Believe it or not, I think this is a reel-change problem.  That scene
comes at the end of a reel.  I've seen the film twice, and in two
different cities.  The first time, in a theater that had it cued
correctly, I saw the camera circle from the mirror reflection to Kidman's
eyes, which look off, sending the spectator both back to her rapturous
"fling" with the would-be seducer at the party and forward to the
confession of her fantasy with the Naval officer.  From her eyes (which
are wide open to other possibilities when they should, according to film
convention, be closed to everything but the romantic clinch she's in), the
film slowly fades to black (Kubrick being famous for blackouts, which are
subdued in this film compared to, say, PATHS OF GLORY).  When the film
fades back in, it's to Cruise getting out of an elevator the next day.

The second time I saw the film, the reels had apparently been spliced
together too soon, a common problem evidently with the way this film has
been delivered to the exhibitors.  The cut comes before the camera circles
to Kidman's eyes, thus lopping off an important moment--but then, if you
ask me, all the moments are important in this  glorious film! (So much
for academic objectivity.)

Now we know why Kubrick, according to legend, kept an eye on each and
every theater that showed his films.  Perhaps Warners ought to be notified
about this glitch which, as you point out, does affect a viewer's
experience of the film.

Dennis Bingham
Indiana University Indianapolis

On Thu, 22 Jul 1999, Jeremy Butler wrote:

> On Wed, 21 Jul 1999 15:10:38 -0500, From: "Richard J. Leskosky"
> <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > I saw EYES WIDE SHUT  last night, and I wonder if something had been
> > snipped from the early scene of lovemaking between Bill and Alice.  The
> > music track of "Baby's Done a Bad Bad Thing" seemed to end far too
> abruptly
> > in what I saw.
>
> The same thought occurred to me, Richard.
>
> The EWS trailer that was shown at ShoWest (and widely distributed on the
> Web) consists of Cruise and Kidman embracing and runs 83 seconds--although
> that includes some graphics as well.  Still, the shot seems to run longer
> than in the final film.
>
> In a film that runs 2.5 hours, it seems odd to trim these few seconds (if,
> indeed, that is what's happened).
>
> --Jeremy Butler
>
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