Am I clutching at straws to include this film in a Festive Favourites list? After all what says Christmas more than a secret high society sex cult?
Well, nothing other than the fact that Eyes Wide Shut takes place over the festive season, and I love Stanley Kubrick, so you can’t stop me from including it!
While it’s not your usual Christmas movie brimming with festive cheer or romance, it’s almost like a shot of reality, or perhaps it could even be called an Anti-Christmas film.
Film Critic Lee Seigel wrote:
“There is the fantasy of absolute gratification, cynically projected from every corner of the culture, and there is the reality of the cookie and the child and the homework and the companion you have chosen, and for whom, despite everything, you sit at home waiting. Compared with the everyday reality of sex and emotion, our fantasies of gratification are, yes, pompous and solemn in the extreme. That is why the film’s recurrent motif is of the Christmas tree. For desire is like Christmas: it always promises more than it delivers.”
This analysis really hits the nail on the head. When you delve deeper into the film, its themes of sexuality, ego, desire, and sexism really are complemented by the fantastic metaphor of Christmas. And, of course, it goes without saying that all those lights make for great cinematography.
Let me know in the comments what your Favourite Festive Film and TV picks are.