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Product Description
Stanley Kubrick died on 7 March 1999 at his Hertfordshire home, having finished the editing of his last film. Eyes Wide Shut was released later that year. Adapted from Arthur Schnitzler's 1926 Viennese novel Dream Story, relocated and updated to contemporary Manhattan, Eyes Wide Shut stars Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman as a prosperous couple whose marriage is tested in the aftermath a series of sinister events. The film baffled many of its first audiences. It had all the lavish attention to detail of a Kubrick film but it seemed slow, enigmatic, too much of a dream. Michel Chion's extraordinary study of Eyes Wide Shut makes the case that it is one of Kubrick's masterpieces and a fitting testament. To appreciate this, though, it is necessary to look at what happens on the screen without bringing preconceptions to bear. The film needs to be taken at face value. Looked at this way, Eyes Wide Shut reveals itself to be a deeply moving film about characters who are not so different from real people, a film about life in which questions of meaning and motive lose their value.
About the Author
Based in Paris, Michel Chion has written many books on the cinema, including a series of groundbreaking works on film sound as well as David Lynch (bfi, 1995) and Kubrick's Cinema Odyssey (bfi, 2000).
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3.1 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant, insightful book!, 15 May 2003
By Supervert "supervert-dot-com" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Eyes Wide Shut (BFI Modern Classics) (Paperback)
Stanley Kubrick must have been habituated to negative reviews, given the controversy that many of his films inspired. Still, there was something poignant about seeing Eyes Wide Shut scathed by the critics when Kubrick himself had just passed away. It is a great film, a masterpiece, and yet it seemed so vulnerable there without the director himself able to lend his considerable energy to its defense. Apparently everyone was expecting a Tom and Nicole lovefest and thus could not see the film for what it was -- a kind of fin-de-siecle film about love, albeit seen in a glass darkly.Fortunately, defenders of the film are finally emerging from the woods, and at their forefront is Michel Chion. His book -- which is insightful, elegantly written, and unpretentious (a notable quality in film books) -- makes a very strong case for considering Eyes Wide Shut as the work of genius that it no doubt is. He writes with extreme sensitivity to the film's meticulous construction, luminescent cinematography, sinuous psychology, and stylized dialogue. Attentive to the smallest of details, Chion demonstrates how a simple transition shot -- Tom Cruise entering an apartment and knocking on a bedroom door (a scene that Kubrick apparently filmed dozens of times) -- plays an important part in the semantics of the entire film. And those who think of Kubrick as a cinematic purist will be surprised by Chion's convincing analysis of the film's deliberate use of language -- passwords, repetitions, even spelling, as when an incidental character spells her name aloud with such insinuation that no come-on ever sounded so alluring.
It is not always easy to explain the roots of admiration, and sometimes you simply do or do not love a thing -- a book, a film, an artwork. But Chion's book has the great merit of transforming the author's love for the film into insight and exegesis, and perhaps in this way it might inspire admiration in others too...
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent, but Quirky- for EWS diehards only, 31 Dec 2008
By David - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Eyes Wide Shut (BFI Modern Classics) (Paperback)
Michel Chion's book on Eyes Wide Shut may disappoint some looking for a solid, unwavering analysis of the film. Chion offers no such thing. Rather, he approaches the film with a sensitive, keen eye for detail and a penchant for unique and quirky insights. He makes many observations, but has no urge to unite all these observations under one thematic banner, as many are wont to do. That is, Chion observes Eyes Wide Shut as a film full of signifiers, without signifieds. For Chion, there is no signified-in-waiting, no monumental possible revelation of the film's "meaning," that will tie all the patterns and events of the film together. This is somewhat refreshing, as most people seek to pin a film down- to make declarative, concrete statements on what the film, without hesitation, is "about."
Chion's love for the film is so seemingly great that he cannot bring himself to pin it down to anything in particular. Which is fine; Eyes Wide Shut is indeed a film brimming with ambuguity, a film in which, as Chion notes, banal and supposedly important lines of dialogue are given the same level of attention and emphasis. (Chion: "The film does not impose on us a hierarchy of what is important and what is not.") All in all, this is a great, fascinating read- though somewhat slight, coming in at just under 100 pages. Anyone infatuated with Eyes Wide Shut would do well to give Chion's book a chance, though with a fair warning not to expect any sort of traditional analysis.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Quite Interesting to know, 14 Dec 2010
By Marco Lalama Gross "Marco Lalama-Gross" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Eyes Wide Shut (BFI Modern Classics) (Paperback)
I'm not a film student or a literary expert. I am just a Kubrick fan who always wanted to know more about the director's work. I personally found Eyes Wide Shut intriguing, and always felt that there was more to know about it. I went about and read the novel Traumnovelle, and also read the script. I am very satisfied with Chion's analysis, since it has given me useful details that have helped me understand the film better by paying attention to subtle details. At moments, though, I felt that the author was rambling without any concise or rigorous view; but I understand that such thing is a part of film analysis. I would highly reccomend this short essay, for people who would like to know more about this wonderful film.
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