Eyes Wide Open and a Dark Chocolate Sky
Last week I had the oppurtunity to write a 5 page essay on the central themes/characters of two movies for my roommate who happens to be taking a class on film and theater this semester. Why not update my blog as well? The first movie that I picked was Eyes Wide Shut, which is really one of my favourite movies, not just for all its unbridled eroticism but also for the genius of the director who kept me engrossed throughout. The other- Vanilla Sky really does not deserve a lot of attention, but it still did serve as something to write about. So here goes. Read on...
Stanley Kubricks’ Eyes Wide Shut is one of the masterpieces of postmodernist cinema. Taboos, conventional mores, ethical standards, moral relativism, sexual freedom, are all dealt with beautifully with in the context of this movie, thus raising some very interesting questions. One is left to try and answer each of these questions to the best of our abilities and subjective opinions. Each situation in the movie gives deep insights into the inner trappings of a couple, desires - sexual and otherwise. Cameron Crowe’s Vanilla Sky is another movie which deserves similar scrutiny. This article examines the portrayal of the protagonists in these movies, both of which are coincidentally played by Tom Cruise.
In Eyes Wide Shut, Tom Cruise plays an affluent doctor with a private practice, married to Nicole Kidman and father to a child, a stereotypical family in a number of ways. It starts with Cruise and Kidman trapped in a conventionally defined marriage, attending a high society party in which both Cruise and Kidman are subjected to various degrees of sexual temptation. Although, they are not shown as yielding to those in reality, there are plenty of indications which point to the transgressions of their minds, all of which points to infidelity. When they get back from the party, Kidman starts smoking marijuana and starts to question Cruise deeply with some very fundamental questions about his understanding of women, his fidelity, and his ethical and sexual morality when he examines nude women in his clinic, her attraction to another man while they were still married- all of which serve to throw Cruise’s assumed understanding of her feelings towards him into a complete disarray. Immediately following this, Cruise visits a family grieving the death of his former patient when he is subjected to a situation where dead person’s daughter confides her strong affections towards him. One is left in sheer admiration of the rationale of the director when he chooses to juxtapose death and a sexual encounter. The grief and unavoidability of death that we face as mortals is in stark contrast to the emotional and physical fulfillment associated with sex. In the very next scene, even as he is still grappling with his ideas of Kidman’s infidelity, he encounters a solicitation by a prostitute, to which he almost accedes, when a phone call from Kidman stops him from indulging in the actual act of sex. The prostitute is later shown to contract HIV. Although incidental to the central plot, he narrowly escapes possible infection. There is no letting down in his emotional stress levels. As the thriller-drama progresses, we see Cruise question every tiny desire of his, in relation to his marriage, as accentuated by numerous situations at hand - his ethical responsibility as a doctor examining a nude person who has had a drug overdose; the scene when he goes to rent a tuxedo when he faces a father willing to sell a daughter into prostitution. Later, Cruise also views an esoteric sexual orgy, at the end of which he suffers a severe psychological intimidation when he is forced to remove his mask and expose himself to many others, who are still masked and supposedly form the powerful elite in the society. The scene also elucidates a number of conflicts that society has within itself - such as its fascination and simultaneous abhorrence of acts of sexual perversion, as shown from the secrecy of the entire event, while it is in fact very well attended.
In Eyes Wide Shut, there is an all pervading air of doom and secrecy throughout. The background musical score for the movie, which is always dark, lends an ominous and foreboding air to all the events. Even Cruise’s physical well-being apparently comes under threat after his gate-crashing the orgy; his friend who informs him of the orgy is mysteriously beaten and suddenly disappears from his hotel; the girl who helps him at the orgy ends up dead in a morgue apparently due to a drug overdose. In the end however, the director chooses to leave us with an open ended question as to the fate of the marriage. One is led to believe that it survives for the moment, if not ‘forever’ as Kidman puts it, realizing that their transgressions were unreal and incomplete for most part.
In Vanilla Sky, the protagonist Tom Cruise again, starts as an affluent son perennially under the shadow of a dominant industrialist father. Initially, he is shown as a prodigal person who does not have to face the trials and tribulations of common man, never has any serious questions to ponder over. He suddenly faces a brutal accident due to the self-inflicting suicidal nature of his sexual partner Cameron Diaz, who is also shown as a selfish stalker. His physical appearance and beauty is effaced and his life turns upside down. Doctors do not have a solution for putting back his face together. He starts to see the degradation of his personal identity. He struggles with affronts in a club, the disintegration of his personal relationship with his best friend Jason Lee, whom he suspects is involved with Penelope Cruz, the girl of his dreams. Tom Cruise becomes slowly and steadily self-absorbed, introverted and finally a social outcast. He goes through numerous alternating real and surreal situations in which he fails to distinguish between Penelope Cruz and Cameron Diaz. This could possibly be a hint at a subliminal feeling of guilt towards Cameron Diaz, whom he routinely uses only for sex. The film continues to shows the complete progressive devastation of an individual due to the traumatic nature of his injury. Tom Cruise is helped in numerous ways by a therapist - Kurt Russell, in making sense of the situation whereas in Eyes Wide Shut, he is helped more by an internal monologue that sorts through his doubts and longings. Both characters have a tremendous emphasis on man’s internal longings and fears.
