From his decision to adapt the scandalous Lolita to the
world-annihilating cynicism of Dr.
Strangelove to the unflinching anti-storytelling of 2001 to the horrific physical and psychological violence of A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, and Full Metal
Jacket, Stanley Kubrick made a career of shocking viewers. He
seemed to save up his most unrelenting succession of shocks for what turned out
to be his final film. Kubrick’s decision to film a lengthy orgy extreme enough for U.S. censors to demand its actions be obscured with digital censors was
shocking. The fact that the film required an excruciating 18 months to shoot
was shocking. The way the long, long, long awaited film from the man many rated
as cinema’s greatest living artist baffled, repelled, and bored many viewers
was shocking. Kubrick’s sudden death shortly after completing the first cut of Eyes Wide Shut was the biggest shock of all.
Even if you are among those viewers who loathe Eyes Wide
Shut, the shocking nature of its making may still compel you to read Eyes Wide Shut: Stanley Kubrick and the
Making of His Final Film. Robert P. Kolker and Nathan Abrams uncover new
shocks that enrich the story of an already labyrinthian film. Although I knew
that the film gestated in Kubrick’s mind for a long time, I was surprised that
it did so for as many as 40 years. Kolker and Abrams imply that Kubrick’s
obsession with bringing Arthur Schnitzler’s Traumnovelle
to the screen may have infused much of his earlier work, including Lolita, A Clockwork Orange, and The
Shining (Kubrick annotated his copy of Stephen King’s novel with ideas for
scenes that seem straight out of Schnitzler’s), and unproduced projects such as
Burning Secret and Laughter in the Dark. Though there is a
lot of humor in the finished product (particularly in its oft-misunderstood orgy sequence), I was also surprised by the wealth of
evidence that Kubrick seriously considered adapting Traumnovelle as a comedy, and that he’d considered casting Woody
Allen and Steve Martin in the lead role and communicated with Terry Southern
about writing it.
While I noticed at least one exaggeration (Kolker and Abrams called the Eyes Wide
Shut shoot history’s longest, but the 12-year shoot of Boyhood and the 5-year shoot of Eraserhead
easily beat its 18 months), the book is well researched (materials include
Kubrick’s personal faxes and notes he made on scripts and in books) and doesn’t
oversell its conclusions. I’m not sure if it will spur Eyes Wide Shut haters to reevaluate the film, but Eyes Wide Shut: Stanley Kubrick and the Making of His Final Film will give them
some fresh insight into the seemingly impenetrable mind of Stanley Kubrick.
