Editing Eyes Wide Shut (section)

==Themes and interpretations==
===Genre===
The film was described by some reviewers, and partially marketed, as an [[erotic thriller]], a categorization disputed by others. It is classified as such in the book ''The Erotic Thriller in Contemporary Cinema'', by [[Linda Ruth Williams]],<ref>{{cite book | title= The Erotic Thriller in Contemporary Cinema | first= Linda Ruth | last= Williams |page= 397 | publisher= Indiana University Press| year= 2005 |isbn=978-0253347138}}</ref> and was described as such in news articles about Cruise and Kidman's lawsuit over assertions that they saw a sex therapist during filming.<ref name=vf15/><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/apr/24/ameliagentleman|title=Erotic thriller Hollywood couple sue over sex claims|first= Amelia|last= Gentleman|newspaper=The Guardian |date=April 24, 1999 |access-date= December 17, 2016|archive-date=April 1, 2017|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170401061249/https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/apr/24/ameliagentleman|url-status=live}}</ref> The positive review in ''Combustible Celluloid'' describes it as an erotic thriller upon first viewing, but actually a "complex story about marriage and sexuality".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.combustiblecelluloid.com/archive/eyeswide.shtml |title= Eyes Wide Shut (1999) |first=Jeffrey M. |last=Anderson | website= Combustible Celluloid Review|date=July 16, 1999 |access-date=May 24, 2015 |archive-date=February 4, 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150204234036/http://www.combustiblecelluloid.com//archive/eyeswide.shtml |url-status=live}}</ref> ''High-Def Digest'' also called it an erotic thriller.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/273/eyeswideshut.html |title=Blu-ray Review: Eyes Wide Shut | website= Bluray.highdefdigest.com |access-date=July 2, 2012 |archive-date=July 19, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719105300/http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/273/eyeswideshut.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

