When Kubrick unleashed his final cinematic work Eyes Wide Shut in1999, like all his previous films, it was grievously misunderstood by audiences and critics alike. Based on Arthur Schnitzler’s 1926 novella Traumnovelle (Dream Story), Kubrick upholds a psychoanalytic parallel between the two, as the source story heavily borrowed from Freud’s theory of life (Eros) and death instincts (Thanatos). The task of transporting the overall historical, cultural and artistic context from the 1926 Viennese decadence to the postmodernist world of New York City was no mean feat – an adaptation requires functioning like a successful organ transplant, and Kubrick
…show more content…
In the opening sequence, we witness the lavish extravagance, along with a sense of civilized charm exuded by Victor Ziegler’s party, which is quickly revealed to be a façade concealing the ugly depravities and fetishes harbored by the elite : foreshadowing the Somertonville Mansion orgy later in the film. The presence of an unusual eight-point star as a Christmas decoration in Ziegler’s party has been interpreted by some as the star of Ishtar, the Mesopotamian goddess of fertility, love, sexuality and their perilous manifestations – a dominant theme which engulfs the lives of Alice (Nicole Kidman) and Bill Harford (Tom Cruise). The egoistic wound nursed by Bill is inflicted by his wife’s confession of an act of almost indiscretion, propelling him to exact revenge through a series of fantastical sexual encounters which are repeatedly thwarted, acting as instances of stagnation or death in
In the opening sequence, we witness the lavish extravagance, along with a sense of civilized charm exuded by Victor Ziegler’s party, which is quickly revealed to be a façade concealing the ugly depravities and fetishes harbored by the elite : foreshadowing the Somertonville Mansion orgy later in the film. The presence of an unusual eight-point star as a Christmas decoration in Ziegler’s party has been interpreted by some as the star of Ishtar, the Mesopotamian goddess of fertility, love, sexuality and their perilous manifestations – a dominant theme which engulfs the lives of Alice (Nicole Kidman) and Bill Harford (Tom Cruise). The egoistic wound nursed by Bill is inflicted by his wife’s confession of an act of almost indiscretion, propelling him to exact revenge through a series of fantastical sexual encounters which are repeatedly thwarted, acting as instances of stagnation or death in