View source for Eyes Wide Shut

{{Short description|1999 film by Stanley Kubrick}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2019}}
{{Use American English|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox film
| image          = Eyes Wide Shut (1999).png
| alt            = A framed image of a nude couple kissing – she with her eye open – against a purple background. Below the picture frame are the film's credits.
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[Stanley Kubrick]]
| screenplay     = {{ubl|Stanley Kubrick|[[Frederic Raphael]]}}
| based_on       = {{Based on|''[[Traumnovelle]]''<!--- Credited in the film as "Traumnovelle" --->|[[Arthur Schnitzler]]}}
| producer       = [[Stanley Kubrick]]
| starring       = {{Plainlist|
* [[Tom Cruise]]
* [[Nicole Kidman]]
* [[Sydney Pollack]]
* [[Marie Richardson]]
}}
| cinematography = [[Larry Smith (cinematographer)|Larry Smith]]
| editing        = Nigel Galt
| music          = [[Jocelyn Pook]]
| studio         = {{ubl|[[Hawk Films|Stanley Kubrick Productions]]|Pole Star|Hobby Films}}
| distributor    = [[Warner Bros. Pictures|Warner Bros.]]
| released       = {{Film date|1999|7|13|Los Angeles|1999|7|16|United States|1999|9|10|United Kingdom}}
| runtime        = 159 minutes<ref>{{cite web |title=Eyes Wide Shut |url=https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/eyes-wide-shut-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc00otg0mzu |publisher=[[British Board of Film Classification]] |access-date=September 29, 2013 |archive-date=March 6, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170306012106/http://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/eyes-wide-shut-1970-5 |url-status=live}}</ref>
| country        = {{ubl|United Kingdom<ref name ="BFI">{{cite web|title=Eyes Wide Shut (1999) |url=http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b7f5aa12a |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120711210943/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b7f5aa12a |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 11, 2012 |work=[[British Film Institute]] |access-date=December 2, 2014}}</ref>|United States<ref name=BFI/>}}
| language       = English
| budget         = $65&nbsp;million<ref name="Mojo">{{cite web |title=Eyes Wide Shut (1999) |url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=eyeswideshut.htm |website=[[Box Office Mojo]] |access-date=December 24, 2014 |archive-date= 2019-07-11|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20190711181334/https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=eyeswideshut.htm |url-status=live}}</ref>
| gross          = $162.1&nbsp;million<ref name="Mojo" />
}}

'''''Eyes Wide Shut''''' is a 1999 [[Erotic film|erotic]] [[Psychological fiction|psychological mystery]] [[Thriller film|thriller]] film{{efn-lr|name=genre|Critics and writers have attributed several different genres to the film. [[Linda Ruth Williams]]{{sfn|Williams|2005|p=397}} and others{{sfn|Howard|1999|p=178}} variously describe the film as an erotic thriller, and it was largely marketed as such.{{sfn|Fenwick|2019|p=114}} Numerous other sources describe the film as a [[psychological drama]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cinema.cornell.edu/eyes-wide-shut|work=[[Cornell University]]|title=Eyes Wide Shut|url-status=live|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260206211644/https://cinema.cornell.edu/eyes-wide-shut|archive-date= 2026-02-06}}</ref>{{sfn|Adams|2004|p=37}} while some academics and writers have also cited it as a [[horror film]].{{sfn|Dovey|2015|p=174}}}} directed, produced, and co-written by [[Stanley Kubrick]], and starring [[Tom Cruise]] and [[Nicole Kidman]]. The plot centers on a [[Manhattan]] doctor who is shocked when his wife reveals that she contemplated [[Adultery|cheating]] on him. He embarks on a night-long adventure and infiltrates a masked [[orgy]] of a [[secret society]]. It is based on the 1926 [[novella]] ''[[Dream Story]]'' ({{langx|de|Traumnovelle|link=no}}) by [[Arthur Schnitzler]], and transfers the story's setting from early twentieth-century Vienna to 1990s New York City.  

Kubrick obtained the filming rights for ''Dream Story'' in the 1960s, considering it a perfect text for a film adaptation about sexual relations. He revived the project in the 1990s when he hired writer [[Frederic Raphael]] to help him with the adaptation. An international co-production between the United Kingdom and United States,<ref name=BFI/> [[principal photography]] of ''Eyes Wide Shut'' began in late 1996 in England, with a detailed recreation of exterior [[Greenwich Village]] street scenes built at [[Pinewood Studios]]. The film's production, at 400 days, holds the [[Guinness World Records|Guinness World Record]] for the longest continuous film shoot.{{sfn|Guinness World Records|2000|p=93}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Deming |first=Mark |title=Eyes Wide Shut – Overview |url=https://www.allmovie.com/movie/eyes-wide-shut-v158829 |url-status=deviated |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200921002344/https://www.allmovie.com/movie/eyes-wide-shut-v158829 |archive-date=2020-09-21 |website=[[Allmovie]]}}</ref> 

Following an extensive post-production process that began in early 1998, Kubrick submitted his final cut of the film to [[Warner Bros. Pictures|Warner Bros]]. on March 1, 1999, which was viewed by Cruise, Kidman, and studio executives. Kubrick died of a heart attack six days later. Some post-production was resumed the week after Kubrick's death, which led to some public debate over the film's state of completion. Warner Bros. began an extensive marketing campaign to promote the film in early 1999, though its publicity materials were vague in nature and marketed the film as an [[erotic thriller]].

''Eyes Wide Shut'' had its world premiere in Los Angeles on July 13, 1999, before being released in the United States on July 16 and in the United Kingdom on September 10. It received generally positive reviews from critics, and was nominated for numerous awards, including the [[Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score]]. The film was met with significant critical notice in [[France]], receiving a [[César Awards|César Award]] nomination for [[César Award for Best Foreign Film|Best Foreign Film]], as well as winning the award in the same category from the [[French Syndicate of Cinema Critics]]. It was also named the best film of the year by ''[[Cahiers du Cinéma]]'' in their [[Cahiers du Cinéma's Annual Top 10 Lists|annual top ten list]]. The film was a [[box-office]] success, earning $162{{nbsp}}million worldwide, making it Kubrick's highest-grossing film in unadjusted dollars.

==Plot==
Dr. Bill Harford and his wife Alice live in [[New York City]] with their daughter, Helena. At a Christmas party hosted by Bill's patient, Victor Ziegler, Bill reconnects with his former medical school classmate, Nick Nightingale, now a professional pianist. Meanwhile, an older Hungarian guest attempts to seduce Alice, while two young models try to seduce Bill. Victor interrupts Bill's flirtation to handle an emergency involving Mandy, a young woman who [[Drug overdose|overdose]]d during sex with him. Bill helps stabilize Mandy.

The following night, Bill and Alice smoke [[Cannabis (drug)|marijuana]] and discuss their unfulfilled desires. Bill dismisses the idea of Alice being unfaithful, believing women to be naturally loyal. However, Alice shocks him by confessing to fantasizing about a naval officer she observed while on vacation, even considering leaving Bill and Helena for him. Disturbed, Bill is called to a patient's home, where the patient's daughter, Marion, confesses her love and tries to seduce him. Bill resists and leaves.

Wandering the city, Bill meets a [[prostitution|prostitute]] named Domino. Before anything happens, Alice calls, prompting Bill to leave after paying Domino without proceeding further. Later, Bill encounters Nick at a jazz club. Nick tells Bill about a secretive late-night gig where he will play piano blindfolded, and reveals the password to gain entry. Intrigued, Bill visits a costume store, formerly owned by one of his patients but now run by Mr. Milich, to rent an outfit. During the visit, Milich discovers his teenage daughter with two older men and locks the men in a room, threatening to call the police.

Bill arrives at the mansion, provides the password, and witnesses a bizarre sexual ritual. A masked woman warns him that he is in danger. He is taken to a gathering where the master of ceremonies demands a second password. Bill claims to have forgotten the second password, at which the master of ceremonies exposes him as an outsider. Before the master of ceremonies forces Bill to remove his clothes, the masked woman intervenes, offering herself to save him. Bill is let go with a stern warning to remain silent.

Shaken, Bill returns home to find Alice laughing in her sleep. She tearfully recounts a dream of having sex with the naval officer and many other men while mocking Bill. The next day, Bill visits Nick's hotel, but the clerk claims Nick was taken away by two threatening men. Returning the costume, Bill notices the mask is missing and learns that Milich now profits from prostituting his daughter, offering her services to Bill.

Consumed by jealousy and doubt, Bill revisits the mansion but receives an envelope warning him to stay away. That evening, he tries calling Marion but hangs up when her fiancé answers. He then visits Domino's apartment, only to find her roommate, Sally, who informs him that Domino has tested [[HIV-positive people|HIV-positive]].

As Bill leaves, a mysterious figure follows him. Later, at the morgue, he identifies Mandy as the masked woman from the orgy after reading about her death from an overdose. Victor summons Bill and admits to being at the orgy. He explains that there was no second password and that Bill's exposure was deliberate. Victor insists the [[Illuminati|secret society]] only seeks to intimidate him into silence but warns they are dangerous. He claims Nick has returned safely to [[Seattle]] and attributes Mandy's death to her drug addiction, dismissing foul play.

Returning home, Bill finds the missing mask placed on his pillow. Breaking down in tears, he confesses everything to Alice. The next day, the couple takes Helena shopping for Christmas. Bill apologizes to Alice, who suggests they take action to repair their relationship. When he asks what she means, Alice responds with a single word: "Fuck."

==Cast==
{{Cast listing|
* [[Tom Cruise]] as Dr. Bill Harford
* [[Nicole Kidman]] as Alice Harford
* [[Sydney Pollack]] as Victor Ziegler
* [[Marie Richardson]] as Marion Nathanson
* [[Rade Šerbedžija]] as Mr. Milich
* [[Todd Field]] as Nick Nightingale
* [[Vinessa Shaw]] as Domino
* [[Alan Cumming]] as Hotel Desk Clerk
* [[Sky du Mont]] as Sandor Szavost
* [[Fay Masterson]] as Sally
* [[Leelee Sobieski]] as Milich's Daughter
* [[Thomas Gibson]] as Carl Thomas
* Madison Eginton as Helena Harford
* [[Julienne Davis]] as Mandy Curran
* Gary Goba as Naval Officer
* [[Abigail Good]] as Mysterious Woman
** [[Cate Blanchett]] as Mysterious Woman's Voice (uncredited)
* [[Leon Vitali]] as Red Cloak
}}

==Production==
===Development===
''Eyes Wide Shut'' was developed after Stanley Kubrick read Arthur Schnitzler's ''Dream Story'' in 1968, when Kubrick was looking for a project to follow ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001: A Space Odyssey]]''.<ref name=Hobbs/> Kubrick was interested in adapting the story, and with the help of journalist [[Jay Cocks]], bought the filming rights to the novel.<ref name="time">{{cite magazine|url=https://time.com/archive/6735812/cinema-all-eyes-on-them/|title=Cinema: All Eyes On Them|author-link=Richard Schickel |last=Schickel |first=Richard |date=July 5, 1999|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|access-date=February 18, 2018|archive-date=November 7, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241107014246/https://time.com/archive/6735812/cinema-all-eyes-on-them/|url-status=live}}</ref> For the following decade, Kubrick considered making the ''Dream Story'' adaptation a sex comedy "with a wild and somber streak running through it", starring [[Steve Martin]] or [[Woody Allen]] in the main role.<ref name=White>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/eyes-wide-shut-woody-allen-bill-murray-stanley-kubrick-tom-cruise-dream-story-a9664411.html |title=Stanley Kubrick wanted Woody Allen or Bill Murray for Eyes Wide Shut role instead of Tom Cruise, new book reveals |last=White |first=Adam |work=[[The Independent]] |date=August 11, 2020 |access-date=May 8, 2021 |archive-date=June 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210627132320/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/eyes-wide-shut-woody-allen-bill-murray-stanley-kubrick-tom-cruise-dream-story-a9664411.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="vf">{{cite magazine|first=Michael |last=Herr |author-link=Michael Herr |url=http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/classic/features/kubrick-199908 |magazine=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]] |date=August 1999 |title=Kubrick |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120629212013/http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/classic/features/kubrick-199908.print |archive-date=June 29, 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref> Kubrick also considered [[Tom Hanks]], [[Bill Murray]], [[Dustin Hoffman]], [[Warren Beatty]], [[Albert Brooks]], [[Alan Alda]], and [[Sam Shepard]] for the lead in the 1980s.<ref name=White/><ref>{{cite web | title=Tom Cruise no era el protagonista deseado para 'Eyes Wide Shut': Kubrick soñaba con Woody Allen, Bill Murray o Tom Hanks | date=August 12, 2020 | url=https://www.espinof.com/actores-y-actrices/tom-cruise-no-era-protagonista-deseado-para-eyes-wide-shut-kubrick-sonaba-woody-allen-bill-murray-tom-hanks }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Ojos bien cerrados: Kubrick había pensado en otros actores para el papel de Tom Cruise | date=August 13, 2020 | url=https://www.lafm.com.co/entretenimiento/ojos-bien-cerrados-kubrick-habia-pensado-en-otros-actores-para-el-papel-de-tom }}</ref> The project was revived in 1994 when Kubrick hired Frederic Raphael to work on the script, updating the setting from early 20th-century Vienna to late 20th-century New York City.<ref name="S&S">{{cite magazine|last=Raphael |first=Frederic |author-link=Frederic Raphael |url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/features/frederic-raphael-reflects-writing-eyes-wide-shut-with-stanley-kubrick |title="This is confidential material. Where did you get it?" Frederic Raphael looks back at ''Eyes Wide Shut'' |date=November 22, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191114205728/https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/features/frederic-raphael-reflects-writing-eyes-wide-shut-with-stanley-kubrick |archive-date=November 14, 2019 |magazine=[[Sight and Sound]] |url-status=live}}</ref> Kubrick invited his friend [[Michael Herr]], who helped write ''[[Full Metal Jacket]]'', to make revisions, but Herr declined for fear he would be underpaid and have to commit to a long production.<ref name="vf" />

