Eyes Wide Shut

"Cruise. Kidman. Kubrick."

Director: Stanley Kubrick Year: 1999 Runtime: 159 min IMDb: ⭐ 7.5
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Synopsis

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.

Dr. Bill Harford and his wife Alice live in New York City with their daughter, Helena. At a Christmas party hosted by Bill's patient, Victor Ziegler, Bill reconnects with his former medical school classmate, Nick Nightingale, now a professional pianist. Meanwhile, an older Hungarian guest attempts to seduce Alice, while two young models try to seduce Bill. Victor interrupts Bill's flirtation to handle an emergency involving Mandy, a young woman who overdosed during sex with him. Bill helps stabilize Mandy. The following night, Bill and Alice smoke marijuana and discuss their unfulfilled desires. Bill dismisses the idea of Alice being unfaithful, believing women to be naturally loyal. However, Alice shocks him by confessing to fantasizing about a naval officer she observed while on vacation, even considering leaving Bill and Helena for him. Disturbed, Bill is called to a patient's home, where the patient's daughter, Marion, confesses her love and tries to seduce him. Bill resists and leaves. Wandering the city, Bill meets a prostitute named Domino. Before anything happens, Alice calls, prompting Bill to leave after paying Domino without proceeding further. Later, Bill encounters Nick at a jazz club. Nick tells Bill about a secretive late-night gig where he will play piano blindfolded, and reveals the password to gain entry. Intrigued, Bill visits a costume store, formerly owned by one of his patients but now run by Mr. Milich, to rent an outfit. During the visit, Milich discovers his teenage daughter with two older men and locks the men in a room, threatening to call the police. Bill arrives at the mansion, provides the password, and witnesses a bizarre sexual ritual. A masked woman warns him that he is in danger. He is taken to a gathering where the master of ceremonies demands a second password. Bill claims to have forgotten the second password, at which the master of ceremonies exposes him as an outsider. Before the master of ceremonies forces Bill to remove his clothes, the masked woman intervenes, offering herself to save him. Bill is let go with a stern warning to remain silent. Shaken, Bill returns home to find Alice laughing in her sleep. She tearfully recounts a dream of having sex with the naval officer and many other men while mocking Bill. The next day, Bill visits Nick's hotel, but the clerk claims Nick was taken away by two threatening men. Returning the costume, Bill notices the mask is missing and learns that Milich now profits from prostituting his daughter, offering her services to Bill. Consumed by jealousy and doubt, Bill revisits the mansion but receives an envelope warning him to stay away. That evening, he tries calling Marion but hangs up when her fiancé answers. He then visits Domino's apartment, only to find her roommate, Sally, who informs him that Domino has tested HIV-positive. As Bill leaves, a mysterious figure follows him. Later, at the morgue, he identifies Mandy as the masked woman from the orgy after reading about her death from an overdose. Victor summons Bill and admits to being at the orgy. He explains that there was no second password and that Bill's exposure was deliberate. Victor insists the secret society only seeks to intimidate him into silence but warns they are dangerous. He claims Nick has returned safely to Seattle and attributes Mandy's death to her drug addiction, dismissing foul play. Returning home, Bill finds the missing mask placed on his pillow. Breaking down in tears, he confesses everything to Alice. The next day, the couple takes Helena shopping for Christmas. Bill apologizes to Alice, who suggests they take action to repair their relationship. When he asks what she means, Alice responds with a single word: "Fuck."

Summary adapted from TMDb and Wikipedia sources.

