Please, come forward

I sometimes wonder if Kubrick knew Eyes Wide Shut would be his last film. At the rate he was going and the perfectionism he demanded, he pulled out all the stops for this one. It wasn't universally praised as a masterwork upon release but then again none of his films were. Having recently rewatched it, I was taken by how funny it was in parts. What struck me like the knife-like Ligeti piano score was how terrifying Kubrick was capable of being. 

Stanley wisely chooses to look at power structures and heirarchies through middle men. In Paths of Glory, Lt. Dax is our protagonist. The one whom power is routed through. Ryan O'Neal's titular character Barry Lyndon, Kubrick uses the historical epic in a subversive way. Instead of using the setting to make a historical figure seem big, he uses the vastness to make Barry seem small. A powerless figure in an enormous world. The title card at the end even goes further by telling us, ultimately, none of the people in the film matter. 

In the case of Bill Hartford, all of the the interactions he has with people are transactional. The sex worker, the costume store owner, the cabbie. He is someone who can afford ripping a hundred dollar bill in half and promising half now, 'half when I return'. Money is not an issue for him. Nor is his status. Though he does take it to comical extremes. He holds up his doctors license like an FBI agent. He is always repeating what a person says as if saying the words himself helps him process what another person is telling him. He gives his cover away by arriving to the secret party in a taxi and leaving the receipt for his costume in his coat pocket. Kubrick never gets enough credit for just how funny his films are. Casting suave and sophisticated Tom Cruise as this deeply aloof man who thinks he is in control only to get the rug pulled out from under him is as delicously ironic as his casting Ryan O'Neal as Barry Lyndon. 

Bill Hartford walks through life as the guy on top. Until he isn't. There are people who tower above him from a financial and power standing. This all comes to a head when he goes to the costume party. 

During pre-production, Kubrick had multiple post-it notes for the script as to what this sequence should feel like:

Has to be

Very sexy

Dangerous

Contemporary 

Silly camp

Confrontation lacks danger should be pulp fiction class

Tied naked

It should first be sexy, then turn Pulp Fiction dangerous + brutal

The ritual ceremony taking place backed by droning violins and chants draws you into a hypnotic state. As Bill is lead from room to room, a middle eastern percussion becomes part of the score. There is zero intimacy in any of the sex Bill sees. Women are eaten out by other women who are wearing masks. A man is being used as a human table. It's all a performance. One which Kubrick guides us through gracefully with his gliding camera. 

The scene in the billards room with Victor Zeigler toward the end of the film deepens the context of the party scene and the aftermath. Nick Nightingale appearing at his hotel with a bruise on his face and going back to Seattle. "If I told you their names- I'm not gonna tell you their names- but if I did, I don't think you'd sleep so well." Victor tells Bill. 

When we get to the part of the conversation about the 'hooker' and what became of her, Victor lets Bill know that "she OD'd. There was nothing suspicious, her door was locked from the inside, the police are happy, end of story." He gives his status away as someone who elicits empathy by describing her as "the one with the great tits who OD'd in my bathroom." This whole exchange is punctuated by Zeigler putting his hands on Bill's shoulders, saying "Life goes on. It always does. Until it doesn't. But you know that don't you." 

It's as scary as anything in The Shining because all of it is implied. The billards room sequence is a performance played out to its conclusion where the lead actor is mind fucked by the puppet master. 

There's no hand holding. Everything Victor Zeigler says could be a lie. Kubrick always treated his audience like intelligent adults. He also loved playing psychological games. After all, this is a chess master we are talking about. With each viewing, Eyes Wide Shut tightens its grip and keeps my mind awash in it's secrets. 

Because here, it doesn't matter if you have forgotten it or if you never knew it.