In Vanilla Sky, Tom Cruise is shown to have desperate nightmares. Even though all of these incidents are shown later to be unreal in the form of his agreement with a company that preserves people in a lucid dream for eternity, we are left with central questions that they ask. Ultimately, he is faced with a crucial choice of either continuing with his dream where all his wishes are fulfilled according to a preset computer program or to give up the dream and go back to reality, where he has to fight destiny. He picks reality over the dream, ready to face life for what it is, in stark contrast to the wasteful and superficial person that he is before the accident.
After the entire trauma that they go through, both characters are unsure if they really experienced all that they did. In Eyes Wide Shut, Cruise ends up asking if he really did stray from marriage, the extent of Kidman’s infidelity, if he was actually threatened with his life for his participation in the orgy. In Vanilla Sky, a similar event happens in the form of his becoming a part of a dream offered by a company that has preserved his mortal body for long. There are more parallels between the two characters. Both go through severe psychological stresses both from the society as well as from within, eventually leading to a breakdown. In Eyes Wide Shut, Cruise’s emotional breakdown is marked by his weeping confession to Kidman. In Vanilla Sky, even in his dream, Cruise becomes increasingly disconsolate and reaches mental breakdown with the murder of the woman he loves. Both question certain fundamental ideas about life, beauty and sex. Other facets- such as our trust in fellow human beings and in ourselves are also amply scrutinized. Both sometimes lay threadbare a callous, negative image of the affluent sections of our modern society, devoid of any idealism. Any idealism that might in fact be present is obscured completely by the portrayal of the characters. Love is not seen as answer to any question. Both characters navigate through most of man’s base feelings of hatred, envy and lust without any remorse, pointing to a strong postmodernist influence. Crowe’s Vanilla Sky also explores seemingly existential questions about the protagonist’s happiness. Both movies use masks to protect identities and emotions as well as to stress on non-facial gestures.
Both film makers, through these brilliant character portrayals, have exposed us to a number of questions, some of which are fundamental in helping us wade through the complexity of life. The plots, even though seemingly convoluted are in fact masterpieces. The central characters in both cases have common threads, thought processes- some of which run in the background while they continue to face the vicissitudes of life. Rarely does contemporary film making leave such an indelible mark, as these two films did.
Stanley Kubricks’ Eyes Wide Shut is one of the masterpieces of postmodernist cinema. Taboos, conventional mores, ethical standards, moral relativism, sexual freedom, are all dealt with beautifully with in the context of this movie, thus raising some very interesting questions. One is left to try and answer each of these questions to the best of our abilities and subjective opinions. Each situation in the movie gives deep insights into the inner trappings of a couple, desires - sexual and otherwise. Cameron Crowe’s Vanilla Sky is another movie which deserves similar scrutiny. This article examines the portrayal of the protagonists in these movies, both of which are coincidentally played by Tom Cruise.
In Eyes Wide Shut, Tom Cruise plays an affluent doctor with a private practice, married to Nicole Kidman and father to a child, a stereotypical family in a number of ways. It starts with Cruise and Kidman trapped in a conventionally defined marriage, attending a high society party in which both Cruise and Kidman are subjected to various degrees of sexual temptation. Although, they are not shown as yielding to those in reality, there are plenty of indications which point to the transgressions of their minds, all of which points to infidelity. When they get back from the party, Kidman starts smoking marijuana and starts to question Cruise deeply with some very fundamental questions about his understanding of women, his fidelity, and his ethical and sexual morality when he examines nude women in his clinic, her attraction to another man while they were still married- all of which serve to throw Cruise’s assumed understanding of her feelings towards him into a complete disarray. Immediately following this, Cruise visits a family grieving the death of his former patient when he is subjected to a situation where dead person’s daughter confides her strong affections towards him. One is left in sheer admiration of the rationale of the director when he chooses to juxtapose death and a sexual encounter. The grief and unavoidability of death that we face as mortals is in stark contrast to the emotional and physical fulfillment associated with sex. In the very next scene, even as he is still grappling with his ideas of Kidman’s infidelity, he encounters a solicitation by a prostitute, to which he almost accedes, when a phone call from Kidman stops him from indulging in the actual act of sex. The prostitute is later shown to contract HIV. Although incidental to the central plot, he narrowly escapes possible infection. There is no letting down in his emotional stress levels. As the thriller-drama progresses, we see Cruise question every tiny desire of his, in relation to his marriage, as accentuated by numerous situations at hand - his ethical responsibility as a doctor examining a nude person who has had a drug overdose; the scene when he goes to rent a tuxedo when he faces a father willing to sell a daughter into prostitution. Later, Cruise also views an esoteric sexual orgy, at the end of which he suffers a severe psychological intimidation when he is forced to remove his mask and expose himself to many others, who are still masked and supposedly form the powerful elite in the society. The scene also elucidates a number of conflicts that society has within itself - such as its fascination and simultaneous abhorrence of acts of sexual perversion, as shown from the secrecy of the entire event, while it is in fact very well attended.
