Director: Stanley Kubrick
Writter: Arthur Schnitzler (novel) and Stanley Kubrick
Tom Plays: Dr. William Harford
Status:ON DVD

Plot

A New York City doctor, who is married to an art curator, pushes himself on a harrowing and dangerous night-long odyssey of sexual and moral discovery after his wife admits that she once almost cheated on him.

Media:

Photos | Videos

Goofs

Revealing mistakes: When William is reading the newspaper, the same sentences are printed repeatedly on the page. (It’s been suggested this is a reference to The Shining, but it’s also a common art department shortcut, so seems more likely to be a goof.)

Continuity: The distance between Marion and Dr Bill changes when they are sitting down and talking.

Crew or equipment visible: When Alice goes to the bathroom cabinet, you can see the camera reflected in the mirror when she opens the cabinet door. It and the cameraman are hidden under a white sheet, with just the black, square lens showing through. (Freeze-frame recommended.)

Crew or equipment visible: In the overdose scene in Ziegler’s bathroom, reflected in the chrome (reports are the video transfer has made this less obvious).

Continuity: In the orgy scene, as Bill (in a mask) stands and watches, a masked man and a fully nude woman (also masked) enter behind him. But in between shots, the woman’s pubic hair changes.

Continuity: When the masked woman walks up to Bill Hartford with the other masked man, her hair is initially in front of her but in the next shot her hair is now behind her.

Continuity: Bill Harford arrives at Rainbow Fashions by taxi from the Sonata Cafe and as he talks to Milich, Gillespie’s Diner can be been seen across the other side of the street. Later in the story we discover that Gillespie’s is next door to the Sonata Cafe so there’s no way he would have taken a taxi just to cross the street (not even in NYC).

Continuity: Dr. Harford talking to Victor Ziegler at pool table, position of cue and balls change and the chalk moves.

Continuity: The position of Alice’s nightshirt strap on her right shoulder during the discussion with Bill where she tells him about the sailor.

Continuity: When Bill is going to the room where Marion is, we can see two tables in the corridor, with a sculpture on each one. When Carl arrives some minutes later, the sculpture on the first table has disappeared.

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: The maid addresses “Carl” as “Mr. Thomas” when he enters the apartment. Thomas Gibson plays Carl, but presumably this means the character is “Carl Thomas.”

Continuity: When Bill and Alice discuss her near-infidelity, the ashtray they were using when smoking the joint appears and disappears from the bed, the tapes and CDs are in different positions, and Bill’s hand jumps off Alice’s hip.

Errors in geography: When Bill Harford is reading the newspaper about the drug overdose, the headline actually reads “drugs overdose” (UK usage) instead of “drug overdose” (USA usage).

Continuity: When Bill arrives at orgy mansion on first visit his taxi approaches from one direction, but when he returns, he arrives from a different direction.

Continuity: When Bill enters the temple, there is a laptop PC to the right of the pianist on a black box. From the other side we see the black box but the PC is gone, only to return shortly after when we see him from the other side again.

Continuity: The toilet paper in Victor Ziegler’s bathroom.

Continuity: Ziegler’s hand positioning is inconsistent between shots in the Mandy Curran overdose scene in his bathroom.

Crew or equipment visible: When Milich opens the door to the room where he find his daughter, you can see the the legs of the steadicam operator.

Continuity: When Bill is reading the newspaper, the small pictures behind him change.

Continuity: The same graffiti-covered mail collection box appears in multiple scenes, in different locations. And when Bill is purchasing a copy of the New York Post while being followed, there are three mail collection boxes visible at the same intersection, which is, at least, unlikely.

Continuity: When Alice Harford is doing math problems with her daughter, a blue bottle appears among the liquor bottles on a table in the background.

Revealing mistakes: The corner ceiling of the set appears missing in the toy store.

Errors in geography: There are many instances throughout the movie of UK road signs and road markings which break the New York illusion and inadvertently reveal the shooting locations.

Crew or equipment visible: Reflected in the bedpost during the love making scene.

Continuity: When Alice is talking to Bill on the phone while he is in the prostitute’s apartment, the number of cookies in the box in front of her goes from five in the first shot to six in the second.

Continuity: After being followed while walking, Bill enters a restaurant. As seen from outside, the street is completely deserted. But from inside, as Bill enters, you can see people walking by outside the door.