However, reviewing the film at AboutFilm.com, Carlo Cavagna regards this as a misleading classification,<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.aboutfilm.com/movies/e/eyeswideshut.htm |title=Eyes Wide Shut (1999) | website= AboutFilm.Com |access-date=July 2, 2012 |archive-date=June 18, 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120618070113/http://www.aboutfilm.com/movies/e/eyeswideshut.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref> as does Leo Goldsmith, writing at notcoming.com,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.notcoming.com/reviews/eyeswideshut |title=Eyes Wide Shut | website= notcoming.com |date= March 14, 2010 |access-date= July 2, 2012 |archive-date=May 21, 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120521082153/http://notcoming.com/reviews/eyeswideshut |url-status=live}}</ref> and the review on Blu-ray.com.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Eyes-Wide-Shut-Blu-ray/509/#Review |title=Eyes Wide Shut Blu-ray |website=Blu-ray.com |access-date=July 2, 2012 |archive-date=July 8, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120708052509/http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Eyes-Wide-Shut-Blu-ray/509/#Review |url-status=live}}</ref> Writing in ''TV Guide'', [[Maitland McDonagh]] writes "No one familiar with the cold precision of Kubrick's work will be surprised that this isn't the steamy erotic thriller a synopsis (or the ads) might suggest."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.tvguide.com/movies/eyes-wide-shut/review/2030211164/ |first=Maitland |last=McDonagh |author-link=Maitland McDonagh|title=Eyes Wide Shut Review |website=TVGuide.com |access-date=July 2, 2012 |archive-date=May 31, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120531215221/http://movies.tvguide.com/eyes-wide-shut/review/134111 |url-status=live}}</ref> Writing in general about the genre of 'erotic thriller' for ''CineAction'' in 2001, Douglas Keesey states that "whatever [''Eyes Wide Shut''{{'s}}] actual type, [it] was at least marketed as an erotic thriller".<ref>{{cite journal |url= https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-79981141 |title=They Kill for Love |journal=Cineaction |last=Keesey |first=Douglas |date=June 22, 2001 |access-date=May 26, 2015 |archive-date=July 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200723072037/https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-79981141/they-kill-for-love |url-status=dead}}</ref> Michael Koresky, writing in the 2006 issue of film journal ''Reverse Shot'', writes "this director, who defies expectations at every turn and brings genre to his feet, was&nbsp; ... setting out to make neither the 'erotic thriller' that the press maintained nor an easily identifiable 'Kubrick film{{'"}}.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.reverseshot.com/article/eyes_wide_shut |title=Eyes Wide Shut |first=Michael |last=Koresky |website= ReverseShot.com |date=May 11, 2006 |access-date=May 26, 2015 |archive-date=August 20, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140820050153/http://www.reverseshot.com/article/eyes_wide_shut |url-status=live}}</ref> ''DVD Talk'' similarly dissociates the film from this genre.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/31748/eyes-wide-shut/ |title=Eyes Wide Shut (Blu-ray) : DVD Talk Review of the Blu-ray |publisher= | website= DVD Talk |access-date=July 2, 2012 |archive-date=July 5, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120705214248/http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/31748/eyes-wide-shut/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Christmas setting===
In addition to relocating the story from Vienna in the 1900s to New York City in the 1990s, Kubrick changed the time-frame of Schnitzler's story from Mardi Gras to Christmas. Michael Koresky believed Kubrick did this because of the rejuvenating symbolism of Christmas.<ref name=rs>{{cite web |url=http://www.reverseshot.com/article/eyes_wide_shut |title=Wake Up Call | first=Michael | last= Koresky |date= Spring 2006 |publisher= | website= ReverseShot.com |access-date= December 15, 2011 |archive-date= December 15, 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111215002459/http://reverseshot.com/article/eyes_wide_shut |url-status=live}}</ref> Mario Falsetto, on the other hand, notes that Christmas lights allow Kubrick to employ some of his distinct methods of shooting including using source location lighting, as he also did in ''Barry Lyndon''.<ref>{{cite book |title=Stanley Kubrick: A Narrative and Stylistic Analysis |last=Falsetto |first= Mario |year=2001 |publisher= Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn= 978-0-275-96974-5 |page=137 }} See also the section on "Disappearing Film Grain" at {{cite web| url= http://kubrickfilms.tripod.com/id79.html |title=Was Eyes Wide Shut completed? |access-date=December 15, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120126164713/http://kubrickfilms.tripod.com/id79.html |archive-date=January 26, 2012}}</ref> ''The New York Times'' notes that the film "gives an otherworldly radiance and personality to Christmas lights",<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/16/movies/film-review-bedroom-odyssey.html |title=Film Review; Bedroom Odyssey | first=Janet| last= Maslin |author-link=Janet Maslin |date=July 16, 1999 |access-date=March 4, 2015 |newspaper=The New York Times |archive-date=March 5, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150305034721/http://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/16/movies/film-review-bedroom-odyssey.html |url-status=live}}</ref> and critic Randy Rasmussen notes that "colorful Christmas lights&nbsp; ... illuminate almost every location in the film."{{sfn|Rasmussen|2005|p=333}} ''Harper'''s film critic, [[Lee Siegel (cultural critic)|Lee Siegel]], believes that the film's recurring motif is the Christmas tree, because it symbolizes the way that "Compared with the everyday reality of sex and emotion, our fantasies of gratification are&nbsp; ... pompous and solemn in the extreme&nbsp; ... For desire is like Christmas: it always promises more than it delivers."<ref name=Siegel>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.indelibleinc.com/kubrick/films/ews/reviews/harpers.html |title=What the critics failed to see in Kubrick's last film | first=Lee | last= Siegel |magazine=Harper's | via= indelibleinc.com |access-date= December 15, 2011 |archive-date= December 23, 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111223092621/http://www.indelibleinc.com/kubrick/films/ews/reviews/harpers.html |url-status=dead}}</ref> Author [[Tim Kreider]] notes that the "Satanic" mansion-party at Somerton is the only set in the film without a Christmas tree, stating that "Almost every set is suffused with the dreamlike, hazy glow of colored lights and tinsel."<ref name="krieder">{{harvnb|Kreider|2006}}</ref> Furthermore, he argues that "Eyes Wide Shut, though it was released in summer, was ''the'' Christmas movie of 1999."<ref name="krieder" /> Noting that Kubrick has shown viewers the dark side of Christmas consumerism, Louise Kaplan states that the film illustrates ways in which the "material reality of money" is shown replacing the spiritual values of Christmas, charity, and compassion. While virtually every scene has a Christmas tree, there is "no Christmas music or cheery Christmas spirit."<ref>{{cite book |title=Cultures of Fetishism |last=Kaplan |first=Louise |year=2006|publisher=MacMillan |isbn= 978-1-4039-6968-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/culturesfetishis00kapl/page/n75 61]| url= https://archive.org/details/culturesfetishis00kapl|url-access=limited}}</ref> Critic [[Alonso Duralde]], in his book ''Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas'', categorized the film as a "Christmas movie for grownups", arguing that "Christmas weaves its way through the film from start to finish".<ref>{{cite book |title=Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas |last=Duralde |first=Alonso |year= 2010| publisher= Limelight Editions |isbn= 978-0-275-96974-5 |page=33}}</ref>