In Eyes Wide Shut, there is an all pervading air of doom and secrecy throughout. The background musical score for the movie, which is always dark, lends an ominous and foreboding air to all the events. Even Cruise’s physical well-being apparently comes under threat after his gate-crashing the orgy; his friend who informs him of the orgy is mysteriously beaten and suddenly disappears from his hotel; the girl who helps him at the orgy ends up dead in a morgue apparently due to a drug overdose. In the end however, the director chooses to leave us with an open ended question as to the fate of the marriage. One is led to believe that it survives for the moment, if not ‘forever’ as Kidman puts it, realizing that their transgressions were unreal and incomplete for most part.
In Vanilla Sky, the protagonist Tom Cruise again, starts as an affluent son perennially under the shadow of a dominant industrialist father. Initially, he is shown as a prodigal person who does not have to face the trials and tribulations of common man, never has any serious questions to ponder over. He suddenly faces a brutal accident due to the self-inflicting suicidal nature of his sexual partner Cameron Diaz, who is also shown as a selfish stalker. His physical appearance and beauty is effaced and his life turns upside down. Doctors do not have a solution for putting back his face together. He starts to see the degradation of his personal identity. He struggles with affronts in a club, the disintegration of his personal relationship with his best friend Jason Lee, whom he suspects is involved with Penelope Cruz, the girl of his dreams. Tom Cruise becomes slowly and steadily self-absorbed, introverted and finally a social outcast. He goes through numerous alternating real and surreal situations in which he fails to distinguish between Penelope Cruz and Cameron Diaz. This could possibly be a hint at a subliminal feeling of guilt towards Cameron Diaz, whom he routinely uses only for sex. The film continues to shows the complete progressive devastation of an individual due to the traumatic nature of his injury. Tom Cruise is helped in numerous ways by a therapist - Kurt Russell, in making sense of the situation whereas in Eyes Wide Shut, he is helped more by an internal monologue that sorts through his doubts and longings. Both characters have a tremendous emphasis on man’s internal longings and fears.
In Vanilla Sky, Tom Cruise is shown to have desperate nightmares. Even though all of these incidents are shown later to be unreal in the form of his agreement with a company that preserves people in a lucid dream for eternity, we are left with central questions that they ask. Ultimately, he is faced with a crucial choice of either continuing with his dream where all his wishes are fulfilled according to a preset computer program or to give up the dream and go back to reality, where he has to fight destiny. He picks reality over the dream, ready to face life for what it is, in stark contrast to the wasteful and superficial person that he is before the accident.
After the entire trauma that they go through, both characters are unsure if they really experienced all that they did. In Eyes Wide Shut, Cruise ends up asking if he really did stray from marriage, the extent of Kidman’s infidelity, if he was actually threatened with his life for his participation in the orgy. In Vanilla Sky, a similar event happens in the form of his becoming a part of a dream offered by a company that has preserved his mortal body for long. There are more parallels between the two characters. Both go through severe psychological stresses both from the society as well as from within, eventually leading to a breakdown. In Eyes Wide Shut, Cruise’s emotional breakdown is marked by his weeping confession to Kidman. In Vanilla Sky, even in his dream, Cruise becomes increasingly disconsolate and reaches mental breakdown with the murder of the woman he loves. Both question certain fundamental ideas about life, beauty and sex. Other facets- such as our trust in fellow human beings and in ourselves are also amply scrutinized. Both sometimes lay threadbare a callous, negative image of the affluent sections of our modern society, devoid of any idealism. Any idealism that might in fact be present is obscured completely by the portrayal of the characters. Love is not seen as answer to any question. Both characters navigate through most of man’s base feelings of hatred, envy and lust without any remorse, pointing to a strong postmodernist influence. Crowe’s Vanilla Sky also explores seemingly existential questions about the protagonist’s happiness. Both movies use masks to protect identities and emotions as well as to stress on non-facial gestures.
Both film makers, through these brilliant character portrayals, have exposed us to a number of questions, some of which are fundamental in helping us wade through the complexity of life. The plots, even though seemingly convoluted are in fact masterpieces. The central characters in both cases have common threads, thought processes- some of which run in the background while they continue to face the vicissitudes of life. Rarely does contemporary film making leave such an indelible mark, as these two films did.
posted by srinath at 2:00 AM
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