Occasional Evenings: Eyes Wide Shut — a Screening and Discussion

The theatrical release of Stanley Kubrick’s final film, Eyes Wide Shut (1999), was anticipated by a scrupulously managed trickle of hype: after twelve years of silence, Hollywood’s most cerebral filmmaker returns—with an erotic thriller, no less, starring Hollywood’s then most gossip-worthy couple (Nicole Kidman, Tom Cruise), only, days after submitting the final cut, to die unexpectedly, opening the sluice gates of conspiracy-minded speculation. And not without warrant. Based on Arthur Schnitzler’s racy novella Dream Story, which scandalized prewar bourgeois proprieties, Kubrick transposed the anxiety and ennui of fin-de-siècle Vienna to eve-of-the-millennium Manhattan, where sexual jealousy motivates a middle-class doctor’s descent into a perfidious world of insouciant power, venal desire, secret societies, disguises, and the threat of marital and psychic dissolution. 

Join us Friday, April 25th, at BISR Central, for a screening and discussion of Eyes Wide Shut with BISR faculty Danielle Drori, Jude Webre, and Lauren K. Wolfe. Following the screening, we’ll take up both Kubrick’s source in turn-of-the-century Vienna and his adaptation of its themes at the fabled end of history. What is the role of sexual fantasy in romantic love, in married life, in late capitalism, and in the psychic constitution of the self? How do literary and cinematic technique realize the logic of dreams, and of conspiratorial thinking? And what are the critical stakes of Kubrick’s adaptation—be they cautionary, moralizing, nihilistic, or parodic?

The event is free to attend, with a suggested $10 donation. Beer, wine, seltzer, and snacks will be served. Doors open at 6:45pm; the screening will begin at 7pm sharp. Please RSVP below.

Event Schedule

Friday, 7:00pm ET
April 25, 2025

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