===Adaptation===
{{See also|Dream Story}}
Kubrick adapted ''Eyes Wide Shut'' with co-writer Frederic Raphael from [[Arthur Schnitzler]]'s 1926 novella ''[[Dream Story]]'', which centers on a doctor, Fridolin, and his wife, Albertina, in [[Vienna]]. The novella is set during the [[Carnival in Germany, Switzerland and Austria|Carnival]], when people often wear masks to parties. The party that both husband and wife attend at the opening of the story is a Carnival [[masquerade ball]], whereas the film's story begins at [[Christmas and holiday season|Christmas time]].<ref name=rs/>

For the film, Kubrick transposed the events to 1990s [[Greenwich Village]] in New York City, instead featuring an American doctor, Bill, and his wife, Alice.<ref name=Madden>{{cite web|last=Madden|first=Caroline|url=https://www.slashfilm.com/665800/eyes-wide-shut-ending-explained-no-dream-is-ever-just-a-dream/|title=Eyes Wide Shut Ending Explained: No Dream Is Ever Just A Dream|date=November 29, 2024|url-status=live|work=[[/Film]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250614150321/https://www.slashfilm.com/665800/eyes-wide-shut-ending-explained-no-dream-is-ever-just-a-dream/|archive-date=June 14, 2025}}</ref> In an introduction to a [[Penguin Classics]] edition of ''Dream Story'', Raphael wrote that, "Fridolin is not declared to be a [[Jews|Jew]], but his feelings of cowardice, for failing to challenge his aggressor, echo the uneasiness of Austrian Jews in the face of Gentile provocation."<ref>{{cite book |title=Dream Story |last1=Schnitzler |first1=Arthur |last2=Fredric |first2=Raphael |year=1999 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-14-118224-7 |page=xiii}}</ref> Kubrick, who frequently removed references to Jewishness of characters in the novels he adapted,<ref name="cocks29">{{harvnb|Cocks|2004|p=29}}</ref>{{sfn|Kolker|Abrams|2019|p=48}} felt that the character of Bill should be a "[[Harrison Ford]]-ish [[goy]]" and created the surname of Harford as an allusion to the actor.{{sfn|Raphael|2000|p=59}} 

In the novella, the party (which is sparsely attended) requires "Denmark" as the password for entrance, paralleling Albertina's admitted infatuation with a Danish soldier, which she confides in Fridolin. In the film, the password used for the party entrance is "Fidelio." Film critic [[Jonathan Rosenbaum]] notes that both passwords echo elements of one member of the couple's behavior, though in opposite ways.<ref>{{harvtxt|Rosenbaum|2006|pp=245–254}}</ref> In the novella, the woman who "redeems" Fridolin at the party, saving him from punishment for his infiltration of the event, is costumed as a nun, and most of the characters at the party are dressed as nuns or monks; Fridolin himself used a monk costume. This aspect was retained in the film's original screenplay,{{sfn|Kubrick|1999|pages=220–222}} but was omitted in the filmed version.{{cn|date=March 2026}}
 
The novella makes it clear that Fridolin at this point hates Albertina more than ever, thinking they are now lying together "like mortal enemies". It has been argued{{By whom|date=March 2023}} that the dramatic climax of the novella is actually Albertina's dream, and the film has shifted the focus to Bill's visit to the secret society's orgy, whose content is more shocking in the film.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.clas.ufl.edu/ipsa/2003/Greenwich%20conference.html |first=Rainer J. |last=Kaus |title=Notes on Arthur Schnitzler's ''Dream Novella'' and Stanley Kubrick's film ''Eyes Wide Shut'' |work=[[University of Florida]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140902030345/http://www.clas.ufl.edu/ipsa/2003/Greenwich%20conference.html |archive-date=September 2, 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The adaptation created a character with no counterpart in the novella: Ziegler, who represents both the elevated wealth and prestige to which Bill Harford aspires, and a connection between Bill's two worlds (his regular life, and the secret society organizing the ball).{{sfn|Chion|2002|p=21}} Critic Randy Rasmussen interprets Ziegler as representing Bill's worst self, much as in other Kubrick films; the title character in ''[[Dr. Strangelove]]'' represents the worst of the American national security establishment, Charles Grady represents the worst of [[Jack Torrance]] in ''[[The Shining (film)|The Shining]]'', and Clare Quilty represents the worst of Humbert Humbert in ''[[Lolita (1962 film)|Lolita]]''.<ref>{{Harvnb|Rasmussen|2005 |p= 332}}</ref>

More significantly, in the film, Ziegler gives a commentary on the whole story to Bill, including an explanation that the party incident, where Bill is apprehended, threatened, and ultimately redeemed by the woman's sacrifice, was staged. Whether this is to be believed or not, it is an exposition of Ziegler's view of the ways of the world as a member of the powerful elite.{{sfn|Cocks|2004|p=146}}

===Casting===
{{multiple image
| footer = [[Tom Cruise]] and [[Nicole Kidman]] (pictured in 2000 and 2001), married at the time of production, portrayed the lead roles of Bill and Alice Harford
| image1 = Tom Cruise 2000.jpg
| width1 = 129
| alt1 = Tom Cruise in 2000
| image2 = Nicole kidman3cropped.jpg
| width2 = 156
| alt2 = Nicole Kidman in 2001
| align = right}}
When Warner Bros. president [[Terry Semel]] approved production in 1995, he asked Kubrick to cast a movie star as "you haven't done that since [[Jack Nicholson]] [in ''[[The Shining (film)|The Shining]]'']".<ref name="time" /> Kubrick intended to cast a real married couple in the film as Bill and Alice Harford.{{sfn|Kolker|Abrams|2019|pages=66–67}} [[Alec Baldwin]] and [[Kim Basinger]] were considered, as were [[Bruce Willis]] and [[Demi Moore]].{{sfn|Mell|2015|p=82}}{{sfn|Kolker|Abrams|2019|p=67}} Kubrick eventually cast [[Tom Cruise]] in the role of Bill, having been impressed by his performance in ''[[Born on the Fourth of July (film)|Born on the Fourth of July]]'' (1989), and [[Nicole Kidman]] as Alice.{{sfn|Kolker|Abrams|2019|p=67}} Kidman had been in England filming ''[[The Portrait of a Lady (film)|The Portrait of a Lady]]'' (1996), and she and Cruise eventually decided to visit Kubrick at his [[Childwickbury Manor|estate]] in [[Childwickbury]] to discuss the project.<ref>{{cite news|access-date=September 3, 2019|title=Eyes Wide Shut: 20 years on, Stanley Kubrick's most notorious film is still shrouded in mystery|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/eyes-wide-shut-stanley-kubrick-tom-cruise-nicole-kidman-marriage-film-plot-a9083926.html|date=September 1, 2019|work=[[The Independent]]|archive-date=March 4, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200304035044/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/eyes-wide-shut-stanley-kubrick-tom-cruise-nicole-kidman-marriage-film-plot-a9083926.html|url-status=live}}</ref> After that meeting, Kubrick awarded them the roles.<ref>{{cite AV media|title=Interview: Tom Cruise on Stanley Kubrick|work=Eyes Wide Shut|medium=[[Blu-ray]] documentary short|date=2007|publisher=Warner Bros Home Entertainment}}</ref> The couple's casting was officially announced by ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' on December 17, 1995.{{sfn|Kolker|Abrams|2019|p=67}} Kubrick also managed to make both not commit to other projects until ''Eyes Wide Shut'' was completed.<ref name=closing/> 

In a 2025 interview, [[John Turturro]] claimed Kubrick wrote the role of Nick Nightingale for him, but that Turturro accidentally turned it down due to a misunderstanding. Ultimately, Kubrick offered the role to [[Todd Field]].<ref>{{cite web | title=John Turturro Talks Inadvertently Passing on 'Eyes Wide Shut' Role Stanley Kubrick Wrote for Him | date=August 23, 2025 | url=https://deadline.com/2025/08/john-turturro-eyes-wide-shut-role-stanley-kubrick-1236496107/|work=[[Deadline Hollywood]]|url-status=live|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260228093741/https://deadline.com/2025/08/john-turturro-eyes-wide-shut-role-stanley-kubrick-1236496107/|archive-date= 2026-02-28|last=Oganesyan|first=Natalie }}</ref> [[Jennifer Jason Leigh]] and [[Harvey Keitel]] each were cast in supporting roles and filmed by Kubrick, as Marion Nathanson and Victor Ziegler, respectively.{{sfn|Kolker|Abrams|2019|p=69}} Both ultimately dropped out of the production, reportedly due to scheduling conflicts.<ref name="ew">{{cite magazine|url=http://www.ew.com/article/1999/07/23/behind-scenes-eyes-wide-shut|title=Behind the scenes of ''Eyes Wide Shut''|last=Svetkey|first=Benjamin|date=July 23, 1999|magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]|access-date=October 24, 2012|archive-date=June 6, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130606171235/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20471622_272431,00.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Keitel was first to depart the project to appear in ''[[Finding Graceland]]'',<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M-gCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA11|title=Keitel's Heartbreak Hotel|date=April 21, 1997|access-date=August 22, 2014|magazine=[[New York (magazine)|New York]]|last1=Landman Keil|first1=Beth|last2=Mitchell|first2=Deborah|archive-date=June 27, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627194243/http://books.google.com/books?id=M-gCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA11|url-status=live}}</ref> followed by Leigh, who was shooting ''[[eXistenZ]]'' with [[David Cronenberg]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1999/04/27/hyper-existenz/|title=Hyper 'Existenz'|date=April 27, 1999|first=Gary|last=Dretzka|work=[[Chicago Tribune]]|access-date=October 25, 2012|archive-date=June 2, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150602084308/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1999-04-27/features/9904270063_1_existenz-allegra-geller-virtual-reality|url-status=live}}</ref> Leigh was replaced by [[Marie Richardson]], and Keitel by [[Sydney Pollack]].<ref name="time" /> Decades later, Keitel said that he had quit after feeling like Kubrick had "disrespected" him; [[Gary Oldman]] added that the breaking point was after Kubrick asked Keitel to do dozens of takes for a scene of his character walking through a doorway.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Alexander |first=Katherine Jane |date=2019-07-30 |title=Debunking the Myths Around Eyes Wide Shut, Stanley Kubrick's Final Film |url=https://www.anothermag.com/design-living/11844/debunking-the-myths-of-eyes-wide-shut-stanley-kubricks-final-film |website=AnOther Magazine}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |first=Swapnil Dhruv |last=Bose | url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/gary-oldman-stanley-kubrick-difficult-director-harvey-keitel/ | title=Gary Oldman explaining why Stanley Kubrick was a difficult director to work for |magazine=Far Out Magazine | date=June 2021|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251221200218/https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/gary-oldman-director-difficult/|archive-date= 2025-12-21|url-status=live}}</ref> 

Among the other supporting cast, [[Alan Cumming]] later said that he auditioned six times for his small role in the film as a hotel clerk.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMdVy-nF6cs|title=Alan Cumming on "Standing Up" to Stanley Kubrick|date=April 16, 2009|website=Hudson Union Society |via=[[YouTube]]|access-date=March 27, 2018|archive-date=August 17, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160817055702/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMdVy-nF6cs|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Vinessa Shaw]] submitted an audition tape for the role of Domino, a prostitute encountered by Bill, and was cast by Kubrick.<ref name=Weintraub>{{cite web|work=[[Collider (website)|Collider]]|url=https://collider.com/vinessa-shaw-side-effects-vegas-stanley-kubrick-interview/|title=Vinessa Shaw Talks SIDE EFFECTS, Stanley Kubrick's EYES WIDE SHUT, CBS' VEGAS, ELECTRIC SLIDE, and More|date=February 9, 2013|last=Weintraub|first=Steve|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151002072358/http://collider.com/vinessa-shaw-side-effects-vegas-stanley-kubrick-interview/|archive-date=October 2, 2015|access-date=November 30, 2025}}</ref> Shaw recalled, "twice I was called in and I was hired off of tape because Stanley Kubrick didn’t fly anywhere...&nbsp;I was hired off of this tape and that was it."<ref name=Weintraub/>

[[Julienne Davis]] was cast in the role of Mandy, a prostitute saved from a drug overdose by Bill at the Zieglers' Christmas party, whom he later finds has died and visits in the morgue.<ref name=OSullivan>{{Cite web|url=https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/film-body-of-evidence-1115584.html|work=[[The Independent]]|title=Film: Body of evidence|last=O'Sullivan|first=Charlotte|url-status=live|date=August 26, 1999|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251219181042/https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/film-body-of-evidence-1115584.html|archive-date= 2025-12-19}}</ref> Kubrick originally offered [[Eva Herzigová]] this role, but she declined.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Stern |first=Jared Paul |date= March 14, 1999 |title=Can a Star of Walk Be a Star Who Talks? |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/14/style/can-a-star-of-walk-be-a-star-who-talks.html |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250603214223/https://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/14/style/can-a-star-of-walk-be-a-star-who-talks.html|archive-date= 2025-06-03|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> It is implied that the character of Mandy and the mysterious masked woman Bill encounters at the orgy are the same person.<ref name=OSullivan/>{{sfn|Kolker|Abrams|2019|p=105}} However, while Davis does appear in the background as a masked participant during the orgy sequence, she was replaced by [[Abigail Good]] for the dialogue scenes with Cruise.<ref name=OSullivan/>{{sfn|Kolker|Abrams|2019|p=105}}