Continuity: When Doctor Harford is in his office sitting at the desk thinking, late at night, there is only a pen in the middle of the desk. A moment later there is also an elastic band.

Continuity: When Bill bought the newspaper at the newsstand, the headline on the newspaper read “LUCKY TO BE ALIVE”, and was folded with that headline facing out. When he walked into the restaurant, the headline was folded in.

Continuity: In the orgy scene, when Bill enters the room where there are several people on the long table, we see two people in cloaks (one standing and one sitting) obscuring the camera’s view. In the reverse shot of Bill, these people are no longer there in the background. These people were added virtually in post production, following the death of Stanley Kubrick and the movie’s subsequent NC-17 rating.

Revealing mistakes: The same gang-“tagged” mailbox is used as a prop on several different back lot “streets”.

Continuity: When Dr. Harford presents his doctor’s license to Milich, his finger partially covers the license in one shot and not in the other.

Continuity: While Dr. Harford is arguing with Alice on the bed after smoking a joint, his hair is sticking up in one shot and is flat in the next.

Continuity: When Dr. Harford returns to the mansion in the country, it is summer with leaves on the trees behind him.

Continuity: In the orgy, the girls in the ring change places between shots: The ones to the left and right of the girl who eventually chose Dr Harford leaves before her. When she is called to leave, there is suddenly another girl beside her.

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Alice is telling Dr. Bill her confession about the naval officer, the audio has her saying “you and I made love” while her lips move to say “we made love”. In the context of the following sentences it’s clear she was making love to Dr. Bill, but from the preceding lines her “we made love” could have ambiguously referred to her and the officer.

Continuity: When Alice is lying in bed telling Bill her dream, first we see the blanket is moved down exposing her hip, haunch, and thigh. Immediately afterward, the blanket is covering her up to her waist.

Continuity: When Bill goes to the Sonata Jazz Club, outside of the club are pictures of the four guys in the band with their names. It lists Larry McVay as the drummer and Kip Fleming as the bassist. But inside the club, after the band is done playing, Nick (the piano player) introduces the band, and says, “Larry McVay on bass and Kip Fleming on drums.”

Boom mike visible: In the poolroom scene with Bill and Victor, you can see the boom reflected in the green light when Victor says “OK, he had a bruise on his face.”

Continuity: In the pool room scene, the red ball changes places three times to right in the middle in front of the pocket and to either side after that.

Quotes

Dr. Bill Harford: No dream is ever just a dream.

Dr. Bill Harford: Are you sure of that?
Alice Harford: Am I sure? Only as sure as I am that the reality of one night, let alone that of a whole lifetime, can ever be the whole truth.
Dr. Bill Harford: And no dream is ever just a dream.

[last lines] Alice Harford: I do love you and you know there is something very important we need to do as soon as possible.
Dr. Bill Harford: What’s that?
Alice Harford: Fuck.

Alice Harford: Why do think Ziegler invites us to these things every year?
Dr. Bill Harford: This is what you get for making house calls.

Dr. Bill Harford: You know what they say, once a doctor always a doctor.
Nick Nightingale: Yes, or in my case, never a doctor, never a doctor.

Gayle: Do you know what’s so nice about doctors?
Dr. Bill Harford: Usually a lot less than people imagine.
Gayle: They always seem so knowledgeable.
Dr. Bill Harford: Oh, they are very knowledgeable about all sorts of things.
Gayle: But I bet they work too hard. Just think of all they miss.
Dr. Bill Harford: You’re probably right.

Dr. Bill Harford: Now, where exactly are we going… exactly?
Gayle: Where the rainbow ends.
Dr. Bill Harford: Where the rainbow ends?
Nuala: Don’t you want to go where the rainbow ends?
Dr. Bill Harford: Well, now that depends where that is.
Gayle: Well, let’s find out.

Alice Harford: Millions of years of evolution, right? Right? Men have to stick it in every place they can, but for women… women it is just about security and commitment and whatever the fuck else!
Dr. Bill Harford: A little oversimplified, Alice, but yes, something like that.
Alice Harford: If you men only knew…

Marion: I love you. I don’t want to go away with Carl.
Dr. Bill Harford: Marion, I don’t think you realize…
Marion: I do, even if I’m never to see you again, I want at least to live near you.
Dr. Bill Harford: Marion, listen to me, listen to me. You’re very upset right now and I don’t think you realize what you’re saying.
Marion: I love you.
Dr. Bill Harford: We barely know each other. I don’t think we’ve had a single conversation about anything except your father.
Marion: I love you.