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Content Warnings

⭐ IMDb Parents Guide 🛡️ Common Sense Media

a dog dies
Yes
someone is sexually assaulted
spoiler Statutory rape, and an implication that the prostitutes in the masquerade scene are being abused and controlled by powerful forces
animals are abused
Yes
someone leaves without saying goodbye
Yes
there's child abuse
spoiler a father seems to be pimping his underage daughter
a woman is brutalized for spectacle
Yes
there's domestic violence
Yes
there's abusive parents
spoiler A parent prostitutes and acts aggresively thowards his daughter
the abused forgives their abuser
spoiler A teenager acts willing thowards being prostituted by her father and two older men
someone is stalked
spoiler at one point tom cruise's character is followed
someone gets gaslighted
spoiler Depending on how you interpret the film, it might come across as if Tom Cruise's character is gaslit at the final act of the film
there's addiction
spoiler A character almost overdoses on a speedball and (SPOILER) is later shown in to have overdosed and died.
alcohol abuse
spoiler Alice (Nicole Kidman) drinks too much champagne and drunkenly flirts/dances with a man at the Christmas party.
someone uses drugs
spoiler Heroin and cocaine in one scene (stated not shown), marijuana (shown)
someone is sexually assaulted onscreen
Yes
there's pedophilia
spoiler [SPOILER] - - - - - - A father catches his fourteen year old sleeping with two older men, and instead of seeking justice, he decides to start selling her sexual services to anyone who is willing to pay. The girl doesn't appear in distress in either scene, which may make it less triggering to some. It was too outlandish and tonally displaced to upset me, personally. This role is played by an actual fourteen year old Leelee Sobieski shown in her underwear.
rape is mentioned
spoiler Not outright, but it's so heavily implied that it's pretty obvious
sexual assault on men is a joke
Yes
someone is drugged
Yes
a woman gets slapped
spoiler An unconscious woman is slapped in the face to wake her up.
someone is beaten up by a bully
Yes
there's torture
spoiler Not on screen, but it's slightly implied a character was heavily abused by a cult
someone struggles to breathe
Yes
Someone becomes unconscious
spoiler nobody faints, usually from drugs
a minor is sexualized
spoiler Underage teen daughter of the costume shop owner is only ever seen in bra and underwear, heavily implied that her father is her pimp.
a major character dies
Yes
someone dies
spoiler Two people die off screen: an elderly man (cause unknown, but the doctor believes he died in his sleep) and a youngish woman (officially from an accidental drug overdose, but it may have been murder). We see both of them dead: the man in his bed, only his face visible, seen from rather far off; the woman naked and laid bare on a pull-out freezer shelf in the morgue, seen up close and for a long time.
someone sacrifices themselves
spoiler (SPOILER) The masked woman tells the cult to take her in place of Bill to be punished. She later is found dead of an overdose. It is up to audience interpretation whether they believe the overdose was an accident or part of the cult's actions.
someone overdoses
spoiler very nearly at the beginning of the movie.
a parent dies
spoiler Tom Cruise comforts a woman after the death of her father
someone cheats
spoiler Not intercourse. But it comes close more than once, and we do see imagined full-on sex between a man's wife and another man as it plays out in the husband's head after she told him that she'd been ready to throw away her whole future with him and their child for just one night with a specific man she once met. What may be seen as un-imagined, physical cheating in the movie, depending on one's individual definition/limits: 1) The husband goes with a prostitute to her place on her suggestion and agrees to interact with her sexually, but changes his mind before anything physical has happened between them, pays her anyway, then leaves. 