===Filming===
[[Principal photography]] of ''Eyes Wide Shut'' began on November 4, 1996.<ref name=Pizzello/>{{sfn|Kolker|Abrams|2019|p=84}} Originally, Kubrick planned for the shoot to last only three months, with a projected filming schedule lasting from October 28, 1996 to February 7, 1997.{{sfn|Kolker|Abrams|2019|p=85}} However, Kubrick's perfectionism led to script pages being rewritten on the set, and he intentionally filmed many scenes multiple times to try to break down the actors involved and have them give a more authentic performance.<ref name=vf15/> Numerous scenes, irrespective of their length, were filmed upward of 70 times.{{sfn|Kolker|Abrams|2019|p=88}} One scene of Cruise walking through a door was filmed 95 times.<ref name=vf15/> As a result, the shoot went on for much longer than expected.{{sfn|Kolker|Abrams|2019|pages=84–86}} The actress Vinessa Shaw was initially contracted for two weeks and one scene but ended up working for two months.<ref name=vf15>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2014/07/eyes-wide-shut-tom-cruise-nicole-kidman|title=''Eyes Wide Shut'' at 15: Inside the Epic, Secretive Film Shoot that Pushed Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman to Their Limits|last=Nicholson|first=Amy|date=July 17, 2014|magazine=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]|access-date=February 18, 2018|archive-date=November 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124185109/https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2014/07/eyes-wide-shut-tom-cruise-nicole-kidman|url-status=live}}</ref> By Kidman's account, "Stanley didn’t work under the gun. Time was the most important thing to him. He was willing to give up location to save money, but he wasn’t willing to give up time."{{sfn|Kolker|Abrams|2019|p=86}} Filming took place exclusively at night,{{sfn|Kolker|Abrams|2019|p=87}} and the production was followed by a strong campaign of secrecy helped by Kubrick always working with a small team on set.<ref name="ew" /> 

Due to the relentless nature of the production, the crew became exhausted and were reported to have been impacted by low morale.<ref name=closing>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.ew.com/article/1997/10/17/closing-their-eyes-wide-shut|title=Closing Their 'Eyes Wide Shut'|magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]|first=Dave|last=Karger|date=Oct 17, 1997|access-date=October 27, 2012|archive-date=June 6, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130606183445/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20471622_289898,00.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Cruise developed an [[ulcer]] but did not tell Kubrick.<ref>{{cite news |last=Nicholson |first=Amy |date=August 27, 2024|title=The Year Tom Cruise Gave Not One but Two Dangerously Vulnerable Performances |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/27/movies/tom-cruise-eyes-wide-shut-magnolia.html |archive-date= 2025-08-30|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250830005654/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/27/movies/tom-cruise-eyes-wide-shut-magnolia.html|url-status=live|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> Filming was finally completed in June 1998,<ref name="ew" /> with the film's production budget having reached $65 million.{{sfn|Williams|2005|p=397}} The ''[[Guinness World Records]]'' recognized ''Eyes Wide Shut'' as the longest constant movie shoot that ran "...for over 15 months, a period that included an unbroken shoot of 46 weeks".{{sfn|Guinness World Records|2000|p=93}} 

Larry Smith, who had first served as a [[Gaffer (filmmaking)|gaffer]] on both ''[[Barry Lyndon]]'' and ''The Shining'', was chosen by Kubrick to be the film's cinematographer. Wherever possible, Smith made use of available light sources visible in the shots such as lamps and Christmas tree lights, but when this was insufficient he used Chinese [[Paper lantern|paper lamp]]s to softly brighten the scene, with other types of film lighting if needed. The color was enhanced by [[push processing]] the film reels (emulsion) which helped bring out the intensity of the color and emphasize highlights.<ref name=Pizzello>{{cite web|url=https://theasc.com/articles/a-sword-in-the-bed-eyes-wide-shut|work=[[American Cinematographer]]|title=A Sword in the Bed: Eyes Wide Shut|last=Pizzello|first=Stephen|date=October 28, 1999|url-status=live|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260308034922/https://theasc.com/articles/a-sword-in-the-bed-eyes-wide-shut|archive-date= 2026-03-08}}</ref> This effect is evident in the Christmas party scene at Ziegler's house, with Smith noting that the push processing "made the lights appear to be much brighter than they were" and created a "wonderful warm glow."<ref name=Pizzello/>

Kubrick's perfectionism led him to oversee every visual element that would appear in a given frame, from props and furniture to the color of walls and other objects.<ref name=Pizzello/> One such element were the masks used in the orgy which were inspired by the masked carnival balls visited by the protagonists in the novel. Costume designer [[Marit Allen]] explained that Kubrick felt they fit in that scene for being part of the imaginary world and ended up "creat[ing] the impression of menace, but without exaggeration".{{sfn|Ciment|2003|p=177}} As many masks as were used in the Venetian carnival were sent to London and Kubrick chose who would wear each piece.{{sfn|Ciment|2003|p=177}} The paintings of Kubrick's wife [[Christiane Kubrick|Christiane]] and his stepdaughter Katharina are featured as decorations.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://sensesofcinema.com/2002/23/ornament/#b6 |title=The Ornamentation of Nicole Kidman (''Eyes Wide Shut'') and Mita Vashisht (''Kasba''): a Sketch |first=Laleen |last=Jayamanne |magazine=[[Senses of Cinema]] |date=December 2002 |number=23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121117054130/http://sensesofcinema.com/2002/23/ornament/#b6 |archive-date=November 17, 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|last=James|first=Nick|date=September 1999|title=At Home with the Kubrick's|magazine=[[Sight and Sound]]|volume=9|issue=9|page=12}}</ref>

Kidman revealed that her explicit scenes with the naval officer, played by Gary Goba, were filmed over three days and that Kubrick wanted them to be "almost pornographic".<ref>{{cite news |title=Goodbye Tom Cruise, hello sailor |work=[[The Age]] |page=35 |via=Newspapers.com |date=July 17, 1999 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/123478959/}}</ref>

====Locations====
[[File:Distant view of Mentmore Towers-cropped.jpg|thumb|[[Mentmore Towers]], one of the settings used by the film|alt=A mansion with four towers.]]
Because of Kubrick's fear of flying, the entire film was shot in England,{{sfn|Ronson|2013|p=170, 174}} aside from some exterior footage filmed in New York City, which was [[rear projection effect|rear projected]] behind Cruise during some of the street sequences.<ref name=Pizzello/> Sound-stage works were completed at London's [[Pinewood Studios]] which included a detailed recreation of Greenwich Village, as well as interiors of the Harfords' apartment.{{sfn|Kolker|Abrams|2019|pages=79–80}} Kubrick's perfectionism went as far as sending production designers to Manhattan to measure street widths and note newspaper vending machine locations.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Jacobs|first1=Matthew|title=13 Facts You May Not Know about Stanley Kubrick's 'Eyes Wide Shut'|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/facts-about-eyes-wide-shut_n_5598973|work=[[HuffPost|The Huffington Post]]|access-date=August 18, 2014|date=July 18, 2014|archive-date=February 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180219090132/http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/facts-about-eyes-wide-shut_n_5598973|url-status=live}}</ref> 

Somerton, the palatial estate where the orgy sequence takes place, was an amalgam of different interior and exterior locations.{{sfn|Kolker|Abrams|2019|p=80}} Three separate estates were used for these scenes: [[Mentmore Towers]] in [[Buckinghamshire]] served as the exterior, while interior sequences were shot in [[Elveden Hall]] in [[Suffolk]], and [[Highclere Castle]] in [[Hampshire]].{{sfn|Kolker|Abrams|2019|p=80}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.slashfilm.com/1991286/stanley-kubrick-eyes-wide-shut-downton-abbey-connection/|work=[[/Film]]|title=Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut And Downton Abbey Share A Surprising Connection|last=Bilodeau|first=Quinn|date=October 11, 2025|url-status=live|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260217084250/https://www.slashfilm.com/1991286/stanley-kubrick-eyes-wide-shut-downton-abbey-connection/|archive-date= 2026-02-17}}</ref>

Outdoor locations included [[Hatton Garden]] standing in for a Greenwich Village street,{{sfn|Adams|2004|p=24}} while [[Hamleys]] toy store in London was used as a stand-in for [[FAO Schwarz]] in the film's final scene.{{sfn|Adams|2004|p=16}} Additional photography occurred in the [[Chelsea and Westminster Hospital]], as well as the [[The Lanesborough|Lanesborough Hotel]], the latter of which served as the Nathansons' apartment.{{sfn|Kolker|Abrams|2019|p=80}} Actress Julienne Davis recalled that the morgue scene in which Cruise's character visits her corpse was shot inside a disused bacon factory in [[St Albans]], Hertfordshire.<ref>{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RDp_kkv4iU|title=Julienne Davis On Working With Stanley Kubrick On Eyes Wide Shut (1999)|time=15:28|date=May 28, 2023|via=[[YouTube]]|work=Robert Bellissimo At The Movies|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250804030244/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RDp_kkv4iU|archive-date=August 4, 2025|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Post-production===
After shooting was completed, Kubrick entered a prolonged post-production process.{{sfn|Kolker|Abrams|2019|pages=113–115}} Editor Nigel Galt worked with Kubrick on the editing process using [[Media Composer|Avid Technology]], and indicated he had begun editing the existing footage while the film was still in principal photography, beginning on December 30, 1996.{{sfn|Kolker|Abrams|2019|p=114}} The workload was so demanding that Galt requested assistant editors, after which Melanie Viner-Cuneo and Claus Wehlisch were hired, often working 12-hour days.{{sfn|Kolker|Abrams|2019|p=114}} By mid-February 1999, Galt noted that he was working up to 15 hours each day with Warner Bros.' impending March deadline.{{sfn|Kolker|Abrams|2019|pages=114–115}}

While Kubrick typically screened the final cut of his films in England, he sent the first cut of the finished film to New York to accommodate Cruise and Kidman.{{sfn|Kolker|Abrams|2019|p=114}} On March 2, 1999, the first cut was screened for Cruise, Kidman, and Warner Bros. executives at the studio's [[Fifth Avenue]] headquarters.{{sfn|Kolker|Abrams|2019|p=114}} According to studio executive Semel: "[Stanley] felt really great about the film and I have to say we were really thrilled. It is an incredible picture."<ref name=Alta>{{cite web|url=https://www.altaonline.com/culture/a46054770/kubrick-eyes-wide-shut-mystery/|work=Alta|publisher=[[Book Club of California]]|title='There Was No Second Password'|last=Wasson|first=Sam|date=December 8, 2023|url-status=live|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251221124432/https://www.altaonline.com/culture/a46054770/kubrick-eyes-wide-shut-mystery/|archive-date= 2025-12-21}}</ref> The film was well-received by Cruise, Kidman, and Semel.{{sfn|Kolker|Abrams|2019|p=114}} By Semel's account, only a few minor adjustments remained, consisting of titles and "a couple of color corrections, and some technical things."{{sfn|Kolker|Abrams|2019|p=114}} 

On March 5, 1999, Kubrick held a second screening of the film for a British Warner Bros. representative at his home in Childwickbury.{{sfn|Kolker|Abrams|2019|p=115}} Kubrick died suddenly two days later of a [[myocardial infarction|heart attack]].{{sfn|Kolker|Abrams|2019|p=115}} On March 13, 1999, the day after Kubrick's funeral, Galt resumed the post-production process with the assistance of Viner-Cuneo, [[Leon Vitali]], Jan Harlan, and Kubrick's wife Christiane.{{sfn|Kolker|Abrams|2019|pages=116–117}}

