EYES WIDE SHUT (R) presented in 35mm

Eyes Wide Shut - Revival House Perth Event Bio

Enter Stanley Kubrick's final masterpiece—a hypnotic descent into sexual obsession, marital doubt, and the hidden rituals of the wealthy elite. This 1999 psychosexual thriller divided audiences and critics upon release, but time has revealed it as one of Kubrick's most unsettling and deliberately paced explorations of human desire and the masks we wear.

Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman (then married in real life) star as Dr. Bill and Alice Harford, a seemingly perfect Manhattan couple whose relationship fractures after Alice confesses to a sexual fantasy about a naval officer she once saw. Bill's wounded ego sends him on a nocturnal odyssey through New York's underworld—a journey that leads to a mysterious masked orgy in a Long Island mansion, where elaborate rituals and anonymous bodies blur the lines between dream and reality.

Kubrick shoots the film like a fever dream, with Larry Smith's burnished cinematography bathing nearly every frame in amber light and deep shadows. The pacing is deliberately slow, creating a trance-like atmosphere where nothing feels quite real. The infamous orgy sequence—which took weeks to film and caused endless MPAA battles—is more unsettling than erotic, a ritualized display of power and anonymity that feels genuinely transgressive.

Cruise gives his most vulnerable performance as a man whose privilege and certainty crumble over one night, while Kidman's confession scene is raw and devastating. Jocelyn Pook's haunting score, featuring reversed liturgical chants, adds to the film's dreamlike menace.

This is Kubrick at his most enigmatic—a film about marriage, class, and desire that refuses easy answers.

Present in authentic 35mm film for the true cinematic experience!

When: Thursday, December 11th at 7:45 PM
Where: Revival House Perth
Rating: R18+ - Sexual content and mature themes

Kubrick's final and most enigmatic film—a mesmerizing nightmare about desire, jealousy, and the secrets we keep.