So let’s close our eyes to the performance. And open them wide to what’s real. Even if it’s messy. Especially if it’s messy.
For over two decades, Stanley Kubrick’s final film, Eyes Wide Shut (1999), has been shrouded in a specific type of controversy. While critics debated its merits as a dream-like exploration of marriage and jealousy, a vocal segment of the fanbase has been obsessed with a technical mystery: unedited eyes wide shut
The most persistent urban legend regarding Eyes Wide Shut is that Stanley Kubrick delivered a four-hour rough cut that was chopped down by the studio. So let’s close our eyes to the performance
Kubrick's portrayal of the gaze raises questions about the ethics of observation, challenging the audience to consider the implications of their own gaze. The film's use of doubles, particularly in the character of Alice, serves as a metaphor for the fragmented self, highlighting the tension between the observing self and the observed. Especially if it’s messy
Eyes wide shut isn’t about being asleep. It’s about choosing not to see. It’s the willful blur over the cracks in the relationship, the filtered silence over the pain in someone’s voice, the cropped edges of a story we’re too afraid to finish.