===Use of Venetian masks===
Historians, travel guide authors, novelists, and merchants of [[Venetian mask]]s have noted that these have a long history of being worn during promiscuous activities.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fTIuAAAAYAAJ&q=venetian+masks+history&pg=PA311|title=Sketches from Venetian History| first=Edward| last= Smedley|date=March 13, 2018| publisher=Harper|via=Google Books| access-date=November 11, 2020| archive-date=January 12, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210112004245/https://books.google.com/books?id=fTIuAAAAYAAJ&q=venetian+masks+history&pg=PA311|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Frommer's Portable Venice |first1=Darwin |last1= Porter |first2=Danforth |last2= Prince |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hkuNDff0RscC&q=venetianmaskshistory&pg=PA150 |isbn=978-0-470-39904-0 |date=March 16, 2009 |publisher=Wiley |access-date=November 11, 2020 |archive-date=January 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210112004204/https://books.google.com/books?id=hkuNDff0RscC&q=venetianmaskshistory&pg=PA150 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qjpduEh-ajAC&q=venetian+masks+history |title=The Venetian Mask: A Novel |date=March 25, 2008 |access-date=August 22, 2014 |isbn=978-0-307-41018-4 |last1=Laker |first1=Rosalind |publisher=Crown |archive-date=January 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210112004209/https://books.google.com/books?id=qjpduEh-ajAC&q=venetian+masks+history |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.magicofvenezia.com/servlet/the-template/maskstory/Page |title=Magic of Venezia Mask Story |publisher= | website= Magicofvenezia.com |access-date=July 2, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120621223111/http://www.magicofvenezia.com/servlet/the-template/maskstory/Page |archive-date=June 21, 2012}}</ref> Authors Tim Kreider and Thomas Nelson have linked the film's usage of these to Venice's reputation as a center of both [[eroticism]] and [[mercantilism]]. Nelson notes that the sex ritual combines elements of Venetian Carnival and Catholic rites, in particular, the character of "Red Cloak" who simultaneously serves as Grand Inquisitor and King of Carnival. As such, Nelson argues that the sex ritual is a symbolic mirror of the darker truth behind the façade of Victor Ziegler's earlier Christmas party.{{sfn|Nelson|2000|pp=288–289}} Carolin Ruwe, in her book ''Symbols in Stanley Kubrick's Movie 'Eyes Wide Shut''', argues that the mask is the prime symbol of the film. Its symbolic meaning is represented through its connection to the characters in the film; as Tim Kreider points out, this can be seen through the masks in the prostitute's apartment and her being renamed as "[[Domino mask|Domino]]" in the film, which is a type of Venetian Mask.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_dfKY3D7cuEC&q=Eyes+Wide+Shut |title=Symbols in Stanley Kubrick's Movie 'Eyes Wide Shut' | via= Google Books |date=July 30, 2000 |access-date=July 2, 2012 |isbn=978-3-638-84176-4 |last1=Ruwe |first1= Carolin |publisher=GRIN Verlag |archive-date=January 12, 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210112004209/https://books.google.com/books?id=_dfKY3D7cuEC&q=Eyes+Wide+Shut |url-status=live}}</ref> Unused early poster designs for the film by Kubrick's daughter Katharina used the motif of Venetian masks, but were rejected by the studio because they obscured the faces of the film's two stars.<ref name="S&S2">{{cite web| authorlink= Katharina Kubrick| last= Kubrick | first= Katharina | url= https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/interviews/katharina-kubrick-eyes-wide-shut | title= 'When you hold a mirror to society it rebels': Katharina Kubrick on Eyes Wide Shut |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20191114205722/https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/interviews/katharina-kubrick-eyes-wide-shut |archivedate= November 14, 2019 | work= [[Sight & Sound]] | date= November 2019| publisher=| url-status= live| accessdate=}}</ref>

=== Artwork in the film ===
Paintings and sculptures appear throughout the film, some historical and others painted by Kubrick's wife [[Christiane Kubrick]] and stepdaughter Katharina Kubrick Hobbs.<ref name="cinephiliabeyond.org">{{Cite web |date=2018-02-13 |title='Eyes Wide Shut': A Tense, Nightmarish Exploration of Marriage and Sexuality in Kubrick's Ultimate Film |website=Cinephilia & Beyond |url=https://cinephiliabeyond.org/eyes-wide-shut-tense-nightmarish-exploration-marriage-sexuality-kubricks-ultimate-film/ |access-date=2023-12-21}}</ref> The home of the Harfords contains the majority of the works painted by Kubrick's family members, with the exception being a painting of a nude reclining pregnant woman by Christiane Kubrick titled ''Paula On Red'' that appears in Ziegler's bathroom during the overdose scene.<ref name="cinephiliabeyond.org"/> In the beginning of the film, as Bill and Alice are saying goodbye to their daughter Helena and the babysitter, a painting by Christiane Kubrick titled "View from the Mentmore" can be seen hanging next to the Christmas tree.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Eyes Wide Shut (1999) |url=https://www.filmsite.org/eyeswideshut.html |access-date=2023-12-21 |website=www.filmsite.org}}</ref> [[Mentmore Towers]] is an [[English country house]] in the southeast of England that was used for filming the interior scenes of the Somerton house and the masked orgy.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2022-03-16 |title=Mentmore: Men arrested after burglary at 'Batman mansion' |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-60764492 |work=BBC News |access-date=2023-12-21}}</ref>

