that was being used as a location for a movie.
Her job was to look after the children of the cast and crew during filming. This immediately got my attention; I wanted to know what they were filming. She couldn’t tell me, she was on or around the set for several weeks but didn’t really know what was going on, the most she could tell me was that there were lots of people and they wore nice clothes. It wasn’t until I asked what Cruise’s then wife Nicole Kidman was doing while she looked after the kids that things started to fall into place, she casually mentioned “oh she’s in the film too”. The movie she had witnessed been made was Eyes Wide Shut and she had also met the director Stanley Kubrick although she didn’t know his name and didn’t really have anything to do with him. As for Nicole Kidman, she had less contact with her than her “charming and funny” husband so didn’t really form an opinion but did say “she is even more beautiful in real life”. So two years pass Stanley Kubrick dies and the movie finally comes out. I later found out that the parts of the movie shot at Luton Hoo were mainly the interiors of Victor Ziegler’s (Sydney Pollack) New York house and the party scene, this would account for the “nice clothes”
But was the movie any good? It Received mixed reviews on release but did quite well at the box-office grossing nearly two and half times its $65million budget despite poor marketing. I actually really enjoyed it and it ranks highly of my top ten movies of 1999 (probably the best single year for movies in my memory) and it was the first DVD I ever purchased (I was given The Matrix and Go around the same time).
The biggest problem with the movie is people’s expectations. Some went in expecting something approaching porn, others wanted to see a typical Tom Cruise blockbuster what we actually got was a slow, thoughtful, impeccably constructed and beautiful movie. For me, from an acting point of view I think it represents a career high for both Cruise and Kidman who appear to be putting their heart and soul into the performances. It has been reported many times that the actors were completely subservient to their auteur director on a long and arduous shoot, we will probably never know if making the movie had a negative effect on the couple’s marriage that ended a couple of years later but it is possible.
The last word spoken in the movie (by Nicole Kidman) is “Fuck” that would probably have been my reaction after first seeing the movie if I wasn’t completely speechless. In the case of Kidman’s character, Alice the word is a solution to the couples problems but spoken in such a way that it is open to countless interpretations. To put it into context, it’s the final scene the couple are in a department store Christmas shopping with their daughter (out of earshot) when they say:
Alice: I do love you and you know there is something very important we need to do as soon as possible.
Bill: What’s that?
Alice: Fuck.
For me the word fuck was more an expression of what have I just seen? Eyes Wide Shut is a movie I love but have never been able to find the words to review it. I sat down with the intention of reviewing it today but was unable to hence my recount of this little story.
Written as part of the LAMB “Director’s Chair”. Be sure to check out the other Stanley Kubrick related blogs.
*Luton Hoo is a mansion set in 1065 acres of English countryside that straddles the Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire borders near the town of Luton. In 2007 it was turned into a luxury (£400 a night) Hotel and Spa, prior to that it is best known as a location for movies such as: A Shot in the Dark, Never Say Never Again, Four Weddings and a Funeral, The World Is Not Enough, Quills and Enigma. It is also conveniently located around five miles from where Stanley Kubrick lived in Harpenden.
A wonderful little tale FandangoG, and an apt review of this extraordinary film. I think I would also struggle to put into words how I feel about Eyes Wide Shut – unfortunately, I don’t have a Norwegian nanny story to fall back on. I agree with you on expectation. It’s a difficult film to categorise and like all Kubrick’s work it refuses to be pigeonholed.
The only person I have come across who can put their thoughts about the movie into coherent words is Kim Morgan.
cheers for the link. Great read.
Whoa, hang on a second. You dated a Norwegian Au Pair!?!?!? That’s amazing. 😀
Haven’t seen any Kubrick films barring 2001, but the Jon Ronson documentary about the boxes on his estate was very interesting and insightful, definitely worth seeing if you’re a fan.
…yeah, I saw that doc. Very interesting stuff. It would have been fascinating to see Kubrick’s version of A.I., but at least he left a great body of work behind.