[first lines] Dr. Bill Harford: Honey, have you seen my wallet?
Alice Harford: Isn’t it on the bedside table?
Dr. Bill Harford: Now listen, you know we’re running a little late.
Alice Harford: I know. How do I look?
Dr. Bill Harford: Perfect.
Alice Harford: Is my hair okay?
Dr. Bill Harford: It’s great
Alice Harford: You’re not even looking at it.
Dr. Bill Harford: It’s beautiful. You always look beautiful.

Victor Ziegler: Sorry to call you out so late tonight.
Dr. Bill Harford: That’s OK, I was out anyway.
Victor Ziegler: How about a drink?
Dr. Bill Harford: Are you having one?
Victor Ziegler: Sure! What would you like?
Dr. Bill Harford: Uh, I’ll have a little scotch.
Victor Ziegler: Good. How do you take it, neat?

Alice Harford: How do you feel about wrapping the rest of the presents?
Dr. Bill Harford: Maybe tomorrow night.
Alice Harford: You should call the Zieglers and thank them for the party.
Dr. Bill Harford: I’ve already taken care of that.

Trivia

Harvey Keitel and Jennifer Jason Leigh originally played Victor Ziegler and Marion Nathanson. After Keitel and Leigh had shot some scenes, Keitel, left the production due to his obligations to another project. His scenes needed to be re-shot, but Leigh was not available to reshoot them (due to a scheduling conflict with eXistenZ). Consequently, Sydney Pollack and Marie Richardson were brought in to play the respective roles.

Melissa Joan Hart auditioned for a role in this movie.

According to writer Frederic Raphael, the final form of Bill’s family name (Harford, as opposed to Scheuer in the original story) was inspired by a debate about Bill’s character. Raphael felt Bill should be Jewish as in the original, but Stanley Kubrick insisted Bill and Alice be “vanilla” Americans, without any details that would arouse any presumptions. Kubrick said that Bill should be a bit like Harrison Ford – hence the name Harford.

In order for the film to be given an R rating in America, some scenes contain computer-generated people in the foreground obscuring some of the more explicit sexual action.

When Bill Harford returns to Soho, a sign painted on the side of a building prominently features the name BOWMAN. David Bowman is a character in director Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.

One of the patients who Tom Cruise cancels is called Kaminsky, the name of one of the hibernating crew that HAL kills in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

he mask that Bill Harford wears with his costume is modeled from the face of Ryan O’Neal, a reference to Barry Lyndon.

The password “fidelio” (from the Latin root “fidelis” meaning “faithful”) refers to Ludwig van Beethoven’s only opera, “Fidelio”. In the opera, Fidelio is a woman who disguises herself as a man to save her lover.

In the film, Todd Field plays a character who dropped out of medical school ten years earlier. Ten years before this film was released, Field played a character who dropped out of medical school in Gross Anatomy.

This film contains in-joke references to almost all of Stanley Kubrick’s films, including his first feature Fear and Desire. At one point we see a scene from Blume in Love on a TV set. “Blume” was directed by Paul Mazursky, who made his acting debut in Fear and Desire.

A real estate agent’s sign that appears briefly in shot at the end of a street carries the name Vitali. The newspaper article that Bill reads announcing the death of Mandy mentions that she was a model and that she had been involved with a designer named Leon Vitali. Leon Vitali is one of Kubrick’s longest-serving colleagues and also plays Red Cloak.

Stanley Kubrick died just four days after presenting Warner Bros. with what was reported to be a final cut of the film, after a legendary long shoot.

A VHS copy of the movie Rain Man is seen in Alice and Bill’s bedroom on top of their entertainment stand during their marijuana-enhanced argument.

Numerous recurring shots of Christmas trees with colored lights (in almost every room/apartment) and wedding rings.

The tremendous hype around the release of this film resulted in several rumors about the plot. The most widely circulated was the mistaken rumor that in the film, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman played married psychiatrists having affairs with their patients.

The headline of the New York Post that Bill Harford buys when the bald man is stalking him reads: LUCKY TO BE ALIVE.

When Bill enters his apartment for the last time (right before he discovers the mask on his pillow) we can see a stack of Stanley Kubrick videos from on the long table under the painting. The one on the top is Full Metal Jacket.

