Editing Eyes Wide Shut (section)

===Critical response===
''Eyes Wide Shut'' received generally positive reviews from critics. On [[Rotten Tomatoes]], the film holds an approval rating of {{RT data|score}} based on {{RT data|count}} reviews, with an average rating of {{RT data|average}}. The website's critical consensus reads, "Kubrick's intense study of the human psyche yields an impressive cinematic work."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/eyes_wide_shut|title=Eyes Wide Shut|website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]|publisher=[[Fandango Media|Fandango]]|access-date={{RT data|access date}}|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210106203548/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/eyes_wide_shut|archive-date=January 6, 2021|url-status=live}}{{RT data|edit}}</ref> [[Metacritic]] gives the film a [[weighted average]] score of 69 out of 100 based on 34 reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/eyes-wide-shut |title=Eyes Wide Shut |website=[[Metacritic]] |access-date=January 8, 2021 |archive-date=May 20, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190520195211/https://www.metacritic.com/movie/eyes-wide-shut |url-status=live}}</ref> Over 50 critics listed the film among the best of 1999.<ref name="DVDPress">{{cite web|url=http://uk.ign.com/articles/2000/02/10/eyes-wide-shut-dvd-press-release|title='Eyes Wide Shut' DVD Press Release|last=Head|first=Steve|date=February 24, 2000|website=IGN|access-date=February 18, 2018|archive-date=July 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200723072038/https://www.ign.com/articles/2000/02/10/eyes-wide-shut-dvd-press-release|url-status=live}}</ref> French magazine ''[[Cahiers du Cinéma]]'' named it the best film of the year in its annual "top ten" list.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~ejohnson/critics/cahiers.html|title=Cahiers du Cinema: Top Ten Lists 1951–2009|last=Johnson|first=Eric C.|website=alumnus.caltech.edu|access-date=December 17, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120327102838/http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~ejohnson/critics/cahiers.html|archive-date=March 27, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> However, audiences polled by [[CinemaScore]] gave the film an average grade of "D−" on an A+ to F scale.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cinemascore.com|title=Find CinemaScore|format=Type "Eyes Wide Shut" in the search box|website=[[CinemaScore]]|access-date=April 7, 2021}}</ref>

In the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'', Michael Wilmington declared the film a masterpiece, lauding it as "provocatively conceived, gorgeously shot and masterfully executed ... Kubrick's brilliantly choreographed one-take scenes create a near-hypnotic atmosphere of commingled desire and dread."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1999/07/16/the-sexy-scary-stylish-eyes-wide-shut-is-stanley-kubricks-final-masterpiece/|title=The Sexy, Scary, Stylish 'Eyes Wide Shut' Is Stanley Kubrick's Final Masterpiece|last=Wilmington|first=Michael|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|date=July 16, 1999|access-date=April 7, 2017|archive-date=April 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170407234023/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1999-07-16/entertainment/9907170013_1_cruise-and-kidman-sexual-alice-harford|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Nathan Rabin]] of ''[[The A.V. Club]]'' was also highly positive, arguing that "the film's primal, almost religious intensity and power is primarily derived from its multifaceted realization that disobeying the dictates of society and your conscience can be both terrifying and exhilarating. ... The film's depiction of sexual depravity and amorality could easily venture into the realm of camp in the hands of a lesser filmmaker, but Kubrick depicts primal evil in a way that somehow makes it seem both new and deeply terrifying."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.avclub.com/review/eyes-wide-shut-18794|title=Eyes Wide Shut|last=Rabin|first=Nathan|author-link=Nathan Rabin|work=The A.V. Club|publisher=Onion, Inc.|date=July 16, 1999|access-date=April 7, 2017|archive-date=April 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170407233917/http://www.avclub.com/review/eyes-wide-shut-18794|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Roger Ebert]] of the ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' gave the film a score of three and a half stars out of four, writing, "Kubrick's great achievement in the film is to find and hold an odd, unsettling, sometimes erotic tone for the doctor's strange encounters."<ref name=Ebert/> He praised the individual dream-like atmosphere of the separate scenes, and called the choice of Christmas-themed lighting "garish, like an urban sideshow".<ref name=Ebert/>