She wasn’t blond by the way (that’s the first assumption people make!).
Don’t know that doc, will have to look for it.
’twas masterfully named ‘Stanley Kubrick’s Boxes’.
Very interesting if you want to see some of the meticulous detail that increasingly went into his films. It can usually be found repeating on one of the Sky Arts channels.
Great article on it here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2004/mar/27/features.weekend
Yeah the real problem was the brilliant executives at Warner Bros. decided to advertise this as a sultry love affair type movie. Then two and half hours in and Nicole Kidman’s only been naked once, clearly some people are going to be bored with it when expecting some absurd mix of 2001: A Space Odyssey and Wild Things. Personally, I think it’s one of Kubrick’s best works.
I liked the trailer but that probably has more to do with great Chris Isaak song.
Yes the problem was half the audience expected porn the other half wanted Top Gun.
good story Fands, nice way into the review.
I went to see Eyes Wide Shut in the cinema and thought it was a load of pants really
but ive watched it a good few times since on tv and now i really enjoy it. not much happens and its a bit silly but there is something very hypnotic about it. the last line is lame though.
disagree with you Fands about this being the Cruise-Kidmans career highs
Magnolia for him
To Die For for her
To die for that would be the satirical remake of a crappy made for TV movie
That’s actually pretty cool. And as much as he annoy’s me these days, I think when it boils down to it Cruise is still obnoxiously charming, and if he plays his cards right can bounce back from the bad press of the past few years and be a great movie star again, because not only is he handsome, but he is a damn good actor as well. In fact reading this makes me MISS him. Is that strange?
I feel similar to Eyes Wide Shut as you do, though I’m not quite as fond of it as you are. In fact upon some viewings I had decidedly hated it, and others found it genius. It changes upon various viewings. I’m in a place now where I’m purely mystified by the film, and even though I can really convey my feelings into a capacity that makes any kind of sense, I love the movie for being such a twisted enigma.
Good Gawd…you need to unhook the I.V. to the Cruise/Kubrick Kool-Aid! My husband and I are both authors/writers’ (successfully published), and have both done our turn at editing. I also produced a 2 hour special sports event for the top Sports cable network a few years back (that aired over 12 times). Just saying that we not only watched this wretched movie from a personal perspective but also, had some professional insights going in as well.
It SUC#ED! We both considered it to easily be one of the top ten WORST movies of all time.
It was painfully slow, full of cliches, there was not a single shred of ‘chemistry’ between Kidman and Cruise (maybe the marriage was over already at that point), and it failed to make any real point or concept.Neither of us “expected it to be ‘porn,’ OR ‘one of Cruise’s action films,” we just were hoping for a good story with interesting characters but did not find it anywhere in this over hyped movie.
Too much Kool-Aid or just loving The Emperor’s New Clothes?
Btw, as a ‘blogger’ for a movie review site, wouldn’t you have (& USE) ‘spell check?’ “…five miles from where Stanley Kubrick in Harpenden.” Would you mean, “…Kubrick ‘IS’ or ‘LIVES” in Harpenden?” Oh, and, “…the party scene set their would account for the “nice clothes” Wouldn’t “their” actually be “THERE?”
You’re a WRITER…proof read your crappy reviews and use your spell check. Oh, wait. You graduated from DeVry University online…right? Okay, never mind.
Thank you for pointing out the inadequacies of my proof reading. As you fail to make an constructive comment on why you dislike the movie other than a few insults that a middle school student would be proud of I will dismiss you as a troll.
Feel free to come back with any more insults. Alternatively you may wish to let us know what you have had published so readers can cast their critical eye over it.
Reblogged this on Eu Vivo a Melhor Idade and commented:
VAMOS RELEMBRAR KUBRICK , NICOLE KIDMAN E TOM CRUISE NO INTRIGANTE FILME DE OLHOS BEM FECHADOS