During Ziegler's party, Bill is summoned to the bathroom to deal with an apparent overdose, as he climbs the spiral staircase he passes [[Giulio Bergonzoli|Giulio Bergonzoli's]] sculpture ''Gli amori degli angeli'' (The Loves of Angels) which is at the foot of the staircase.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut - An Analysis, Part One |url=http://idyllopuspress.com/idyllopus/film/ews_one.htm |access-date=2023-12-21 |website=idyllopuspress.com}}</ref> This sculpture is said to be inspired by a poem titled ''The Loves of the Angels'' by 19th-century poet [[Thomas Moore]]; the poem itself describes the story of three angels who fall in love with mortal women and share the password to heaven with them resulting in their banishment.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Project Gutenberg eBook of Thomas Moore, by Stephen Gwynn. |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/34930/34930-h/34930-h.htm |access-date=2023-12-21 |website=www.gutenberg.org}}</ref> At the time of the poem's release, it was received with controversy due to the open eroticism throughout.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hawthorne |first=Mark D. |date=1975 |title=Thomas Moore's "The Epicurean": The Anacreontic Poet in Search of Eternity |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25599975 |journal=Studies in Romanticism |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=249–272 |doi=10.2307/25599975 |jstor=25599975 |issn=0039-3762}}</ref> During the same party sequence, Bill is talking with the two models as they walk past a small reproduction of [[Gian Lorenzo Bernini|Gian Lorenzo Bernini's]] sculpture ''[[Apollo and Daphne (Bernini)|Apollo and Daphne]]'' sitting on a table.<ref>{{Cite web |title=After Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) Apollo and Daphne… |website=Drouot.com |url=https://drouot.com/en/l/19878309-dapres-gian-lorenzo-bernini-di |access-date=2024-01-02}}</ref>

When Bill enters a cafe towards the end of the film, two [[Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood|Pre-Raphaelite]] paintings can be seen hanging on parallel walls, [[Ophelia (John William Waterhouse)|''Ophelia'' by John William Waterhouse]] and ''Astarte Syriaca'' by [[Dante Gabriel Rossetti]].<ref name="Wilkes">{{Cite web |last=Wilkes |first=Robert |date=2015-09-08 |title=The Kubrick Connection: some Pre-Raphaelite references in 'Eyes Wide Shut' |url=https://dantisamor.wordpress.com/2015/09/08/the-kubrick-connection-some-pre-raphaelite-references-in-eyes-wide-shut/ |access-date=2023-12-21 |website=Pre-Raphaelite Reflections}}</ref> Waterhouse's ''Ophelia'' depicts the [[Ophelia|character by the same name]] in Shakespeare's tragedy [[Hamlet]] moments before her death.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Waterhouse's Versions of Ophelia |url=https://www.victorianweb.org/painting/jww/paintings/moore1.html |access-date=2023-12-21 |website=www.victorianweb.org}}</ref> ''Astarte Syriaca'' depicts [[Astarte]], the ancient Syrian goddess of love, as well as two symmetrical angels holding torches directly behind her.<ref name="Wilkes"/> Both paintings mirror events within the film and, as Robert Wilkes writes, reflect its "mood of sensuality, ritualism, and exoticism".<ref name="Wilkes"/> In the same cafe scene, a [[crystoleum]] print of [[Maude Goodman|Maude Goodman's]] ''Hush!'' (or, ''A Moment of Idleness'') is seen behind Bill as he sits down with a newspaper; in the following shot the print is replaced with what Wilkes describes as a "more chaotic, nightmarish image" as Bill reads about the ex-beauty queen's apparent overdose.<ref name="Wilkes"/>

When Bill is walking through a hospital hallway towards the end of the film, he walks past [[Jann Haworth|Jann Haworth's]] painting ''Aunt Gurdi Burning'' (1995).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut - An Analysis, Part Seven |url=http://idyllopuspress.com/idyllopus/film/ews_seven.htm |access-date=2024-01-02 |website=idyllopuspress.com}}</ref> The painting is oil on canvas and mounted on a screen; it is in the permanent collection of the [[Chelsea and Westminster Hospital]] where the scenes were filmed.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Aunt Gurdi Burning {{!}} Art UK |url=https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/aunt-gurdi-burning-178555 |access-date=2024-01-02 |website=artuk.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Eyes Wide Shut Film Locations |url=https://onthesetofnewyork.com/eyeswideshut.html |access-date=2024-01-02 |website=onthesetofnewyork.com}}</ref>