Eyes Wide Shut theory
 

Just watched the movie (a few times). I know there’s a lot of different theories, theories about kidnapping, theories about the 24 mins that were cut, etc.

One thing I noticed about the beginning of the film.. when I first watched the beginning I thought ‘why would Kubrick even show this part?’ (Tom and Nicole getting ready for the party) It’s a pretty boring scene and why wouldn’t Kubrick just start the movie with them entering the party?

Then I realized the beginning of the movie is an exact inversion of the ending of the film. That’s why Kubrick included it.

In the beginning Nicole Kidman’s asks Tom Cruise how she looks and Tom says she looks good without even looking (hence “eyes wide shut”) they are just going through the motions and not even really aware of each other and don’t have a strong connection. The child is in the arms of the babysitter safe.

The ending is the exact opposite. Tom and Nicole have a good connection and she says something like “we’re awake now”. But they are not focused on the child who is (depending on what you believe) allegedly kidnapped.

Then the Christmas party is an exact inversion of the Masked party. Nick is playing piano at both parties and he is led away by someone at the X-max party and led away by someone at the masked party (while wearing a blindfold…again, eyes wide shut). One party seems positive and the other is more sinister.

There’s a lot more to go into there which I will hold off for now, but what are everyone’s thoughts on this masterpiece of a film?

Good stuff, great observations! And welcome to Movie Forums.

We did a podcast on this film a few years back, if you're at all interested. We get into some pretty heady/symbolic stuff, for sure.

I'll reproduce it here, as well:

Nice. I look forward to listening to this.

Perhaps it needs to be viewed forwards and backwards at the same time.

Interesting. Just like they did with The Shining in Room 237.

I completely forgot about that.

I have no doubt now that Kubrick purposely planned it like that