Description
Book SynopsisTwenty years after its release, Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut remains a complex, visually arresting film about marriage, jealousy, domesticity, adultery, sexual disturbance, and dreams. This was the final enigmatic work from its equally enigmatic creator. It has left an indelible mark on our popular culture and remains as relevant as ever. Much maligned and much misunderstood when it first came out, Eyes Wide Shut has since been the subject of an animated debate and discussion among critics, fans and academics. It has been explored from a wide variety of disciplines and methodological perspectives. This collection brings scholars from diverse disciplinary backgrounds together with those who worked on the film to explore Eyes Wide Shut’s legacy, discuss its impact, and consider its position within Kubrick’s oeuvre and the wider visual and socio-political culture.
Table of ContentsList of illustrations
Notes on contributors
Acknowledgements
Introduction, Nathan Abrams and Georgina Orgill
PART ONE: PRODUCTION
‘Infidelity troubled him deeply’: A journey to the root of Eyes Wide Shut, Filippo Ulivieri
A Choreographic Liaison: Collaborating with Stanley Kubrick on the Masked Ball for Eyes Wide Shut, Yolande Snaith
Stanley Kubrick’s last film and the question of authorship, Manca Perko
PART TWO: THE FILM
‘If You Men Only Knew’: Stanley Kubrick’s Failed Attempt to Explore Female Sexuality in Eyes Wide Shut, Catriona M. McAvoy and Karen A. Ritzenhoff
What about the daughters? Parenthood in Eyes Wide Shut, Joy McEntee
‘Lucky to Be Alive’: Clockwork Models and the Logic of the Inanimate in Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut, Ohad Landesman
Eyes Re-opened: Elucidation and Enlightenment Through Music in Eyes Wide Shut, Marie Bennett
PART THREE: RECEPTION
Framing Eye Wide Shut as a Late-90s ‘Quality’ Blockbuster: Authorship and Stardom in Kubrick’s Final Film, Eddie Falvey
A cloaked and masked film: some things Eyes Wide Shut may (really) be about, Jeremi Szaniawski
Eyes Wide Shut: A Cult Film?, Matt Melia
Afterword, Robert P. Kolker
Index
