Eyes Wide Shut , more than any other movie, gave rise to my interest in cinema as a compelling storytelling medium. I've been haunted by the film since I first saw it upon its release, and have studied it in an attempt to understand it. So, this article is my contribution to the ongoing Stanley Kubrick film analyses swirling around out there. To avoid rehashing what's already been extensively discussed by others, I've focused primarily on my own observations and interpretations—although much research was required to understand the film's many facets.
Written purely for my own interest and not for profit, I've excluded some ideas with the intention of maybe expanding it all into a book one day. But I wanted to put out what I have so far—which is still quite thorough—in time for Eyes Wide Shut 's year anniversary. This analysis is for people who like to think deeply about works of art—movies, music, literature—and draw comparisons to our own real world so that we may evolve to navigate through it with greater wisdom and understanding.
It's been an education working on this essay, because as you'll see, the movie's reach goes far and wide. Watching Eyes Wide Shut has opened my mind and eyes, but writing about it has opened them even more. It's been five years since I first published this article in , when I had rushed to get it finished for the 20th anniversary of Eyes Wide Shut 's release date.
While I was largely satisfied with it at the time, there were still some things bothering me. So I've taken this opportunity of the film's 25th anniversary to add a few last thoughts. I also added a few citations, corrected some minor technical errors, and incorporated additional references to cinema, music, and literature, wherever relevant.
Some of my observations will no doubt go too far for some readers, and not far enough for others. But here they are. Now twenty-five years after it debuted, I can finally lay my obsession with Eyes Wide Shut to rest. Eyes Wide Shut is the last work of legendary movie director Stanley Kubrick, and like many of his films it contains layers of meaning not easily deciphered or understood on first viewing.