In 2019, it was revealed that [[Cate Blanchett]] had provided the voice of the mysterious masked woman at the orgy party because actress Abigail Good was unable to speak with a convincing American accent.{{sfn|Kolker|Abrams|2019|p=105}} Cruise and Kidman ended up suggesting Blanchett for the [[Dubbing (filmmaking)|dubbing]], which occurred after Kubrick's death.<ref>{{cite web |title=Cate Blanchett Lent Her 'Warm and Sensual Voice' to Eyes Wide Shut |date=June 27, 2019 |url=https://www.vulture.com/2019/06/cate-blanchett-eyes-wide-shut-cameo.html |website=[[Vulture (website)|Vulture]] |access-date=June 27, 2019 |archive-date=June 27, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190627171343/https://www.vulture.com/2019/06/cate-blanchett-eyes-wide-shut-cameo.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Music==
[[Jocelyn Pook]] wrote the original music for ''Eyes Wide Shut'', but, like other Kubrick movies, the film was noted for its use of classical music.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/eyes-wide-shut-mw0000242501|title=Eyes Wide Shut|last=Ruhlmann |first=William|website=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=October 22, 2012|archive-date=April 21, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190421075708/https://www.allmusic.com/album/eyes-wide-shut-mw0000242501|url-status=live}}</ref> The opening title music is [[Dmitri Shostakovich|Shostakovich]]'s Waltz No. 2 from "[[Suite for Variety Orchestra (Shostakovich)|Suite for Variety Stage Orchestra]]", misidentified as "[[Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. 2 (Shostakovich)|Jazz Suite No. 2]]". One recurring piece is the second movement of [[György Ligeti]]'s piano cycle "[[Musica ricercata]]".{{sfn|Powrie|Stilwell|2006|p=7}} Kubrick originally intended to feature "Im Treibhaus" from [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]]'s ''[[Wesendonck Lieder]]'', but the director eventually replaced it with Ligeti's piece feeling Wagner's song was "too beautiful".{{sfn|Wierzbicki|2012|pages=147–148}} In the [[morgue]] scene, [[Franz Liszt]]'s late solo piano piece, "[[Nuages Gris]]" ("Grey Clouds") (1881), is heard.{{sfn|Arnold|2002|p=169}} "Rex tremendae" from [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]]'s ''[[Requiem (Mozart)|Requiem]]'' plays as Bill walks into the café and reads of Mandy's death.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Kubrick |first1=Stanley |last2=Lombardi |first2=Riccardo |year=2004 |title=Stanley Kubrick's swan song: Eyes wide shut |url=https://pep-web.org/browse/document/ijp.085.0209a |journal=International Journal of Psychoanalysis |volume=85 |issue=Pt 1 |pages=209–218 |doi=10.1516/GWE7-0ECT-DKVY-NETN |pmid=15005902 |via=PEP Web |access-date=July 2, 2012 |archive-date=June 7, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120607120449/http://pep-web.org/document.php?id=ijp.085.0209a |url-status=live|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Pook was hired after choreographer Yolande Snaith rehearsed the masked ball orgy scene using Pook's composition "Backwards Priests" – which features a [[Romanian Orthodox Church|Romanian Orthodox]] [[Divine Liturgy]] recorded in a church in [[Baia Mare]], played backwards – as a reference track. Kubrick then called the composer and asked if she had anything else "weird" like that song, which was reworked for the final cut of the scene, with the title "Masked Ball". Pook ended up composing and recording four pieces of music, many times based on her previous work, totaling 24 minutes. The composer's work ended up having mostly [[string instrument]]s – including a [[viola]] played by Pook herself – with no [[brass instrument|brass]] or [[woodwind]]s as Pook "just couldn't justify these other textures", particularly as she wanted the tracks played on dialogue-heavy scenes to be "subliminal" and felt such instruments would be intrusive.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/27/style/27iht-pook.t.html|title=Kubrick's Approval Sets Seal on Classical Crossover Success : Pook's Unique Musical Mix|work=International Herald Tribune|first=Mike|last=Zwerin|date=October 27, 1999|access-date=November 12, 2012|archive-date=April 10, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160410181159/http://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/27/style/27iht-pook.t.html|url-status=live|via=The New York Times}}</ref><ref name="pook">{{cite journal|url=https://cnmsarchive.wordpress.com/2013/06/23/jocelyn-pook-on-eyes-wide-|title=Jocelyn Pook on EYES WIDE SHUT|first=Rudy|last=Koppl|journal=Soundtrack Magazine|volume=18|number=71|year=1999|access-date=December 27, 2019|archive-date=December 27, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191227053602/https://cnmsarchive.wordpress.com/2013/06/23/jocelyn-pook-on-eyes-wide-shut/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Another track in the orgy, "Migrations", features a [[Tamil language|Tamil]] song sung by [[Manickam Yogeswaran]], a [[Carnatic music|Carnatic]] singer. The original cut featured a [[shloka|scriptural recitation]] from the ''[[Bhagavad Gita]]'', which Pook took from a previous Yogeswaran recording.<ref name="pook" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.themusicmagazine.com/newsnov.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120302202837/http://www.themusicmagazine.com/newsnov.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 2, 2012|title=Ears wide open |website=The Music Magazine |access-date=July 2, 2012}}</ref> South African Hindu Mahasabha, a Hindu group, protested against the [[scripture]] being used,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hindunet.org/anti_defamation/eyes/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303180126/http://www.hindunet.org/anti_defamation/eyes/|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 3, 2016|title=AHAD Gives Voice to Hindu Sentiments Against Eyes Wide Shut |publisher=American Hindus Against Defamation|access-date=November 12, 2012}}</ref> Warner Bros. issued a public apology,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cscsarchive.org:8081/MediaArchive/art.nsf/(docid)/BEA4055D27D443E165256940004BD72D|title=Warner Bros apologises to Hindus|author=[[Press Trust of India]]|work=[[The Times of India]]|date=August 9, 1999|access-date=November 12, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120322145537/http://www.cscsarchive.org:8081/MediaArchive/art.nsf/%28docid%29/BEA4055D27D443E165256940004BD72D|archive-date=March 22, 2012}}</ref> and hired the singer to record a similar track to replace the chant.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/dharma.htm|title=The Dharma Blues|first=Robert|last=Castle|journal=[[Journal of Religion and Film]]|volume=6|number=1|date=April 2002|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303204051/http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/dharma.htm|archive-date=March 3, 2016}}</ref>

The party at Ziegler's house features rearrangements of love songs such as "[[When I Fall in Love]]" and "[[It Had to Be You (song)|It Had to Be You]]", used in increasingly ironic ways considering how Alice and Bill flirt with other people in the scene.{{sfn|Powrie|Stilwell|2006|p=17}} As Kidman was nervous about doing nude scenes, Kubrick stated she could bring her own music for the filming. When Kidman brought a [[Chris Isaak]] CD, Kubrick approved it, and incorporated Isaak's song "[[Baby Did a Bad, Bad Thing]]" to both an early romantic embrace of Bill and Alice and the film's trailer.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-jul-26-ca-59623-story.html|title='Bad Bad Thing' Is Good Indeed for Isaak|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=July 26, 1999|access-date=October 22, 2012|archive-date=December 21, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131221224900/http://articles.latimes.com/1999/jul/26/entertainment/ca-59623|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Release==
===Marketing===
[[File:Eyes Wide Shut original poster art.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1|Original poster art concepts designed by Katharina Kubrick featuring the motif of [[Venetian mask]]s. These designs were ultimately rejected by Warner Bros.]]
Warner Bros. heavily promoted ''Eyes Wide Shut'', while following Kubrick's secrecy campaign—to the point that the film's [[press kit]]s contained no production notes, not even the director's suggestions to Semel regarding the marketing campaign, given one week prior to Kubrick's death.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Campbell|first1=Duncan|title=Mouths wide shut for new Kubrick film|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/jul/10/duncancampbell|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=February 18, 2018|date=July 10, 1999|archive-date=February 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180219090158/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/jul/10/duncancampbell|url-status=live}}</ref> The first footage was shown to theater owners attending the 1999 [[ShoWest]] convention in Las Vegas, consisting of a teaser trailer in which Cruise and Kidman's characters caress one another in front of a mirror.{{sfn|Kolker|Abrams|2019|pages=114–115}} Television spots featured both Isaak and Ligeti's music from the soundtrack, while revealing little about the film's plot.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Natale|first1=Richard|title=ShoWest to Get Quick Glimpse of Kubrick's 'Eyes Wide Shut'|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-mar-09-ca-15328-story.html|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=March 9, 1999|access-date=February 18, 2018|archive-date=November 16, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116031144/http://articles.latimes.com/1999/mar/09/entertainment/ca-15328|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1999/07/06/giving-america-an-eyes-ful/1ea6917a-715c-4ab2-8528-904a54bcf1f0/|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=July 5, 1999|title=Giving America An 'Eyes'-ful|last=Carlson|first=Richard|url-status=live|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260111030905/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1999/07/06/giving-america-an-eyes-ful/1ea6917a-715c-4ab2-8528-904a54bcf1f0/|archive-date= 2026-01-11}}</ref> The film also appeared on the cover of ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine, and on show-business programs, including ''[[Entertainment Tonight]]'' and ''[[Access Hollywood]]''.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-jul-05-ca-53039-story.html|title=The Way Kubrick Would Have Wanted|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=July 5, 1999|author=Welkos, Robert W.|access-date=October 27, 2012|archive-date=July 23, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140723090716/http://articles.latimes.com/1999/jul/05/entertainment/ca-53039|url-status=live}}</ref>

Kubrick's stepdaughter Katharina and wife Christiane designed several posters for the film using the motif of [[Venetian mask]]s modeled after Cruise and Kidman.<ref name=S&S2/> Commenting on the designs, Katharina said: "My mother and I are both artists, and because masks are very heavily featured in the film—we started with the premise of turning Tom and Nicole’s faces into masks. We got a photographer who shot them for us full-face. Then using [[Adobe Photoshop|Photoshop]] we made Nicole and Tom look as mask-like as possible."<ref name="S&S2"/> These designs were ultimately rejected by Warner Bros. because they felt the images obscured the faces of the film's two stars.<ref name="S&S2">{{cite web|last= Stevens | first= Isabel | 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 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20191114205722/https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/interviews/katharina-kubrick-eyes-wide-shut |archive-date= November 14, 2019 | work= [[Sight and Sound]] | date= November 2019| publisher=| url-status= live}}</ref> After the rejection, Katharina and Christiane created a new design which was ultimately approved by the studio; the final official one-sheet features a still image of Cruise and Kidman kissing, framed within a mirror that was used as a prop in the Harfords' apartment.<ref name=S&S2/> "We had [the mirror] photographed, and then we took that photograph of them in front of the mirror and made, again, what we thought was an elegant poster," Katharina said. "It’s a shame the originals weren’t used because if you look at them now, 20 years later, I think they really hold up and they are definitely Tom and Nicole."<ref name=S&S2/> One of the original designs was later used as the cover artwork for the [[Ultra HD Blu-ray|4K UHD]] Blu-ray disc release of the film by [[The Criterion Collection]] in 2025.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.criterion.com/films/34534-eyes-wide-shut?srsltid=AfmBOoq-jdai6NyJPeZ6oPaHMA8PuCW5Mq4jKAMe7wbSNYvENN38bhQt|work=[[The Criterion Collection]]|title=Eyes Wide Shut|url-status=live|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260128234110/https://www.criterion.com/films/34534-eyes-wide-shut|archive-date= 2026-01-28}}</ref>

===Studio censorship and classification===
Citing contractual obligations to deliver an [[R rating (Motion Picture Association)|R rating]], Warner Bros. digitally altered the orgy for the film's American release by [[censorship|blocking out]] graphic sexuality using additional figures to obscure the view in order to avoid an adults-only [[NC-17]] rating that would have limited its financial viability.<ref name=Lattanzio>{{cite web|last=Lattanzio|first=Ryan|url=https://www.indiewire.com/features/interviews/eyes-wide-shut-orgy-scene-censorship-1235162141/|title=Behind the 'Eyes Wide Shut' Team's Battle with the MPA After Stanley Kubrick's Death — and the Moment That Scandalized the Ratings Board|date=November 26, 2025|work=[[IndieWire]]|url-status=live|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260204163016/https://www.indiewire.com/features/interviews/eyes-wide-shut-orgy-scene-censorship-1235162141/|archive-date= 2026-02-04}}</ref> Cinematographer Larry Smith commented on the censorship: {{quote|The only issues that occurred were with the MPAA when we were trying to get the rating. We went off down a path I didn’t agree with because they got obsessed about the nudity. They were so mundane and ridiculous about it. They had me make changes, and I had to do them because I was told to...&nbsp;We had five screenings with the MPAA, and every time they kept trying to get us to take more out. And then it became clear that this was not going to happen. Who are they to tell the world what they see in a Stanley Kubrick movie? The premise was, as far as Warners was concerned, they only wanted one release of the film.<ref name=Lattanzio/>}}

This alteration angered both film critics and fans,<ref>{{cite news | url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/film/072899eyes-movie.html |last=Weinraub |first=Bernard | work=[[The New York Times]] | title=Critics Assail Ratings Board Over 'Eyes Wide Shut' | access-date=November 9, 2012 | archive-date=May 30, 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130530041334/http://partners.nytimes.com/library/film/072899eyes-movie.html | url-status=live}}</ref> who argued that Kubrick had never been shy about ratings (''[[A Clockwork Orange (film)|A Clockwork Orange]]'' was [[A Clockwork Orange (film)#Controversies|originally given]] an [[X-rated|X rating]]). [[Roger Ebert]] heavily criticized the technique of using digital images to mask the action, writing that it "should not have been done at all" and it is "symbolic of the moral hypocrisy of the rating system that it would force a great director to compromise his vision, while by the same process making his adult film more accessible to young viewers."<ref name="Ebert">{{cite web|last=Ebert |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Ebert |title=Eyes Wide Shut |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/eyes-wide-shut-1999 |date=July 16, 1999 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120925034240/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F19990716%2FREVIEWS%2F907160302%2F1023 |archive-date=September 25, 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref> Although Ebert has been frequently cited as calling the standard North American R-rated version the "[[Austin Powers (film series)|Austin Powers]]" version of ''Eyes Wide Shut'' – referring to two scenes in ''[[Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery]]'' in which, through camera angles and coincidences, full frontal nudity is blocked from view in a comical way<ref name=ReelViews/><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/07.15.99/eyeswideshut-9928.html |work=[[Metro Silicon Valley]] |title=Adulterers Only |last=von Busack |first=Richard |author-link=Richard von Busack
|date=July 15, 1999 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606225445/http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/07.15.99/eyeswideshut-9928.html |archive-date=June 6, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.filmblather.com/review.php?n=eyeswideshut |website=FilmBlather |title=Eyes Wide Shut (1999) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100923052226/http://filmblather.com/review.php?n=eyeswideshut |archive-date=September 23, 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> – his review stated that this joke referred to an early rough draft of the altered scene, never publicly released.<ref name="Ebert" />

===Theatrical run===
''Eyes Wide Shut'' had its world premiere at the [[Fox Theater, Westwood Village|Westwood Village Theatre]] in Los Angeles on July 13, 1999.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-jul-13-ca-55365-story.html|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=July 13, 1999|last=Snow|first=Shauna|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260116203535/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-jul-13-ca-55365-story.html|archive-date=January 16, 2026|title=Morning Report - News from July 13, 1999}}</ref> The film subsequently opened nationwide on July 16, 1999.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2024-07-16/the-1999-project-eyes-wide-shut-nicole-kidman-tom-cruise-standley-kubrick-sydney-pollack|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=July 16, 2024|title=Nicole Kidman on marriage, marijuana and the making of Stanley Kubrick's 'Eyes Wide Shut'|last=Whipp|first=Glenn|url-status=live|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251223081238/https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2024-07-16/the-1999-project-eyes-wide-shut-nicole-kidman-tom-cruise-standley-kubrick-sydney-pollack|archive-date= 2025-12-23}}</ref>

