Eyes Wide Shut, an Allegory of Alice’s Dreams

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Michael Garcia Mujica

"Currer Bell is neither man nor woman, but an abstract thing, an artist."

• Michael Garcia Mujica, Lead Educator in Arts and Film History.

Echoing the sentiment about Charlotte Brontë's pseudonymous voice, Michael lends his expertise not only as a writer and visual artist but also as a Lead Educator in arts and film history. Based in Coral Gables, Florida, he is the principal of Vintage Brooks, Inc., where he passionately revitalizes the legacy of silent film star Louise Brooks. His acclaimed blog, Naked on My Goat, serves as a living tribute to Brooks's enduring influence in film, her profound writing, and her broad appreciation for the arts.

Just as Brontë made an indelible mark in literature despite the societal constraints of her time, Michael accentuates Brooks's trailblazing spirit within the film industry. In his role, he ensures that Brooks's iconic voice continues to resonate within the cultural lexicon of the 21st century, celebrating the intricate victories of women in the arts, both past and present.

Explore more about the abstract persona of Charlotte Brontë in Michael's piece, "The Abstract Persona: Understanding Charlotte Brontë's Pseudonymous Journey as Currer Bell."

“I am satisfied that if a book is a good one, it is so whatever the sex of the author may be. All novels are or should be written for both men and women to read, and I am at a loss to conceive how a man should permit himself to write anything that would be really disgraceful to a woman, or why a woman should be censured for writing anything that would be proper and becoming for a man.”

• Anne Brontë, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

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Eyes Wide Shut: The Dream Story of Alice

The film’s leitmotif is domesticity, sexual disturbance, and dreams, all conveyed in an enigmatic manner.

Eyes Wide Shut (1999) is Stanley Kubrick‘s final film, the director’s final outing before his death at the end of the 20th Century.

The picture begins with the distinctive surroundings and vividness of a dream.

In the film, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman play Bill and Alice Harford, a couple who have been married for nine years. Their seven-year-old daughter Helena (Madison Eginton) is left with a babysitter while they attend a holiday dinner hosted by wealthy attorney Victor Ziegler (Sydney Pollack) and his wife Illona (Leslie Lowe). Bill is a doctor with his own private practice, and Alice is a stay-at-home mom who used to run an art gallery.

Which Witch Is Which?

Later, at the party, Bill flirts with two spellbinding women who bring to mind the Moirai, while Alice drunkenly considers but ultimately rejects the overtures of a Faustian bargain from a middle-aged Hungarian businessman acting as the Devil’s agent.

As an illustration, when you conjoin the rainbow sisters with Alice, as well as the occult symbol that appears over her head in the background as she dances with the Mephistopheles-like character Sandor Szavost (Sky du Mont), you get a vaguely related conjuring of Hecate. Two leaves of a book: forming a single piece. Everything is mysterious. Crossroads, entrances, night, light, magic, and witchcraft are just a few of the things Hecate is linked to.

Meanwhile, Bill is quietly summoned upstairs for what appears to be an emergency just as the two bewitching and haunting women are about to demonstrate “where the rainbow ends.”

Hecate is a goddess of witchcraft and an ancient underworld deity. Trivia was her Roman epithet, which she shared with Diana/Artemis in their respective duties as protectors of travel and crossroads. The word trivia derives from the Latin trivium, which is divided into two parts. A trivium was a crossroads where three highways met. The word trivium means “three” (as in triple and trinity), and “vium” means “way”.

Behind the Blue Veil: The Women

The following evening, Alice shares a glimpse of fantasy with Bill. Disclosing that she dreamt about having an affair and fantasized about it so much that she pondered leaving Bill and their daughter.

At this level, Alice’s divulgence appears deliberative in order to arouse an emotional convergence with Bill. That is, she contrived a methodical approach to reveal her occult persona. Kubrick here employs dialogue to describe dreams and desires.

Alice’s monologue encourages the use of one’s imagination, which is often more powerful in manifesting the desired effect in Film.

For this reason, Bill is taken aback by Alice’s Pandoranian unboxing before being called to the home of a recently deceased patient. As a result, the groundwork for his Pinnochian adventure has been laid.

Before long, Bill arrives at the patient’s home. Marion, the patient’s enigmatic daughter, who appears distraught, decides to have a high old time with Bill and declares her love for him abruptly and ambiguously in the middle of the room where her late father lies.

At this juncture is it possible that Bill was brought to the house as part of an occult ritual rather than as an afterthought, or is it just a trick of the light?

Meanwhile, Marion tries unsuccessfully to seduce Bill, but it appears like she is clinging to him, to protect him; or warn him of something before her boyfriend Carl walks in and intrudes on them.

Consequently, Marion’s motivation is unknown, and it’s uncertain if she behaved wittingly or unwittingly. The entire scene is ripe with allusion and ambiguity.

It’s worth noting that “In mora” is an anagram of Marion. The Latin term Mora means “to linger, delay,” which was also used to translate the metrical connotation of the Greek word chrónos (time). Likewise, “Amor” is an anagram of Mora. The Roman equivalent of the Greek god Eros, is known as “Amor” in Latin.