The letters and the newspaper read by Tom Cruise are written in Italian for the Italian version of this movie. Apparently, Stanley Kubrick shot those scenes with papers written in different languages, as he did for The Shining.

Stanley Kubrick had three assistants for “Eyes Wide Shut”. Their credits are “Assistant to the Director” (Leon Vitali), “Assistant to Stanley Kubrick” (Anthony Frewin) and “Assistant to Mr. Kubrick” (Emilio D’Alessandro).

Reportedly, the DVD version sold in Europe is completely uncensored: gone are the computer-generated people in the foreground obscuring some of the more explicit sexual action.

Sky Dumont dubbed his part himself in the German release.

Rade Serbedzija dubbed himself in the Italian release.

Director Trademark: [Stanley Kubrick] [114] The room in the morgue visited by Bill is in wing C, room 114 (C-Rm114, or CRM-114). CRM-114 was the name of the decoding machine in Kubrick’s film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, as well as the number printed on the medicine that Alex is given in A Clockwork Orange.

Cameo: [Emilio D’Alessandro] Kubrick’s assistant appears as the book vendor.

Stanley Kubrick’s daughter Katharina Kubrick and his grandson Alex Hobbs appear as the mother and the kid patient who had his face examined by Bill.

The music during the ceremony at the masked ball is a fragment of an Orthodox mass played backwards; the priest is singing in Romanian.

The film was “pushed” two stops in processing, thus enabling Stanley Kubrick to film using existing source lighting (table lamps, overhead lights, etc.) whenever possible. The light level remained low even when lighting had to be supplemented with Lowell or Chinese paper ball lamps as fill or key lights.

Entered into The Guinness Book of World Records as “The Longest Constant Movie Shoot”.

Though often referred to as Stanley Kubrick’s “unfinished masterpiece”, the final edit of the film was actually presented to Warner Bros. (by Kubrick) a full four days before his death.

Filming on this movie lasted 400 days.

The 13 and-a-half minute billiard room scene between Tom Cruise and Sydney Pollack took about three weeks of filming. The greeting scene at the party early in the picture took only two hours.

Early on in production, Stanley Kubrick, a huge Woody Allen fan, considered casting him in the Victor Ziegler role eventually given to Sydney Pollack. He also considered casting Steve Martin in the role of Dr. William Harford, eventually given to Tom Cruise.

Stanley Kubrick’s first film to open at #1 at the US box office.

When Stanley Kubrick was first developing ideas for the film in the early 1980’s his first choice for the male lead was Steve Martin. Kubrick had greatly enjoyed The Jerk.

CAMEO(Lisa Leone: the set decorator and second unit production manager is playing Lisa.

Cameo: [Brian W. Cook] served as co-producer and first assistant director and played the tall butler.

Due to Stanley Kubrick’s fear of travel virtually the entire film was shot in and near London (despite the movie’s New York setting). Elaborate street sets built at Pinewood Studios were used for all the scenes showing Tom Cruise walking around the city.

Christiane Kubrick (Stanley’s wife) and Katharina Kubrick (Kubrick’s stepdaughter) contributed original paintings to the film.

Next to the Sonata Jazz club is a café called “Gillespie’s”, named after famous jazz musician Dizzy Gillespie.

Paul Thomas Anderson made a visit to the set, where he offered the role of Frank T.J. Mackey in Magnolia to Tom Cruise.

In a few shots of Tom Cruise walking through the city, background plates of actual New York streets were rear-projected behind the actor walking on a treadmill.

The Harford’s apartment is based on a New York apartment where the Kubrick family lived during the early 1960s.

This movie spent almost a year in post-production.

Variety reported that Stanley Kubrick himself selected the movie’s release date after analyzing scores of box-office data provided to him Warner Bros.

Stanley Kubrick and director of photography Larry Smith tested out different film stocks and finally settled on one that had been discontinued by Kodak. As a courtesy, Kodak offered to supply as many rolls of this film as would be needed for the project.

Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman signed open-ended contracts. They agreed to work on this project until Stanley Kubrick released them from it, however long that turned out to be.

The article Bill Harford (Tom Cruise) is reading in the café titled “Ex-beauty queen dies in hotel drugs overdose” credits “Larry Celona” as the article’s author. Larry Celona was the journalistic advisor for the film.