The film was exhibited at the [[Venice Film Festival]] on September 1, 1999, followed by a screening in Paris on September 2, 1999; stars Cruise and Kidman were in attendance at both events.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/eyes-opens-venice/|work=[[Empire (magazine)|Empire]]|title=Eyes Opens Venice|date=September 2, 1999|url-status=live|author=''Empire'' Staff|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251210165036/https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/eyes-opens-venice/|archive-date= 2025-12-10}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/actor-tom-cruise-shakes-hands-with-fans-as-he-poses-for-news-photo/2231880496|work=[[Getty Images]]|title=France-Kidman-Cruise|date=August 29, 2025 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251130092558/https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/actor-tom-cruise-shakes-hands-with-fans-as-he-poses-for-news-photo/2231880496|archive-date=November 30, 2025}}</ref> The film's British premiere occurred on September 3, 1999, at the [[Warner Village Cinemas|Warner Village cinema]] in [[Leicester Square]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/437224.stm|work=[[BBC News]]|date=September 3, 1999|title=Stars flock to Kubrick premiere|access-date=October 22, 2012|archive-date=October 2, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002213942/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/437224.stm|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Home media===
''Eyes Wide Shut'' was first released on [[VHS]] and [[DVD]] on March 7, 2000 by [[Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment|Warner Bros. Home Entertainment]].<ref name="press">{{cite press release|url=http://kubrickfilms.warnerbros.com/news/press/ews_pressrelease.html|title='Kubrick's Definitive Film & Haunting Final Masterpiece' and 1999's Most Talked About Film Debuts on VHS and DVD|publisher=Warner Bros. Home Entertainment|date=February 24, 2000|access-date=November 9, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130617155937/http://kubrickfilms.warnerbros.com/news/press/ews_pressrelease.html|archive-date=June 17, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/03/03/movies/home-video-eyes-wide-shut-with-extras.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251010083915/https://www.nytimes.com/2000/03/03/movies/home-video-eyes-wide-shut-with-extras.html|archive-date=October 10, 2025|last=Nichols|first=Peter M.|date=March 3, 2000|title=Home Video; 'Eyes Wide Shut,' With Extras|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> A reissue under the studio's "Stanley Kubrick Collection" was released in 2001.<ref name=Doogan>{{cite web|url=https://archive.thedigitalbits.com/reviews/eyeswideshut.html|work=The Digital Bits|title=Eyes Wide Shut|last=Doogan|first=Todd|url-status=live|date=May 22, 2001|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20240225062034/http://archive.thedigitalbits.com/reviews/eyeswideshut.html|archive-date= 2024-02-25}}</ref> Both editions are presented in 4:3 [[Full frame (cinematography)|full frame]] aspect ratio, and feature the censored R-rated version of the film that was theatrically released in the United States.<ref name=Doogan/>

On October 23, 2007, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment re-released the film in its original uncensored cut on DVD, as well as in [[HD DVD]] and [[Blu-ray]] disc formats.<ref>{{cite web |last=McCutcheon |first=David |url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2007/08/03/kubrick-overload |title=Kubrick Overload! |website=[[IGN]] |date=August 3, 2007 |access-date=August 22, 2014 |archive-date=May 26, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150526011649/http://www.ign.com/articles/2007/08/03/kubrick-overload |url-status=live}}</ref> This marked the first home video release that presents the film in anamorphic 1.78:1 (16:9) format (the film was shown theatrically as soft matted 1.66:1 in Europe and 1.85:1 in the US and Japan); it is also the first American home video release to feature the uncensored version.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://movieweb.com/eyes-wide-shut-two-disc-special-edition-to-contain-rated-and-unrated-version/|work=[[MovieWeb]]|title=Eyes Wide Shut: Two Disc Special Edition to Contain Rated and Unrated Version|last=Jacobs|first=Evan|date=September 3, 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260111154133/https://movieweb.com/eyes-wide-shut-two-disc-special-edition-to-contain-rated-and-unrated-version/|archive-date= 2026-01-11}}</ref> While the packaging for these releases indicate that both the R-rated and uncensored cuts are included on the discs, this is a misprint, as only the uncensored version is present.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/news/521722-kubrick_collection_eyes_wide_shut|work=[[ComingSoon.net]]|title=Kubrick Collection: 'Eyes Wide Shut'|date=November 9, 2007|last=Brevet|first=Brad|url-status=live|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251224070834/https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/news/521722-kubrick_collection_eyes_wide_shut|archive-date= 2025-12-24}}</ref>

[[The Criterion Collection]] released the film on [[Ultra HD Blu-ray|4K UHD]] and Blu-ray on November 25, 2025, featuring the uncensored cut in a new master scanned from the original 35 mm camera negatives.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/eyes-wide-shut-4k-uhd-blu-ray-review-stanley-kubrick/|work=[[Slant Magazine]]|title=4K UHD Blu-ray Review: Stanley Kubrick's 'Eyes Wide Shut' on the Criterion Collection|last=Wilkins|first=Budd|date=November 19, 2025|url-status=live|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260111110250/https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/eyes-wide-shut-4k-uhd-blu-ray-review-stanley-kubrick/|archive-date= 2026-01-11}}</ref>

==Reception==
===Box office===
The film topped the week-end box office for its U.S. opening, earning $21.7&nbsp;million from 2,411 screens.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?yr=1999&wknd=29&p=.htm|title=Weekend Box Office: July 16–18, 1999 Weekend|website=[[Box Office Mojo]]|access-date=October 22, 2012|archive-date=October 17, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017211414/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?yr=1999&wknd=29&p=.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> These numbers surpassed the studio's expectations of $20&nbsp;million, and became both Cruise's sixth consecutive chart topper and Kubrick's highest opening week-end as well as the highest featuring Kidman and Cruise together.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-jul-19-ca-57357-story.html|title='Eyes' Sees Its Way to Top Spot|date=July 19, 1999|first=Richard|last=Natale|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=October 22, 2012|archive-date=September 3, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150903222955/http://articles.latimes.com/1999/jul/19/entertainment/ca-57357|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/398234.stm|date=July 19, 1999|title=Eyes Wide Shut opens on top|work=[[BBC News]]|access-date=November 29, 2025|archive-date=October 15, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015222816/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/398234.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> ''Eyes Wide Shut'' ended up grossing a total of $55,691,208 in the US. The numbers put it as Kubrick's second-highest-grossing film in the country, behind ''2001: A Space Odyssey'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.the-numbers.com/person/80270401-Stanley-Kubrick|title=Stanley Kubrick – Box Office History|website=[[The Numbers (website)|The Numbers]]|access-date=November 9, 2012|archive-date=October 4, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121004035532/http://www.the-numbers.com/person/80270401-Stanley-Kubrick|url-status=live}}</ref> but both were considered box office disappointments.<ref name="genius">{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-jun-12-ca-9258-story.html|title=Remembering a Difficult Genius|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=June 12, 2001|author=King, Susan|access-date=November 9, 2012|archive-date=November 13, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121113070731/http://articles.latimes.com/2001/jun/12/entertainment/ca-9258|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the United Kingdom, it also topped the box-office charts during its opening, earning £1,189,672.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/film-box-office-1120316.html|title=FILM: BOX OFFICE|date=September 19, 1999|work=[[The Independent]]|location=London|access-date=August 27, 2017|archive-date=February 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180219090208/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/film-box-office-1120316.html|url-status=live}}</ref> 

Overseas earnings of over $105&nbsp;million led to a $162,091,208 box office run world-wide, turning it into the highest-grossing film directed by Kubrick.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/name/nm0000040/|title=Stanley Kubrick|website=[[Box Office Mojo]]|access-date=December 22, 2019|archive-date=December 22, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222143803/https://www.boxofficemojo.com/name/nm0000040/|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Critical response===
''Eyes Wide Shut'' received generally positive reviews from critics. On [[Rotten Tomatoes]], the film holds an approval rating of 76% based on 164 reviews, with an average rating of 7.9/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Kubrick's intense study of the human psyche yields an impressive cinematic work."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/eyes_wide_shut|title=Eyes Wide Shut|website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]|publisher=[[Fandango Media|Fandango]]|access-date={{RT data|access date}}|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210106203548/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/eyes_wide_shut|archive-date=January 6, 2021|url-status=live}}{{RT data|edit}}</ref> [[Metacritic]] gives the film a [[weighted average]] score of 69 out of 100 based on 34 reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/eyes-wide-shut |title=Eyes Wide Shut |website=[[Metacritic]] |access-date=January 8, 2021 |archive-date=May 20, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190520195211/https://www.metacritic.com/movie/eyes-wide-shut |url-status=live}}</ref> Over fifty critics listed the film among the best of 1999.<ref name="DVDPress">{{cite web|url=http://uk.ign.com/articles/2000/02/10/eyes-wide-shut-dvd-press-release|title='Eyes Wide Shut' DVD Press Release|last=Head|first=Steve|date=February 24, 2000|website=IGN|access-date=February 18, 2018|archive-date=July 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200723072038/https://www.ign.com/articles/2000/02/10/eyes-wide-shut-dvd-press-release|url-status=live}}</ref> French magazine ''[[Cahiers du Cinéma]]'' named it the best film of the year in its annual "top-ten" list.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~ejohnson/critics/cahiers.html|title=Cahiers du Cinema: Top Ten Lists 1951–2009|last=Johnson|first=Eric C.|website=Alumnus.caltech.edu|access-date=December 17, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120327102838/http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~ejohnson/critics/cahiers.html|archive-date=March 27, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> However, audiences polled by [[CinemaScore]] gave the film an average grade of "D−" on an A+ to F scale.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cinemascore.com|title=Find CinemaScore|format=Type "Eyes Wide Shut" in the search box|website=[[CinemaScore]]|access-date=April 7, 2021}}</ref>

In the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'', Michael Wilmington declared the film a masterpiece, lauding it as "provocatively conceived, gorgeously shot and masterfully executed ... Kubrick's brilliantly choreographed one-take scenes create a near-hypnotic atmosphere of commingled desire and dread."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1999/07/16/the-sexy-scary-stylish-eyes-wide-shut-is-stanley-kubricks-final-masterpiece/|title=The Sexy, Scary, Stylish 'Eyes Wide Shut' Is Stanley Kubrick's Final Masterpiece|last=Wilmington|first=Michael|newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]]|date=July 16, 1999|access-date=April 7, 2017|archive-date=April 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170407234023/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1999-07-16/entertainment/9907170013_1_cruise-and-kidman-sexual-alice-harford|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Nathan Rabin]] of ''[[The A.V. Club]]'' was also highly positive, arguing that "the film's primal, almost religious intensity and power is primarily derived from its multifaceted realization that disobeying the dictates of society and your conscience can be both terrifying and exhilarating. ... The film's depiction of sexual depravity and amorality could easily venture into the realm of camp in the hands of a lesser filmmaker, but Kubrick depicts primal evil in a way that somehow makes it seem both new and deeply terrifying."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.avclub.com/review/eyes-wide-shut-18794|title=Eyes Wide Shut|last=Rabin|first=Nathan|author-link=Nathan Rabin|work=[[The A.V. Club]]|date=July 16, 1999|access-date=April 7, 2017|archive-date=April 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170407233917/http://www.avclub.com/review/eyes-wide-shut-18794|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Roger Ebert]] of the ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' gave the film a score of three and a half stars out of four, writing, "Kubrick's great achievement in the film is to find and hold an odd, unsettling, sometimes erotic tone for the doctor's strange encounters."<ref name=Ebert/> He praised the individual dream-like atmosphere of the separate scenes, and called the choice of Christmas-themed lighting "garish, like an urban sideshow".<ref name=Ebert/>

Reviewer [[James Berardinelli]] stated that it was arguably one of Kubrick's best films. Along with considering Kidman "consistently excellent", he wrote that Kubrick "has something to say about the causes and effects of depersonalized sex", and praised the work as "thought-provoking and unsettling".<ref name=ReelViews>{{cite web |url=http://preview.reelviews.net/movies/e/eyes_wide.html |title=Review: Eyes Wide Shut |website=Reelviews.net |last=Berardinelli |first=James |author-link=James Berardinelli |date=March 7, 1999 |access-date=September 1, 2016 |archive-date=August 5, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190805101338/http://preview.reelviews.net/movies/e/eyes_wide.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Writing for ''[[The New York Times]]'', reviewer [[Janet Maslin]] commented, "This is a dead-serious film about sexual yearnings, one that flirts with ridicule yet sustains its fundamental eeriness and gravity throughout. The dreamlike intensity of previous Kubrick visions is in full force here."<ref name=Maslin>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/library/film/071699eyes-film-review.html | work=[[The New York Times]]|author-link=Janet Maslin|last=Maslin|first=Janet | title='Eyes Wide Shut': Danger and Desire in a Haunting Bedroom Odyssey | access-date=February 16, 2017 | archive-date=February 9, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160209174039/http://www.nytimes.com/library/film/071699eyes-film-review.html | url-status=live}}</ref>

