BFI Classics: Eyes Wide Shut

• 4th Jun 2011

Author: Michael Chion

Kubrick’s last film gets the treatment from the BFI Film Classics series by author Michael Chion.

Perception can be a funny thing – and the film largely follows the perceptions of Tom Cruise’s main character as he involves himself in matters surrounding both happenstance and coincidence in his life.

Chion looks deeper into the different sections of the film as the main couples relationship is put on strain through perception of the facts and fictions around them. The book follows the narrative in a linear strand – looking at how the film’s visual aspects dictate the lies and uncertainties of what you see on screen. Do we need to go back and watch that scene again? Was all it seemed? Was everything literally as it seemed with only our lead characters imagination getting away from him.

This volume looks closely at our own desires and preconceptions in a modern day society. This marks a compelling entry into BFI Classics canon. And you couldn’t ask for less when it comes to the work of Kubrick.

Steven Hurst