Reviewer [[James Berardinelli]] stated that it was arguably one of Kubrick's best films. Along with considering Kidman "consistently excellent", he wrote that Kubrick "has something to say about the causes and effects of depersonalized sex", and praised the work as "thought-provoking and unsettling".<ref name=ReelViews>{{cite web |url=http://preview.reelviews.net/movies/e/eyes_wide.html |title=Review: Eyes Wide Shut |website=Reelviews.net |last=Berardinelli |first=James |author-link=James Berardinelli |date=March 7, 1999 |access-date=September 1, 2016 |archive-date=August 5, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190805101338/http://preview.reelviews.net/movies/e/eyes_wide.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Writing for ''[[The New York Times]]'', reviewer [[Janet Maslin]] commented, "This is a dead-serious film about sexual yearnings, one that flirts with ridicule yet sustains its fundamental eeriness and gravity throughout. The dreamlike intensity of previous Kubrick visions is in full force here."<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/library/film/071699eyes-film-review.html | work=The New York Times | title='Eyes Wide Shut': Danger and Desire in a Haunting Bedroom Odyssey | access-date=February 16, 2017 | archive-date=February 9, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160209174039/http://www.nytimes.com/library/film/071699eyes-film-review.html | url-status=live}}</ref>

Some reviewers were unfavorable. One complaint was that the movie's pacing was too slow; while this may have been intended to convey a dream state, critics objected that it made actions and decisions seem laboured.<ref name=CNN>{{cite web|last1=Tatara|first1=Paul|title='Eyes Wide Shut' - All undressed with no place to go|url=http://edition.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Movies/9907/15/review.eyeswideshut/|website=CNN|date=July 15, 1999|access-date=February 18, 2018|archive-date=February 17, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180217124849/http://edition.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Movies/9907/15/review.eyeswideshut/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Another complaint was that it did not live up to the expectation of it being a "sexy film" which is what it had been marketed as, thus defying audiences' expectations.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Kreider|first1=Tim|jstor=1213735|title=Review|journal=Film Quarterly|date=Spring 2000|volume=53|number=3|pages=41–48|doi=10.2307/1213735}}</ref> Many critics, such as [[Manohla Dargis]] of ''[[LA Weekly]]'', found the prolific orgy scene to be "banal" and "surprisingly tame".<ref>{{cite web|last1=Dargis|first1=Manohla|author-link=Manohla Dargis|title=Peep Show|url=http://www.laweekly.com/film/peep-show-2130925|website=LA Weekly|access-date=February 18, 2018|date=July 14, 1999|archive-date=February 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180219031707/http://www.laweekly.com/film/peep-show-2130925|url-status=dead}}</ref> While Kubrick's "pictorial talents" were described as "striking" by [[Rod Dreher]] of the ''[[New York Post]]'', the pivotal scene was deemed by [[Stephen Hunter]], writing for ''[[The Washington Post]]'', as the "dullest orgy [he'd] ever seen". Hunter elaborates on his criticism, and states that "Kubrick is annoyingly offhand while at the same time grindingly pedantic; plot points are made over and over again, things are explained till the dawn threatens to break in the east, and the movie stumbles along at a glacial pace".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/eyeswideshuthunter.htm|title=Kubrick's Sleepy 'Eyes Wide Shut'|last=Hunter|first=Stephen|author-link=Stephen Hunter|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=July 16, 1999|access-date=April 7, 2017|archive-date=September 27, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150927160725/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/eyeswideshuthunter.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Owen Gleiberman]] of ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'' complained about the inauthenticity of the New York setting, claiming that the soundstage used for the film's production didn't have "enough bustle" to capture the reality of New York.<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Gleiberman|first1=Owen|author-link=Owen Gleiberman|date=July 23, 1999| title=Eyes Wide Shut|url=http://ew.com/article/1999/07/23/eyes-wide-shut-5/|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|access-date=February 18, 2018|archive-date=February 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180219090344/http://ew.com/article/1999/07/23/eyes-wide-shut-5/|url-status=live}}</ref> Paul Tatara of ''[[CNN]]'' described the film as a "slow-motion morality tale full of hot female bodies and thoroughly uneventful 'mystery{{'"}},<ref name=CNN/> while [[Andrew Sarris]] writing for ''[[The New York Observer]]'' criticized the film's "feeble attempts at melodramatic tension and suspense".<ref>{{cite web|last1=Sarris|first1=Andrew|author-link=Andrew Sarris|title=Eyes Don't Have It: Kubrick Turgid Finale|website=[[The New York Observer]] |url=http://observer.com/1999/07/eyes-dont-have-it-kubricks-turgid-finale/|access-date=February 18, 2018|date=July 26, 1999|archive-date=February 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180219090526/http://observer.com/1999/07/eyes-dont-have-it-kubricks-turgid-finale/|url-status=live}}</ref> [[David Edelstein]] of ''[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]'' dismissed it as "estranged from any period I recognize. Who are these people played by Cruise and Kidman, who act as if no one has ever made a pass at them and are so deeply traumatized by their newfound knowledge of sexual fantasies—the kind that mainstream culture absorbed at least half a century ago? Who are these aristocrats whose limos take them to secret masked orgies in Long Island mansions? Even dream plays need some grounding in the real world."<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/movies/1999/07/the_naked_and_the_dead.html|title=The Naked and the Dead|last=Edelstein|first=David|author-link=David Edelstein|magazine=Slate|date=July 16, 1999|access-date=April 7, 2017|archive-date=April 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170407235033/http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/movies/1999/07/the_naked_and_the_dead.html|url-status=live}}</ref> [[J. Hoberman]] wrote that the film "feels like a rough draft at best."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.villagevoice.com/film/i-wake-up-dreaming-6421330|title=I Wake Up Dreaming|last=Hoberman|first=J.|author-link=J. Hoberman|newspaper=The Village Voice|date=July 20, 1999|access-date=April 7, 2017|archive-date=April 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170407233711/http://www.villagevoice.com/film/i-wake-up-dreaming-6421330|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[Lee Siegel (cultural critic)|Lee Siegel]] from ''[[Harper's]]'' felt that most critics responded mainly to the marketing campaign and did not address the film on its own terms.<ref name=Siegel/> Others felt that American censorship took an esoteric film and made it even harder to understand.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.moviecitynews.com/festivals/sundance_2006/dp_060125.html |title=For Movie Folks Who Considered Burning Down The Ratings Board When The Adjustment Was Enuf |website=Movie City News |date=January 26, 2006 |access-date=April 15, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071224055634/http://www.moviecitynews.com/festivals/sundance_2006/dp_060125.html |archive-date=December 24, 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In his article "Grotesque Caricature", published in [[Postmodern Culture]], Stefan Mattesich praises the film's nuanced caricatured elements, and states that the film's negation of conventional narrative elements is what resulted in its subsequent negative reception.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Mattessich|first1=Stefan|title=Grotesque Caricature: Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut as the Allegory Of Its Own Reception|journal=Postmodern Culture|date=2000|volume=10|issue=2|pages=1–8|doi=10.1353/pmc.2000.0006|s2cid=143503711|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/41945|access-date=February 18, 2018|archive-date=February 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180219031233/https://muse.jhu.edu/article/41945|url-status=live}}</ref>

