Eyes Wide Shut

Kubrick's psychosexual drama (two years in the making), and last film, turned out to be visually interesting (because everything was done on soundstages) but less than compelling. Society doc William Harford (Cruise) and wife Alice (Kidman) seem to have it all, until a stoned Alice confesses to having lustful thoughts for others besides her hubby. Bill can't admit to the same (he's kind of a chilly guy), but this revelation sends him reeling out into the Manhattan night looking for adventure. He ends his evening observing, but not joining in, an aristocratic, anonymous orgy before heading home, presumably a wiser man. Kidman's role basically fades out after her bravura confessional and Cruise seems more like an interested bystander than a man whose known world has crumbled. Based on Arthur Schnitzler's 1926 novel "Traumnovelle."