Some reviewers gave the film unfavorable assessments. One complaint was that the film's pacing was too slow; while this may have been intended to convey a dream state, critics objected that it made actions and decisions seem laboured.<ref name=CNN>{{cite web|last1=Tatara|first1=Paul|title='Eyes Wide Shut' - All undressed with no place to go|url=http://edition.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Movies/9907/15/review.eyeswideshut/|publisher = [[CNN]]|date=July 15, 1999|access-date=February 18, 2018|archive-date=February 17, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180217124849/http://edition.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Movies/9907/15/review.eyeswideshut/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Another complaint was that it did not live up to the expectation of it being a "sexy film" which is what it had been marketed as, thus defying audiences' expectations.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Kreider|first1=Tim|jstor=1213735|title=Review|journal=Film Quarterly|date=Spring 2000|volume=53|number=3|pages=41–48|doi=10.2307/1213735}}</ref> Many critics, such as [[Manohla Dargis]] of ''[[LA Weekly]]'', found the prolific orgy scene to be "banal" and "surprisingly tame".<ref>{{cite web|last1=Dargis|first1=Manohla|author-link=Manohla Dargis|title=Peep Show|url=http://www.laweekly.com/film/peep-show-2130925|website=[[LA Weekly]]|date=July 14, 1999|archive-date=February 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180219031707/http://www.laweekly.com/film/peep-show-2130925|url-status=dead}}</ref> While Kubrick's "pictorial talents" were described as "striking" by [[Rod Dreher]] of ''[[The New York Post]]'', the pivotal scene was deemed by [[Stephen Hunter]], writing for ''[[The Washington Post]]'', as the "dullest orgy [he'd] ever seen". Hunter elaborates on his criticism, and states that "Kubrick is annoyingly offhand while at the same time grindingly pedantic; plot points are made over and over again, things are explained till the dawn threatens to break in the east, and the movie stumbles along at a glacial pace".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/eyeswideshuthunter.htm|title=Kubrick's Sleepy 'Eyes Wide Shut'|last=Hunter|first=Stephen|author-link=Stephen Hunter|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=July 16, 1999|access-date=April 7, 2017|archive-date=September 27, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150927160725/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/eyeswideshuthunter.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Owen Gleiberman]] of ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'' complained about the inauthenticity of the New York setting, claiming that the soundstage used for the film's production did not have "enough bustle" to capture the reality of the city.<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Gleiberman|first1=Owen|author-link=Owen Gleiberman|date=July 23, 1999| title=Eyes Wide Shut|url=http://ew.com/article/1999/07/23/eyes-wide-shut-5/|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|access-date=February 18, 2018|archive-date=February 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180219090344/http://ew.com/article/1999/07/23/eyes-wide-shut-5/|url-status=live}}</ref> Paul Tatara of [[CNN]] described the film as a "slow-motion morality tale full of hot female bodies and thoroughly uneventful 'mystery{{'"}},<ref name=CNN/> while [[Andrew Sarris]] writing for ''[[The New York Observer]]'' criticized the film's "feeble attempts at melodramatic tension and suspense".<ref>{{cite web|last1=Sarris|first1=Andrew|author-link=Andrew Sarris|title=Eyes Don't Have It: Kubrick Turgid Finale|website=[[The New York Observer]] |url=http://observer.com/1999/07/eyes-dont-have-it-kubricks-turgid-finale/|access-date=February 18, 2018|date=July 26, 1999|archive-date=February 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180219090526/http://observer.com/1999/07/eyes-dont-have-it-kubricks-turgid-finale/|url-status=live}}</ref> [[David Edelstein]] of ''[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]'' dismissed it as "estranged from any period I recognize. Who are these people played by Cruise and Kidman, who act as if no one has ever made a pass at them and are so deeply traumatized by their newfound knowledge of sexual fantasies—the kind that mainstream culture absorbed at least half a century ago? Who are these aristocrats whose limos take them to secret masked orgies in Long Island mansions? Even dream plays need some grounding in the real world."<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/movies/1999/07/the_naked_and_the_dead.html|title=The Naked and the Dead|last=Edelstein|first=David|author-link=David Edelstein|magazine=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]|date=July 16, 1999|archive-date=April 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170407235033/http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/movies/1999/07/the_naked_and_the_dead.html|url-status=live}}</ref> [[J. Hoberman]] wrote that the film "feels like a rough draft at best."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.villagevoice.com/film/i-wake-up-dreaming-6421330|title=I Wake Up Dreaming|last=Hoberman|first=J.|author-link=J. Hoberman|newspaper=[[The Village Voice]]|date=July 20, 1999|access-date=April 7, 2017|archive-date=April 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170407233711/http://www.villagevoice.com/film/i-wake-up-dreaming-6421330|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[Lee Siegel (cultural critic)|Lee Siegel]] from ''[[Harper's]]'' felt that most critics responded mainly to the marketing campaign and did not address the film on its own terms.<ref name=Siegel/> Others felt that American censorship took an esoteric film and made it even more difficult to understand.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.moviecitynews.com/festivals/sundance_2006/dp_060125.html |title=For Movie Folks Who Considered Burning Down The Ratings Board When The Adjustment Was Enuf |website=Movie City News |date=January 26, 2006 |access-date=April 15, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071224055634/http://www.moviecitynews.com/festivals/sundance_2006/dp_060125.html |archive-date=December 24, 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In his article "Grotesque Caricature", published in ''[[Postmodern Culture]]'', Stefan Mattesich praises the film's nuanced caricatured elements, and states that the film's negation of conventional narrative elements is what resulted in its subsequent negative reception.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Mattessich|first1=Stefan|title=Grotesque Caricature: Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut as the Allegory Of Its Own Reception|journal=Postmodern Culture|date=2000|volume=10|issue=2|pages=1–8|doi=10.1353/pmc.2000.0006|s2cid=143503711|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/41945|access-date=February 18, 2018|archive-date=February 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180219031233/https://muse.jhu.edu/article/41945|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

For the introduction to [[Michel Ciment]]'s ''Kubrick: The Definitive Edition'', [[Martin Scorsese]] wrote: "When ''Eyes Wide Shut'' came out a few months after Stanley Kubrick's death in 1999, it was severely misunderstood, which came as no surprise. If you go back and look at the contemporary reactions to any Kubrick picture (except the earliest ones), you'll see that all his films were initially misunderstood. Then, after five or ten years came the realization that ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001]]'' or ''[[Barry Lyndon]]'' or ''[[The Shining (film)|The Shining]]'' was like nothing else before or since."{{sfn|Ciment|2003|p=viii}} 

In 2012, ''[[Slant Magazine]]'' ranked the film as the second greatest of the 1990s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/feature/the-100-best-films-of-the-1990s/334/page_10 |title=The 100 Best Films of the 1990s |date=November 5, 2012 |website=[[Slant Magazine]]|archive-date=July 16, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130716145813/http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/feature/the-100-best-films-of-the-1990s/334/page_10 |url-status=live}}</ref> The [[British Film Institute]] ranked the film at No. 19 on its list of "90 great films of the 1990s".<ref>{{cite web|title=90 great films of 1990s|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/90-great-films-1990s| website = [[British Film Institute]] |date=18 July 2019|access-date=July 18, 2021|archive-date=July 19, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210719124320/https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/90-great-films-1990s|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2022, [[IndieWire]] named the film the best movie of the 1990s.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.indiewire.com/gallery/best-90s-movies/ |title=The 100 Best Movies of the '90s |date=August 15, 2022|website=[[IndieWire]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220831003948/https://www.indiewire.com/gallery/best-90s-movies/ |archive-date=August 31, 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> The film was listed at number 61 in the [[BBC]]'s list of the 100 greatest American films of all time.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20150720-the-100-greatest-american-films|title=The 100 greatest American films | publisher = [[BBC]] |date=July 20, 2015|access-date=October 6, 2015|archive-date=September 16, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160916105535/http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20150720-the-100-greatest-american-films|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Accolades===
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable"
|-
! scope="col" style="width:15em;"| Award/association
! scope="col" style="width:1em;"| Year
! scope="col" style="width:22em;"| Category
! scope="col"| Recipient(s) and nominee(s)
! scope="col"| Result
! scope="col" style="width:2em;" class="unsortable"| {{Abbr|Ref.|Reference(s)}}
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="3"| [[Blockbuster Entertainment Awards]]
| rowspan="3"| [[6th Blockbuster Entertainment Awards|2000]]
| Favorite Actress – Drama/Romance
| [[Nicole Kidman]]
| {{won}}
| style="text-align:center;"|<ref>{{cite web |url= https://variety.com/2000/film/news/blockbuster-entertainment-award-winners-1117781474/ |title= Blockbuster Entertainment Award winners  |date= May 9, 2000 | author = ''Variety'' Staff |website=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |access-date= November 20, 2023 |archive-date= November 20, 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20231120142557/https://variety.com/2000/film/news/blockbuster-entertainment-award-winners-1117781474/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
| Favorite Actor – Drama/Romance
| [[Tom Cruise]]
| {{nom}}
| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="2"|<ref>{{cite press release | date = February 8, 2000 |url= http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nominees-announced-for-sixth-annual-blockbuster-entertainment-awardsr-to-air-in-june-on-fox-72458137.html |title= Nominees Announced for 'Sixth Annual Blockbuster Entertainment Awards(R)' To Air in June on FOX |via= [[PR Newswire]] |publisher= Blockbuster | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140112094712/http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nominees-announced-for-sixth-annual-blockbuster-entertainment-awardsr-to-air-in-june-on-fox-72458137.html | archive-date = January 12, 2014 | url-status = dead}}</ref>
|-
| Favorite Supporting Actor – Drama/Romance
| [[Sydney Pollack]]
| {{nom}}
|-
! scope="row"| [[Bodil Awards]]
| 1999
| Best American Film
| rowspan="3"| ''Eyes Wide Shut''
| {{nom}}
| style="text-align:center;"|<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tvguide.com/movies/eyes-wide-shut/2030211164/|work=[[TV Guide]]|title=Eyes Wide Shut|url-status=live|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251221213925/https://www.tvguide.com/movies/eyes-wide-shut/2030211164/|archive-date= 2025-12-21}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2"| ''[[Cahiers du Cinéma]]''
| 1999
| [[Cahiers du Cinéma's Annual Top 10 Lists|Best Film – Top Ten]]
| {{won|place=1st place}}
| style="text-align:center;"| <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cinelounge.org/Tag/3134/Top-10-1999-Cahiers-du-cinema|work=CineLounge.org|title=Top 10 1999 – Cahiers du Cinéma|language=fr|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240806103147/https://www.cinelounge.org/Tag/3134/Top-10-1999-Cahiers-du-cinema|archive-date=August 6, 2024}}</ref>
|-
| 2000
| Best Film of the 1990s
| {{won|place=4th place}}{{efn-lr|Tied with ''[[Close-Up (1990 film)|Close-Up]]'', ''[[Twin Peaks]]'', and ''[[Unforgiven (1992 film)|Unforgiven]]''.}}
| style="text-align:center;"|<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Cahiers du Cinéma]]|issue=542–547|page=30|publisher=Éditions de l'Étoile|title=Le choix de la rédaction|issn=0008-011X|language=fr}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row"| [[César Awards]]
| [[25th César Awards|2000]]
| [[César Award for Best Foreign Film|Best Foreign Film]] 
| rowspan="2"| [[Stanley Kubrick]]
| {{nom}}
| style="text-align:center;"| <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.academie-cinema.org/ceremonie/palmares.html?annee=2000#meilleur-film-etranger|title=2000 César|website=Académie des arts et techniques du cinéma|language=fr|access-date=September 11, 2012|archive-date=April 15, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190415221629/http://www.academie-cinema.org/ceremonie/palmares.html?annee=2000#meilleur-film-etranger|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="3"| [[Chicago Film Critics Association]]
| rowspan="3"| [[Chicago Film Critics Association Awards 1999|1999]]
| [[Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Director|Best Director]]
| {{nom}}
| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="3"| <ref name="DVDPress" />
|-
| [[Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Cinematography|Best Cinematography]]
| {{hlist|[[Larry Smith (cinematographer)|Larry Smith]]|Stanley Kubrick}}
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Original Score|Best Original score]]
| Jocelyn Pook
| {{nom}}
|-
! scope="row"| [[Costume Designers Guild]] 
| 1999
| [[Costume Designers Guild Award for Excellence in Contemporary Film|Excellence in Costume Design for Film – Contemporary]]
| [[Marit Allen]]
| {{nom}}
| style="text-align:center;"|{{sfn|Kagan|2012|p=362}}
|-
! scope="row"| Csapnivalo Awards
| 1999
| Best Art Film
| ''Eyes Wide Shut''
| {{won}}
| style="text-align:center;"|<ref>{{cite web|work=Csapnivalo Awards|url=https://cspv.hu/00/awards/winen.html|title=Cspanivalo Awards 1999|url-status=live|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251221021154/https://cspv.hu/00/awards/winen.html|archive-date= 2025-12-21}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row"| [[Empire Awards]]
| [[5th Empire Awards|2000]]
| [[Empire Award for Best Actress|Best Actress]]
| Nicole Kidman
| {{nom}}
| style="text-align:center;"|<ref>{{Cite web |last=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=February 2, 2000 |title=Empire 2000 Awards: Nominations Announced. Sixth Sense is an early leader |url=http://www.empireonline.com/News/story.asp?nid=14899 |work=[[Empire (magazine)|Empire]]|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060530093634/http://www.empireonline.com/News/story.asp?nid=14899|archive-date=May 30, 2006}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row"| [[French Syndicate of Cinema Critics]]
| 1999
| Best Foreign Film
| Stanley Kubrick
| {{won}}
| style="text-align:center;"|<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.screendaily.com/eyes-wide-shut-is-french-critics-best-foreign-pic/401306.article|title=Eyes Wide Shut is French critics' best foreign pic|work=[[Screen Daily]]|date=February 8, 2000|first=Francoise|last=Meaux Saint Marc|access-date=November 17, 2012|archive-date=April 21, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190421075714/https://www.screendaily.com/eyes-wide-shut-is-french-critics-best-foreign-pic/401306.article|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row"| [[Golden Globe Awards]]
| [[57th Golden Globe Awards|1999]]
| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score|Best Original Score]]
| rowspan="2"| [[Jocelyn Pook]]
| {{nom}}
| style="text-align:center;"|<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.goldenglobes.org/browse/?param=/film/24031|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130606103936/http://www.goldenglobes.org/browse/?param=%2Ffilm%2F24031|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 6, 2013|title=Eyes Wide Shut|work=[[Hollywood Foreign Press Association]]|access-date=October 14, 2009}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="3"| [[Online Film Critics Society]]
| rowspan="3"| [[Online Film Critics Society Awards 1999|2000]]
| [[Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Original Score|Best Original Score]]
| {{nom}}
| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="3"|<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ofcs.org/awards/1999-awards/ |title=1999 Awards |website=Ofcs.org |date=January 21, 2014 |access-date=August 22, 2014 |archive-date=October 10, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121010220145/http://www.ofcs.org/awards/1999-awards/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
| [[Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Cinematography|Best Cinematography]]
| Larry Smith
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Director|Best Director]]
| rowspan="2"| Stanley Kubrick
| {{nom}}
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="8"| Online Film & Television Association
| rowspan="7"| 2000
| Best Director
| {{nom}}
| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="7"|<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oftaawards.com/film-awards/4th-annual-film-awards-1999/|work=Online Film & Television Association|title=4th Annual Film Awards (1999)|url-status=live|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251224001628/https://www.oftaawards.com/film-awards/4th-annual-film-awards-1999/|archive-date= 2025-12-24}}</ref>
|-
| Best Actress
| Nicole Kidman
| {{nom}}
|-
| Best Writing – Adaptation
| {{hlist|Stanley Kubrick|[[Frederic Raphael]]}}
| {{nom}}
|-
| Best Music – Adapted Song{{efn-lr|For the track "Baby Did a Bad, Bad Thing".}}
| [[Chris Isaak]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| Best Production Design
| {{hlist|Leslie Tomkins|Roy Walker|John Fenner|Kevin Phipps|Marit Allen}}
| {{nom}}
|-
| Best Cinematic Moment{{efn-lr|For the film's orgy sequence.}}
| ''Eyes Wide Shut'' 
| {{nom}}
|-
| Best Cinematography 
| {{hlist|Larry Smith|Stanley Kubrick}}
| {{nom}}
|-
| 2021
| Film Hall of Fame
| ''Eyes Wide Shut''
| {{honored}}
| style="text-align:center;"|<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oftaawards.com/film-hall-of-fame/film-hall-of-fame-productions/|work=Online Film & Television Association|title=Film Hall of Fame: Productions|url-status=live|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260123011514/https://www.oftaawards.com/film-hall-of-fame/film-hall-of-fame-productions/|archive-date= 2026-01-23}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="3"| [[Satellite Awards]]
| rowspan="3"| [[4th Golden Satellite Awards|2000]]
| [[Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture|Best Actress – Drama]]
| Nicole Kidman
| {{nom}}
| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="3"| <ref>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000611105334/http://www.pressacademy.com/1999_nominations.html |archive-date=June 11, 2000|url=http://www.pressacademy.com/1999_nominations.html|title=2000 Golden Satellite Award Nominees|website=[[International Press Academy]]|access-date=September 11, 2012}}</ref>
|-
| [[Satellite Award for Best Cinematography|Best Cinematography]]
| Larry Smith
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Satellite Award for Best Sound|Best Sound]]
| Paul Conway and Edward Tise
| {{nom}}
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="3"| [[Saturn Awards]]
| [[34th Saturn Awards|2008]]
| rowspan="2"| [[Saturn Award for Best DVD or Blu-ray Collection|Best DVD Collection]] 
| ''Stanley Kubrick'': Warner Home Video Directors Series{{efn-lr|Shared with four other films: ''2001: A Space Odyssey'', ''A Clockwork Orange'', ''The Shining'', and ''Full Metal Jacket''.}}
| {{nom}}
| style="text-align:center;"|<ref>{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2008/film/awards/wb-paramount-dominate-saturns-1117981190/|work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|title=WB, Paramount dominate Saturns|date=February 20, 2008|author=''Variety'' Staff|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241130050140/https://variety.com/2008/film/awards/wb-paramount-dominate-saturns-1117981190/|archive-date=November 30, 2024}}</ref>
|-
| [[38th Saturn Awards|2012]]
| ''Stanley Kubrick: The Essential Collection''{{efn-lr|Shared with nine other films: ''Full Metal Jacket'', ''The Shining'', ''2001: A Space Odyssey'', ''Lolita'', ''Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures'', ''Spartacus'', ''A Clockwork Orange'', ''Barry Lyndon'', and ''Dr. Strangelove''.}}
| {{won}}
| style="text-align:center;"|<ref>{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2012/film/awards/apes-super-8-top-saturn-awards-1118057120/|work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|title='Apes,' 'Super 8' top Saturn Awards|author=''Variety'' Staff|date=July 26, 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241121201944/https://variety.com/2012/film/awards/apes-super-8-top-saturn-awards-1118057120/|archive-date=November 21, 2024}}</ref>
|-
| [[41st Saturn Awards|2015]]
| [[Saturn Award for Best DVD or Blu-ray Collection|Best DVD/Blu-ray Collection]] 
| ''Stanley Kubrick: The Masterpiece Collection''{{efn-lr|Shared with seven other films: ''Lolita'', ''Dr. Strangelove'', ''2001: A Space Odyssey'', ''A Clockwork Orange'', ''Barry Lyndon'', ''The Shining'', and ''Full Metal Jacket''.}}
| {{nom}}
| style="text-align:center;"|<ref>{{cite web|title=Captain America: The Winter Soldier Leads the 41st Annual Saturn Awards Film Nominations|last=Vejvoda|first=Jim|url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2015/03/04/captain-america-the-winter-soldier-leads-the-41st-annual-saturn-awards-film-nominations|date=March 3, 2015|work=[[IGN]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241213105748/https://www.ign.com/articles/2015/03/04/captain-america-the-winter-soldier-leads-the-41st-annual-saturn-awards-film-nominations|archive-date=December 13, 2024}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row"| [[Stinkers Bad Movie Awards]]
| [[1999 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards|2000]]
| Most Intrusive Musical Score
| Jocelyn Pook
| {{nom}}
| style="text-align:center;"|<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thestinkers.com/pr_winners99.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020217144540/http://www.thestinkers.com/pr_winners99.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 17, 2002|title=Press Release - Stinkers 1999 Winners|date=February 17, 2002|work=[[Stinkers Bad Movie Awards]]}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row"| [[Venice Film Festival]]
| [[56th Venice International Film Festival|1999]]
| FilmCritica Bastone Bianco Award
| Stanley Kubrick
| {{won}}
| style="text-align:center;"|<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/stanley-kubrick/bio/3030030831/|work=[[TV Guide]]|title=Stanley Kubrick Biography|url-status=live|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260309054340/https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/stanley-kubrick/bio/3030030831/|archive-date= 2026-03-09}}</ref>
|}