The Little Match Girl

In the first place, Bill is a daydreamer and easily sidetracked. Late at night, with an intense and misguided fervor, he traverses through the shadowy streets of New York, where holiday decorations kindle a misty path of blue-fiery hues.

Just in the same way, Bill’s drawn to Domino: a fascinating young woman who befriends him. She tries enticing him, urging him to accompany her home, and out of the cold, much like a moth to a flame, Bill is mesmerized by her luster.

They eventually make their way to Domino’s house. Bill has a series of comforting minutes in her company: the warm apartment, Domino’s enchanting embrace, and a magical kiss akin to kindling fire: a single ember to light his way through the darkness. As the match burns out, he is interrupted by a phone call from his wife. So far, Domino has shown him kindness and concern. Bill then expresses gratitude for Domino’s time and departs for the night after compensating her.

Rota Fortunae

Generally in medieval and ancient philosophy, Fate’s fickle character is symbolized by Rota Fortunae or The Wheel of Fortune. The goddess Fortuna (Greek equivalent: Tyche) owns the wheel, which she spins at random, changing the positions of those who sit on it; some suffer terrible misfortune while others gain immense profits.

Next, Bill embarks on a night-long journey filled with intrigue, which includes: infiltrating an unnamed secret society with a rented Venetian mask and a password: Fidelio.

When Bill arrives uninvited to the Jacobethan mansion for the special ceremony, he witnesses the master of ceremonies (Red Cloak) perform the occult rite at Mentmore’s Grand Hall.

Furthermore, a Rota Fortunae of women appears in the Masked Ball ritual, and the master of ceremonies spins a ceremonial wheel, so to speak, dispatching ladies of the night at random.

As a result, various elements, including Alice’s dreams, the cryptic cult, and Bill’s part in it all, motivate and explain Bill’s adventure.

All the while, he is being led astray by a shadowy, fragmented society of strange people and strange phenomena that are erupting all around him at the same time.

Interestingly, The Masked Ball was shot at Mentmore Towers, a 19th-century English country estate built for the Rothschild family in the Buckinghamshire village of Mentmore between 1852 and 1854.

Moreover, Fortuna’s Wheel is widely portrayed in medieval art, from manuscripts to the exquisite Rose Windows found in many medieval cathedrals. The wheel appears in Dante’s Inferno, and the Major Arcana Tarot card “Wheel of Fortune” was named after it (circa 1440, Italy).

On the other hand, reversing the Wheel of Fortune Tarot card reveals recurring life lessons, patterns, and cycles.

Also, the word recur comes from the Latin term recurrere, which means “to run back.” Just in the same way, Jocelyn Pook’s music can be heard in the backdrop during the ritual, which is a sample of an Orthodox liturgy played backward with Romanian chanting.

In total, Fortuna is well-known for her numerous appearances and references in literary works published in languages other than Romance. The significance and symbolism of the deity are usually the emphases of these resources.

The Hortus deliciarum (Latin for Garden of Delights) was the first female-authored encyclopedia. It was completed to great acclaim in 1185.

We’re Not in Kansas Anymore

On the evening of the following day, when Bill returns home, he discovers the rented Venetian mask on his pillow next to his sleeping wife. Replete with a sobering ‘We’re not in Kansas anymore’ expression on his face, he realizes the true nature of Alice’s ambiguous disclosure. In the end, Alice reverts to her domestic persona; it all seems like a dream.

And like a dream, this text from the ancient Sanskrit scripture The Upanishads describes the characters of Alice and Bill vaguely and dreamily: “We are similar to the spider. We weave our lives and then move through them. We are similar to the dreamer who dreams and then lives in his or her dream. This applies to the entire universe.”

As Above, So Below

Significantly the characters Alice Harford and Victor Ziegler serve as Virgilian guides throughout the film’s plot. Virgil is also a six-letter anagram of Victor Ziegler.

Following this further, The Divine Comedy is an epic poem written by Dante Alighieri in which the character Dante must travel through Hell and Purgatory with the help of the Roman poet Virgil before being transported to Heaven by his first love, Beatrice.

Lastly, the poem is more than a phantasmal physical journey to the afterlife; it is also a dream about transcendence and a metaphor for the poet’s enlightenment. Virgil not only shows Dante the physical path through Hell, but he also reinforces moral tenets. Similarly, Victor, like Virgil, is wise and protective of Bill.

The Pendulum of the Mind

In general, I believe there is no distinct pattern of right or wrong in Stanley Kubrick’s film, only a hazy hue for us, the audience, to deduce the meaning despite indistinctness or ambiguity.

Furthermore, there is a wonderful quote that parallels this: “The pendulum of the mind oscillates between sense and nonsense, not between right and wrong.” Carl Jung wrote in his semi-autobiographical book Memories, Dreams, Reflections.

Following this line of reasoning, the movie may be deciphered from a feminist perspective. For example, several female characters appear more intuitive and cognizant than their male counterparts, who hide behind personas (i.e. simulacrums), and rubrics (i.e. simulation), both of which are part of the film’s motifs.

Similarly, the phantasmagoria of masks in Eyes Wide Shut is consistent: persona (psychology) is the film’s primary constituent.

Therefore at the conclusion of the film, anima and animus, simulacrum and façade, simulation and reality are compartmentalized.