2) The husband receives a sudden uninvited passionate kiss from a patient's grown daughter, who proclaims to love him, even though they barely know each other. He doesn't kiss her back, she withdraws, and he gently tries to talk some sense into her - but he doesn't actually push her away physically or pull away while she's kissing him. 3) The husband gropes a woman who's coming on to him hot and heavy (she's a stranger to him, who may be a prostitute) and would most likely have gone all the way with her if she hadn't stopped him to tell him something important. ..... Also, before all that, there's a long scene in which the wife flirts so heavily with a stranger at a party that it's almost ridiculous. They dance very close, their mouths are, like, an inch apart, and the way she talks to him and looks at him is extremely saucy. However, when he suggests they go to upstairs together - sex heavily implied - she rejects him, repeating that she's married, and walks away. --- It's worth noting that, although the husband is the one who actually gets physically sexual with another to some degree, it's the wife who actually WANTS to do it, at least based on what she says and signals to him. His whole "spree" takes place because he's extremely hurt by the way she described how she felt about that other man in the past; before that he seems faithful and dedicated to her (although he does go along with some pretty heavy flirting by two women at once at the aforementioned party).
a family member dies
spoiler A grown woman's father (not a main or secondary character) dies off screen. We see him lying in his bed as if asleep on his back, only his face visible. The room is dimly lit, and we don't see him up close. We don't know the cause of death - we're told that he seemed fine earlier the same day - but the doctor believes he died in his sleep. The daughter (not a main or secondary character) is clearly sad, but it almost seems like the primary reason for her sadness isn't her father's death so much as her relationship or her life situation in general - even though she's still in the bedroom where her father lies dead. After the scene ends, we don't see her again, nor any other member of the family. My main trigger is sick/dying/dead parents of adult children, and I made it through the scene okay.
someone is kidnapped
spoiler No, but someone is temporarily kept from leaving a place he came to voluntarily. Very ominous situation.
there are clowns
spoiler Some masques in the masquerade ball look clownish. If you don’t like masks/plague doctors, avoid this movie
there are mannequins
spoiler In the costume shop, wearing costumes.
someone vomits
spoiler Safe.
there is copaganda
spoiler No cops that I recall.
a trans person is depicted predatorily
Yes
an LGBT+ person is outed
spoiler There is a scene as a main character is walking down the street at night when they are harassed and shoved by a group of men using the f-slur and being homophobic (the character is not gay), the character is shaken up but unharmed.
there's a hospital scene
spoiler Bill visits a hospital morgue to see a dead body
someone has cancer
spoiler No cancer, but a character is revealed to be HIV positive
someone dies by suicide
Yes
someone suffers from PTSD
Yes
reality is unstable or unhinged
Yes
there's a claustrophobic scene
Yes
someone has a meltdown
spoiler yeah tom cruise between the last 15 minutes
there's screaming
Yes
there is obscene language/gestures
spoiler Curse words like shit and fuck are used.
there are sudden loud noises
Yes
someone is watched without knowing
Yes
there are homophobic slurs
spoiler f slur when he's being harassed by a group of men on the street
there are "Man in a dress" jokes
Yes
someone speaks hate speech
spoiler Homophobic insults.
there's a large age gap
spoiler the costume shop owner appears to be pimping his daughter, and he finds her with much older men
religion is discussed
Yes
there is sexual content
spoiler Lots of nudity and very graphic, dispassionate sex scenes. The notorious “masquerade ball” is an orgy featuring prostitutes (who are supposedly in great danger) and various people in masks. The film is marketed as an erotic drama but the masked orgy is more disturbing than sexual
there are nude scenes
spoiler Tons of full female nudity from very early on. Nicole Kidman is often naked or with see-thought clothes. Women are naked in both sexual and non-sexual settings. Male nudity is very rare and mild, mostly just on the orgy scene.
someone is sexually objectified
spoiler Many scenes of nude women in the movie, most are masked so the viewer can only really focus on their bodies. Objectifying comments are made in reference to women e.g. "the one with the great tits" etc.
there's BDSM
Yes
someone has dementia/Alzheimer's
Yes
someone is terminally ill
Yes
someone has a chronic illness
spoiler We don't see anyone who's sick, but we're told at one point that a likable character we met earlier has been diagnosed with HIV. We don't see her after that, nor are we updated about her in any way.
existentialism is debated
Yes
the ending is sad
spoiler The ending might be very discouraging, as not only does the main couple decide to ignore their relatonship issues, but it's also implied they might be perpetually watched by a powerful cult.
someone drowns
spoiler Nor is anyone even remotely in danger of doing so.

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