==Themes and interpretations==
===Genre===
''Eyes Wide Shut'' was described by some reviewers, and partially marketed, as an [[erotic thriller]],{{sfn|Fenwick|2019|p=114}}{{sfn|Dovey|2015|p=174}} a categorization disputed by others.{{efn-lr|name=genre}}<ref name=Hobbs>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240716-eyes-wide-shut-the-remarkable-afterlife-of-a-notorious-1990s-flop|work=[[BBC]]|title=Eyes Wide Shut: The remarkable afterlife of a notorious 1990s misfire|last=Hobbs|first=Thomas|date=July 17, 2024|url-status=live|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260130164055/https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240716-eyes-wide-shut-the-remarkable-afterlife-of-a-notorious-1990s-flop|archive-date= 2026-01-30}}</ref> It is classified as an erotic thriller in the book ''The Erotic Thriller in Contemporary Cinema'', by [[Linda Ruth Williams]],{{sfn|Williams|2005|p=397}} 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|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> Jeffrey M. Anderson, writing for ''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> Kubrick's wife, Christiane, disputed the film's association with the erotic thriller genre, stating that it "has nothing to do with sex and everything to do with fear."{{sfn|Dovey|2015|p=174}} In an essay published in ''Stanley Kubrick: Essays on His Films and Legacy'' (2015), academic Lindiwe Dovey commented that the film's marketing as an erotic thriller was misleading: "Audiences who were expecting an erotic thriller from the film were sorely disappointed; they received, instead, a kind of [[horror film|horror]] [[thriller film|thriller]]."{{sfn|Dovey|2015|p=174}}

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 erotic thriller genre 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|issn=0826-9866|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'', notes "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> In a 2019 retrospective for ''[[Consequence (publication)|Consequence of Sound]]'', Joe Lipsett echoed this sentiment, stating that the film "is not erotic, sexy, or even titillating. This is because the film is not actually about sex at all; it’s the journey of self-realization of a close-minded narcissist who discovers, after a revelation from his wife, that the world is actually a highly sexualized place."<ref>{{cite web|title=Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut Has Never Been an "Erotic Thriller"|url=https://consequence.net/2019/07/stanley-kubrick-eyes-wide-shut-erotic-thriller/|work=[[Consequence (publication)|Consequence of Sound]]|last=Lipsett|first=Joe|date=July 16, 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221120023847/https://consequence.net/2019/07/stanley-kubrick-eyes-wide-shut-erotic-thriller/|archive-date=November 20, 2022}}</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''.{{sfn|Falsetto|2001|p=137}} [[Janet Maslin]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' notes that the film "gives an otherworldly radiance and personality to Christmas lights",<ref name=Maslin/> and critic Randy Rasmussen notes that "colorful Christmas lights&nbsp; ... illuminate almost every location in the film."{{sfn|Rasmussen|2005|p=333}} ''[[Harper's Magazine|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 Magazine]]  |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|p=285}}</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."{{sfn|Kaplan|2006|p=61}}

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".{{sfn|Duralde|2010|p=33}}

===Use of Venetian masks===
Historians, travel guide authors, and merchants of [[Venetian mask]]s have noted that these have a long history of being worn during promiscuous activities.{{sfn|Smedley|1837|p=311}}{{sfn|Porter|Prince|2009|pages=150–155}}<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.{{sfn|Ruwe|2002|pages=10–12}} 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.{{sfn|Kreider|2006|p=288}} Writing in ''Discovering Kubrick's Symbolism: The Secrets of the Films'' (2020), Nicole M. Berg notes the film's prominent use of Venetian masks, describing many of the masks as "classic Venetian masks" marked with "centuries-old [[Luciferianism|Luciferian]] styles."{{sfn|Berg|2020|p=173}} Berg also cites numerous general references to historic Italian culture present throughout the film.{{sfn|Berg|2020|pages=173–174}}

===Social class and secret societies===
Scholar [[Arthur Versluis]] notes that ''Eyes Wide Shut'' represents a "political [[gnosis]]," which he describes as a "revelation that behind wealth and opulence of an American social [[elite]] is initiation into a corrupted and corrupting secret society or network."{{sfn|Versluis|2024|p=60}} He also observes that the film incorporates representations of [[human trafficking]] through its depiction of young women used for sexual exploitation by the wealthy and elite.{{sfn|Versluis|2024|p=60}} Versluis notes that these themes have contributed to theories and interpretations that the film reveals covert activities among secret societies, adding: "''Eyes Wide Shut'' is a reference point for the revelation that behind the appearance of [[high society]], celebrity, wealth, and political power is corruption variously labeled as [[Satanism|Satanic]], Luciferian, [[Illuminati]], or demonic."{{sfn|Versluis|2024|p=60}} Versluis believes the film's title plays on the notion of "seeing what is in front of us (eyes wide open) and yet not seeing."{{sfn|Versluis|2024|p=60}} 

[[Rich Cohen]], writing in 2020 for ''[[The Paris Review]]'', echoes this sentiment: "Kubrick’s message is simple: you know nothing. It’s a truth demonstrated via allegory, the story of a powerful man beset by demons. Of course, to many, the movie was always more than a parable. It was an exposé written in code. It revealed a dynamic that had long played out in sectors of elite society but was not glimpsed until our own age, an age of scandal, the most telling being the [[Litigation involving Jeffrey Epstein|scandal]] of [[Jeffrey Epstein]]."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2020/04/06/behind-the-mask-of-corruption/|work=[[The Paris Review]]|last=Cohen|first=Rich|author-link=Rich Cohen|title=Behind the Mask of Corruption|date=April 6, 2020|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260310181518/https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2020/04/06/behind-the-mask-of-corruption/|archive-date= 2026-03-10|url-status=live}}</ref> Film critic [[Peter Bradshaw]] interprets this theme as analogous to the marital discontent between the Harfords: "the socio-sexual aspect of this civilised couple's discontents: the sense of how close sexual rejection is to social exclusion, and the sense that high society is like a thrillingly decadent party to which one is not invited."<ref>{{cite web|last=Bradshaw|first=Peter|author-link=Peter Bradshaw|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/1999/sep/10/3|title=Eyes Wide Shut|date=September 9, 1999|url-status=live|work=[[The Guardian]]|archive-date=December 2, 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251202045606/https://www.theguardian.com/film/1999/sep/10/3}}</ref>

