Star Brown: Eyes Wide Shut

Eyes Wide Shut
Director: Stanley Kubrick (1999)

Eyes Wide Shut encapsulates an intoxicating story about a semi-naïve doctor, Bill Hartford (Tom Cruise) and his wife, Alice (Nicole Kidman) and the dwindling trust toward her after she confesses sexual desires for a naval officer she had seen in the past. This heartbreaking news leads him on a path of deception as he encounters a hooker, a sex party and eventually a high class, secret hedonistic society introduced to him by a long lost friend. Knowing what he has seen, Bill and his family are in danger but his obsession obscures the serious warnings. Eyes Wide Shut brilliantly examines the psychological nature of infidelity in the obsessions of lies and deceit.

Setting takes place in New York City around Christmas time. The ambience in most of the scenes portrays the colors red and blue—to heighten the sexual and provocative nature of Bill’s obsession.

Scene: The Mansion out in the remote suburbs of NY

Upon entering the mansion, a medium shot of Bill entering the large foyer and greeted by a well-dressed man in a gold mask who takes his coat. It is low-key lighting from the lights on the walls. The carpet is bright red. Bill walks to enter where the action is taking place to the right as the camera reframes his exit. The continuous cut shows him entering the main room with a medium long shot as Bill, cloaked and masked, walks to the right, having the camera follow his body thus revealing the large circular auditorium where a circle of black clothed peoples stand surrounded by crowds looking on at the ceremonial action taking place. Bill walks to the right of the frame as the red-cloaked man in the background is strolling around in a circular path among the cloaked figures surrounding him. The scene cuts to a medium shot of the red-cloaked man encircled by kneeling cloaked figures as the camera slowly pans around the viewer sees a crowd of cloaked figures with masks in the background witnessing the ritual. The red-cloaked man stomps his staff on the ground and paces around. It then cuts to a medium long shot of Bill’s friend, the pianist blindfolded while playing the keys while the red-cloaked man paces around within the circle in the background of the frame. Then cuts to a CU of Bill’s masked face. Cuts to a long shot of the auditorium as the knelt figures stand up and uncloak after the red-cloaked man stomps his staff on the ground. Then it cuts to a slow swish medium shot around the topless women also wearing masks while the red-cloaked man is positioned at the right of the frame. It then cuts to a medium shot of cloaked and masked onlookers as the camera pans to the left. Then it cuts back to the medium shot of the pianist with the ritual taking place in the background. Then repeating the same slow swish around the kneeling women as they lean to the left and mask kiss their neighbor. Then it cuts to low-angle shot of two cloaked figures on a balcony. As they turn to look down the camera zooms in on their mysterious masks then cuts to a CU of Bill’s face looking up at eye-level angle. Cuts back to the balcony and the CU of the masked figure to the right nods his head toward Bill who nods back in the same CU eye-level shot with low key lighting to enhance the shadows on their painted masks. Cuts to a medium swish pan of the red-cloaked man stomping his staff in front of selected women as they get up and turn to walk out of frame. Medium long shot of one woman approaching a cloaked figure and walk into the background of the frame. Cuts to medium long shot of woman with feathered headdress walking toward the right and toward the foreground next to the rows of cloaked figures filling the right side of the frame. During this shot, the camera moves with her, being pulled back on a dolly until she reaches Bill. CU shot of their masks kissing—slight zoom in and out. Medium long shot of her escorting him off as the camera pans to the right and follows the two into their background—another dolly shot.
This scene seques into a long take of Bill roaming through several rooms by a tracking shot. The cuts crossfade into medium shots of people lounging and watching into medium close ups of Bill watching.

This scene portrays the fluidity of movement that tracking shots have by collapsing time and space into one take. As most people are quite familiar with Kubrick’s famous style of using long and extreme tracking shots meticulously planned to set the tone and mood of his movies—most of them haunting and provocative.