For the introduction to [[Michel Ciment]]'s ''Kubrick: The Definitive Edition'', [[Martin Scorsese]] wrote: "When ''Eyes Wide Shut'' came out a few months after Stanley Kubrick's death in 1999, it was severely misunderstood, which came as no surprise. If you go back and look at the contemporary reactions to any Kubrick picture (except the earliest ones), you'll see that all his films were initially misunderstood. Then, after five or ten years came the realization that ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001]]'' or ''[[Barry Lyndon]]'' or ''[[The Shining (film)|The Shining]]'' was like nothing else before or since."{{sfn|Ciment|2003|p=viii}} In 2012, ''[[Slant Magazine]]'' ranked the film as the second greatest of the 1990s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/feature/the-100-best-films-of-the-1990s/334/page_10 |title=The 100 Best Films of the 1990s |date=November 5, 2012 |website=Slant Magazine |access-date=August 22, 2014 |archive-date=July 16, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130716145813/http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/feature/the-100-best-films-of-the-1990s/334/page_10 |url-status=live}}</ref> The [[British Film Institute]] ranked the film at No. 19 on its list of "90 great films of the 1990s".<ref>{{cite web|title=90 great films of 1990s|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/90-great-films-1990s|website=bfi.org|date=18 July 2019|access-date=July 18, 2021|archive-date=July 19, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210719124320/https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/90-great-films-1990s|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2022, [[IndieWire]] named the film the best movie of the 1990s.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.indiewire.com/gallery/best-90s-movies/ |title=The 100 Best Movies of the '90s |date=2022-08-15 |access-date=2024-05-01 |website=IndieWire |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220831003948/https://www.indiewire.com/gallery/best-90s-movies/ |archive-date=2022-08-31 |url-status=live}}</ref> The film was listed at number 61 in the [[BBC]]'s list of the 100 greatest American films of all time.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20150720-the-100-greatest-american-films|title=The 100 greatest American films |work=BBC |date=July 20, 2015|access-date=October 6, 2015|archive-date=September 16, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160916105535/http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20150720-the-100-greatest-american-films|url-status=live}}</ref>