The film's central orgy party sequence has drawn parallels from some critics and viewers to the [[Surrealist Ball of 1972]] held by [[Marie-Hélène de Rothschild|Marie-Hélène]] and [[Guy de Rothschild]].{{sfn|Rothschild|2023|p=206}}{{sfn|Berg|2020|p=173}} This discourse was amplified due to the fact that part of the film was shot at Mentmore Towers, an estate once owned by the [[Rothschild family]].{{sfn|Rothschild|2023|p=206}} In his book ''Jewish Space Lasers: The Rothschilds and 200 Years of Conspiracy Theories'' (2023), Mike Rothschild suggests that this parallel is unfounded, as the event was not an orgy, nor is there evidence that Kubrick or his co-writer Frederic Raphael knew anything about it at the time the film was made (photographs of the ball were not made public until the 2010s).{{sfn|Rothschild|2023|pages=205–206}} "Whatever occult or secret connection exists between the Rothschilds and ''Eyes Wide Shut''...&nbsp;exists in the minds of believers, and nowhere else...&nbsp;whenever Western pop culture needs a wealthy and secretive family to be running some kind of hidden puppet-master routine, the Rothschilds are available."{{sfn|Rothschild|2023|p=206}}

=== 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=February 13, 2018|last=Mikulec|first=Sven|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260222143243/https://cinephiliabeyond.org/eyes-wide-shut-tense-nightmarish-exploration-marriage-sexuality-kubricks-ultimate-film/|archive-date= 2026-02-22|url-status=live|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/}}</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 |archive-date= 2025-08-16|url-status=live|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250816010915/https://www.filmsite.org/eyeswideshut.html|website=[[Filmsite]]}}</ref> a reference to Mentmore Towers where part of the film's orgy sequence was shot.<ref name=Kearns1/>

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 name=Kearns1>{{Cite web |title=Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut - An Analysis, Part One |url=http://idyllopuspress.com/idyllopus/film/ews_one.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224213720/http://idyllopuspress.com/idyllopus/film/ews_one.htm|archive-date=December 24, 2018|website=Idyllopus Press|last=Kearns|first=Juli}}</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|via=[[Project Gutenberg]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250116221456/https://www.gutenberg.org/files/34930/34930-h/34930-h.htm|archive-date=January 16, 2025}}</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|url-access=subscription }}</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=[[Hôtel Drouot|Drouot.com]]|url=https://drouot.com/en/l/19878309-dapres-gian-lorenzo-bernini-di |archive-date=January 2, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240102223010/https://drouot.com/en/l/19878309-dapres-gian-lorenzo-bernini-di|url-status=live}}</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=Kearns7/> 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 |website=VictorianWeb.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251011180037/https://victorianweb.org/painting/jww/paintings/moore1.html|archive-date=October 11, 2025|url-status=live}}</ref> ''Astarte Syriaca'' depicts [[Astarte]], the ancient Syrian goddess of love, as well as two symmetrical angels holding torches directly behind her. Both paintings mirror events within the film. 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.{{cn|date=March 2026}}

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 name=Kearns7>{{Cite web |title=Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut - An Analysis, Part Seven |url=http://idyllopuspress.com/idyllopus/film/ews_seven.htm |website=Idyllopus Press|last=Kearns|first=Juli|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250531071310/https://www.idyllopuspress.com/idyllopus/film/ews_seven.htm|archive-date=May 31, 2025}}</ref> The painting is in the permanent collection of the [[Chelsea and Westminster Hospital]] where the scenes were filmed.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Aunt Gurdi Burning|url=https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/aunt-gurdi-burning-178555 |website=[[Art UK]]|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250813200443/https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/aunt-gurdi-burning-178555|archive-date= 2025-08-13}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Eyes Wide Shut Film Locations |url=https://onthesetofnewyork.com/eyeswideshut.html|website=On the Set of New York|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260118234440/https://www.onthesetofnewyork.com/eyeswideshut.html|archive-date= 2026-01-18}}</ref>

==Controversies==
===Debate over the film's state of completion===
Though Warner Bros. insisted that Kubrick had turned in his final cut before his death, the film was still in the final stages of post-production, which was therefore completed by the studio in collaboration with Kubrick's estate.{{sfn|Kolker|Abrams|2019|pages=115–118}} This spurred debate from journalists and audiences about whether the work that remained was minor and exclusively technical in nature, allowing the estate to faithfully complete the film based on the director's notes.{{sfn|Kolker|Abrams|2019|pages=115–118}} However, decisions regarding sound mixing, scoring and color-correction would have necessarily been made without Kubrick's input.{{sfn|Kolker|Abrams|2019|pages=115–118}} Furthermore, Kubrick had a history of continuing to edit his films up until the last minute, and in some cases even after initial public screenings, as had been the case with ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' and ''The Shining''.<ref>{{cite web|last=Allman|first=Marshall|title=Kubrick's Final Film Reimagined|work=Eyes Wide Cut|url=https://www.eyeswidecut.com/inspiration/|access-date=August 24, 2018|archive-date=August 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180825041252/https://www.eyeswidecut.com/inspiration/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Writing for ''Vanity Fair'', Kubrick collaborator [[Michael Herr]] recalled a phone call from the director regarding the cut that would be screened for the Warner Bros. executives four days before his death: {{blockquote|text=...there was looping to be done and the music wasn't finished, lots of small technical fixes on color and sound; would I show work that wasn't finished? He had to show it to Tom and Nicole because they had to sign nudity releases, and to Terry Semel and Bob Daly of Warner Bros., but he hated it that he had to, and I could hear it in his voice that he did.<ref name=vf/>}}

[[Garrett Brown]], inventor of the [[Steadicam]], has expressed that he considers ''Eyes Wide Shut'' to be an unfinished film:

{{blockquote|text=I think ''Eyes Wide Shut'' was snatched up by the studio when Stanley died and they just grabbed the highest number [[Media Composer|Avid]] edit and ran off as if that was the movie. But it was three months before the movie was due to be released. I don't think there's a chance that was the movie he had in mind, or the music track and a lot of other things. It's a great shame because you know it's out there, but it doesn't feel to me as it's really his film.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.moviegeeksunited.net/kubrick.htm |title=Movie Geeks United! - The Kubrick Series |publisher=Movie Geeks United!|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170107170417/http://www.moviegeeksunited.net/kubrick.htm |archive-date=January 7, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>}}

Nicole Kidman, one of the stars of the film, briefly wrote about the completion of the film and the release of the film being at the same time as [[John F. Kennedy Jr.]]'s death from her perspective: {{blockquote|text=There was a lot of interest in ''Eyes Wide Shut'' before it was released. But the weekend it came out, July 16, 1999, was the death of JFK Jr., his wife and her sister—a black, black weekend. And for Stanley to have died [on March 7, 1999, at age 70] before the film opened... Well, it all felt so dark and strange. Stanley had sent over the cut he considered done to us, Tom and I watched it in New York—and then he died.<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Ginsburg|first1=Merle|title=Nicole Kidman on Life with Tom Cruise Through Stanley Kubrick's Lens|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/nicole-kidman-stanley-kubricks-lens-382186|date=October 24, 2012|magazine=[[The Hollywood Reporter]]|archive-date=February 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180219031242/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/nicole-kidman-stanley-kubricks-lens-382186|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

In 2025, editor Nigel Galt spoke on the film as a complete work fitting Kubrick's intent:{{quote|I can tell you that nothing in the film that happened—and this includes after his death—involved anything that Stanley wasn’t aware of, or wasn’t aware that was going to happen. The difficulty that happened with Stanley’s sudden demise—and this was, remember, three days after I showed the film in New York: shown it to Terry Semel and Bob Daly at Warners and then, same night, showed it to Tom and Nicole—when I got back to London, Stanley was jubilant with the reaction. And we had a long, long-ish conversation, and the only thing that had to be done was mundane editing stuff. We had establishing shots to put in the film—you know, exterior buildings—and that was it. There was nothing missing. That cut is ''Stanley’s cut'' the day he died. And nothing was over-edited. There was no Illuminati.<ref name = Newman>{{cite news|url = https://thefilmstage.com/that-cut-is-stanleys-cut-nigel-galt-on-editing-eyes-wide-shut-and-kubricks-intent/|title = "That Cut Is Stanley's Cut": Nigel Galt on Editing Eyes Wide Shut with Kubrick|last = Newman|first = Nick|work = The Film Stage|date = November 20, 2025|url-status=live|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260113081810/https://thefilmstage.com/that-cut-is-stanleys-cut-nigel-galt-on-editing-eyes-wide-shut-and-kubricks-intent/|archive-date= 2026-01-13}}</ref>}}

===Kubrick's opinion===
[[Jan Harlan]], Kubrick's brother-in-law and executive producer, reported that Kubrick was "very happy" with the film and considered it to be his "greatest contribution to the art of cinema".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dvdtalk.com/janharlaninterview.html |title=On Kubrick – A Talk With Kubrick Documentarian Jan Harlan |website=[[DVD Talk]]|archive-date=November 9, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141109010216/http://www.dvdtalk.com/janharlaninterview.html |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://timessquare.com/Film/Film_Interviews/Jan_Harlan_Keeps_His_Eyes_Wide_Open_On_New_Ideas/ |title=Jan Harlan Keeps His Eyes Wide Open On New Ideas &#124; Times Square New York City |website=TimesSquare.com |date=November 7, 2007  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120226124101/http://timessquare.com/Film/Film_Interviews/Jan_Harlan_Keeps_His_Eyes_Wide_Open_On_New_Ideas/ |archive-date=February 26, 2012}}</ref>

[[R. Lee Ermey]], an actor in Kubrick's film ''[[Full Metal Jacket]]'', stated that Kubrick phoned him two weeks before his death to express his despondency over ''Eyes Wide Shut''. "He told me it was a piece of shit", Ermey said in ''Radar'' magazine, "and that he was disgusted with it and that the critics were going to 'have him for lunch'. He said Cruise and Kidman had their way with him—exactly the words he used."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://filmdrunk.uproxx.com/2010/03/kubrick-says-cruise-kidman-ruined-eyes-wide-shut|title=Kubrick says Cruise and Kidman ruined EWS|date=March 2, 2010 |website=FilmDrunk |publisher=[[Uproxx]]|last=Mancini|first=Vince|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100419035751/http://filmdrunk.uproxx.com/2010/03/kubrick-says-cruise-kidman-ruined-eyes-wide-shut|archive-date=April 19, 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref>

According to [[Todd Field]], Kubrick's friend and an actor in ''Eyes Wide Shut'', Ermey's claims do not accurately reflect Kubrick's essential attitude. Field's response appeared in an October 18, 2006, interview with Grouch Reviews: {{quote|The polite thing would be to say 'No comment'. But the truth is that&nbsp;...let's put it this way, you've never seen two actors more completely subservient and prostrate themselves at the feet of a director. Stanley was absolutely thrilled with the film. He was still working on the film when he died. And he probably died because he finally relaxed. It was one of the happiest weekends of his life, right before he died, after he had shown the first cut to Terry, Tom and Nicole. He would have kept working on it, like he did on all of his films. But I know that from people around him personally, my partner who was his assistant for thirty years. And I thought about [[R. Lee Ermey]] for ''[[In the Bedroom]]''. And I talked to Stanley a lot about that film, and all I can say is Stanley was adamant that I shouldn't work with him for all kinds of reasons that I won't get into because there is no reason to do that to anyone, even if they are saying slanderous things that I know are completely untrue.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://grouchoreviews.com/interviews/187|title=Todd Field – Little Children|date=October 18, 2006|website=Groucho Reviews|access-date=August 10, 2018|archive-date=August 10, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180810205522/http://grouchoreviews.com/interviews/187|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

==Notes==
{{notelist-lr}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
{{Ref begin|30em}}
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* {{cite book|last=Chion|first=Michel|title=Eyes Wide Shut|author-link=Michel Chion|publisher=[[British Film Institute|BFI Publishing]]|location=London, England|year=2002|isbn=978-0-85170-932-1|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/eyeswideshut0000chio}}
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** {{harvc |last=Kreider |first=Tim |c=Introducing Sociology |in1=Cocks |in2=Diedrick |in3=Perusek |year=2006 |pages=280–297 }} 
** {{harvc |last=Loewenberg |first=Peter |c=Freud, Schnitzler, and ''Eyes Wide Shut'' |in1=Cocks |in2=Diedrick |in3=Perusek |year=2006 |pages=255–279 }} 
** {{harvc |last=Rosenbaum |first=Jonathan |c=In Dreams Begin Responsibilities |in1=Cocks |in2=Diedrick |in3=Perusek |year=2006 |pages=245–254}}
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* {{cite book|last=Ronson|first=Jon|title=Lost at Sea: The Jon Ronson Mysteries|publisher=Picador|year=2013|isbn=978-1-4472-6471-2|location=London, England|pages=170, 174}}
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* {{cite book |last1=Ruwe |first1= Carolin| title=Symbols in Stanley Kubrick's Movie 'Eyes Wide Shut' |year=2002 |isbn=978-3-638-84176-4 |publisher=GRIN Verlag |location=München, Germany}}
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* {{cite book |last=Williams|first=Linda Ruth|author-link=Linda Ruth Williams|title= The Erotic Thriller in Contemporary Cinema| publisher= [[Indiana University Press]]|location=Bloomington, Indiana| year= 2005 |isbn=978-0-253-34713-8}}
* {{cite book|last=Wierzbicki|first=James|title=Music, Sound and Filmmakers: Sonic Style in Cinema|location=New York City, New York|publisher=Routledge|year=2012|isbn=978-0-415-89894-2}}
{{ref end}}

==External links==
{{sister project links|d=Q209481|c=category:Eyes Wide Shut|n=no|b=no|v=no|voy=no|m=no|mw=no|wikt=no|s=no|species=no|display=''Eyes Wide Shut''}}
* {{IMDb title}}
* {{Mojo title}}
* {{Letterboxd title}}
* {{Metacritic film}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes}}
* {{AFI film}}
* [https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150451242 ''Eyes Wide Shut''] at the [[British Film Institute]]
* {{TCMDb title}}

{{Stanley Kubrick}}
{{Arthur Schnitzler}}
{{Cahiers du Cinéma Award for Best Film}}
{{Authority control}}

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