Lots of spoilers, be careful! ================================================== ================================================== ================================================== ====
This is the last movie in Kubrick’s life. In this movie, Kubrick used a lot of involution, whether Zhuangzi dreamed of becoming a butterfly, or a butterfly dreamed of becoming Zhuangzi. Such a structure of f(f(x)=x (sorry I don't know the technical terminology in the field of film).
After watching it again, most viewers will realize that this is a story that happened within 4 days of Christmas. However, I think that Kubrick used the chronological sequence to obscure the true sequence of the story, achieving the blinding method of allowing the viewer to see everything but nothing (eyes wide shut). The story begins in the home of Bill and his wife Alice, a model middle-class family in the United States. Bill is a successful doctor and is proud of his professional achievements. He has shown his medical qualification certificate many times in the play. Alice is a beautiful and decent wife who cares about her beauty very much. They are happy and respectful. Bill and Alice receive an invitation from Bill's customer Ziegler to attend a Christmas party. Later, at the party, Alice was tempted by a Hungarian man and Bill made a mistake to help Ziegler cover up a scandal. When they got home the next day, the couple pumped high. Alice revealed that he had thought about cheating, and this matter lingered in Bill's mind. After Bill received a call, another customer died, Bill went out to comfort his daughter, and thus began a fantasy adventure at night. The climax happened when Bill went to a mysterious party. So far, the story is basically the same as the novella "Dream Story" based on this movie. After that, the fork began. On the third day, Bill tried to find the truth about that party, but finally couldn't. On the fourth day, Bill confessed the truth to Alice and took his daughter to the mall to buy Christmas gifts.
But in fact, when we compare the two parties, we will find that this is a party at all. From symbolic symbols, to narratives, to lens use, what Kubrick implies here can no longer be more obvious, but the real story There are not 4 days at all, but only 3 days. Let's call this Christmas party the table Party for the time being, and the mysterious party as the inner party. At the party, Bill and Alice were invited to attend, and a screen flashed when they walked into the lobby.
Pay attention to the lighting on the wall. According to the story, it takes place at Christmas. According to Western custom, Christmas can be hung with five-pointed stars or hexagons. However, the lighting on the wall is obviously not one of the Christmas symbols, but comes from the Star of Ishtar. This is a goddess worship that originated from Mesopotamia. Ishtar was the goddess of sex and reproduction in the Middle East at that time, and then evolved into the Venus worship of ancient Greece and Rome. With reference to what happened in the second mysterious party, it is not difficult to think of the connection. This also reveals what really happened at this party, the rich and powerful. Another interesting point is that this movie is about the story of Christmas, but it was released in April, and April is exactly the Venus Festival in ancient Rome and Greece. I don't know if it is just a coincidence.
Then Alice and Bill walked into the hall. While dancing, Alice asked if he knew anyone at this party. Bill said that he did not know him, because although Bill is a respected doctor, this is a real high-class party, and Bill is at Here is a complete outsider. In the part of the party, the audience saw a polite and generous Bill. As the audience, we didn't see anything showing his feet. But in the face of high society, what is Bill's true psychological state? This is undoubtedly revealed in the Party. Although he was wearing a mask at the party, Bill was even more naked. His restraint, his curiosity, and his bewilderment were completely exposed to the audience. In the party, although Bill was wearing a mask as an outsider, he was even more naked, and he was seen through the first second he entered the villa. Then Bill saw his college friend Nightingale, he was the pianist of this party, and he was also the pianist of that party. There was a scene in each of the two parties, and Nightingale was talking about piano accompaniment on stage. In the table party, the people below are dancing. This is a social ritual of the party. The red robe of the party is also performing some special ritual, and the purpose of this ritual is to distribute resources.
When Bill went to talk to Nightingale, a Hungarian man named Sander hooked up Alice. And immediately asked Alice if she knew "Art of Love". This is a relatively infrequent book. The author is the ancient Roman poet Ovid. It is an encyclopedia about romance, hook-ups, extramarital affairs, etc. in ancient Rome. The method Sander uses to get Alice's attention comes from the chapter "Guts at the Banquet" in this book. He later mentioned that he wanted to invite Alice upstairs to see the collection of statues, reminiscent of everything that Bill saw in the party. In slow motion, countless beauties were licentious in the middle of the house price, and the people around were motionless like statues. And from Sander's conversation, Sander is also a member of the upper class of the party, and what he is doing now is hunting for beauty.
At this time, Bill was chatting with two models. Of course, these two models did not belong to the upper class, but were the objects of consumption for this banquet. Bill and Nightingale are actually the same as them, serving the real host of this party. Then the use of the camera was another obvious hint. At the party, two models took Bill through a corridor, the camera was in front of them, slowly zooming in. At the party, Bill was also pulled across a long corridor by a beauty. In these two clips, Bill is in a passive position. Bill from the Party is gentle, and Bill from the Party is trembling. At the party, Bill pushed halfway and asked where they were taking him. In fact, he knew he was about to start an affair. The beauties at the party warned Bill not to belong here, don't pretend to be stupid. When the two lines are reversed, you can discover Kubrick's true intentions. Just when two beauties brought Bill into "Where the rainbow ends", they were interrupted by a housekeeper. At the party, Bill's journey of hunting for beauty had not yet started, and was led away by a housekeeper. And the rainbow here also appeared later, becoming the beginning of a party full of temptation and mystery. Then at the table party, Bill was taken into the bathroom and saw Ziegler put on his clothes calmly, and a naked girl was lying on a chair, echoing the oil painting on the back. This is the meeting point of the table party and the inner party. In this toilet, the true face of this warm and civilized Christmas ball is revealed. Bill helped his customer Ziegler deal with the trouble and rescued the naked girl. Ziegler told Bill not to speak out, which is the same as the warning after Bill was exposed at the party behind that he kept his mouth shut.
As a successful and respected representative of the middle class, Bill had a longing for the upper class before coming to this prom, but in that toilet Bill saw the corruption and moral collapse behind the upper class. And this is just the beginning. Bill helps Ziegler conceal the truth, and when Bill's proud hypocritical morality cracks, a complete breakdown is about to happen.
The next day, Bill and Alice coaxed their daughter to fall asleep while smoking marijuana and had a very important conversation in the whole show, the importance even surpassed two parties. Alice was jealous about the chat between Bill and the two models the day before yesterday, while Bill showed an image of a good husband in mainstream values. She has no distractions about beautiful women in the hospital, and the same is true when facing beautiful women at parties. Because of the love for Alice; I believe that Alice will not cheat because of the trust in Alice. Alice said something very crucial. He laughed at Bill not having sex with the two models because he was "scrupulous" rather than because he didn't want to. "Cause" is a manifestation of Bill's morality, but thinking or not wanting is out of instinct. What Bill does in the whole film is through moral repression instinct. Comparing the image of Bill in the two parties, it is very ironic here. The absurdity of each "standard model husband answer" corresponding to reality broke out in Alice's laughter. Then Alice said that Bill was too confident in herself and told the story that she almost abandoned all derailments. The evaluation of Bill's self-confidence and even narcissism was also pointed out by Ziegler in the final confrontation between Bill and Ziegler. Ziegler said bluntly that the beauty he associated with the hero, the beauty who died because of him was entirely his narcissistic conjecture. At this time Bill didn't care about the phrase "you r very very sure about yourself". All I was thinking of was the scene of Alice almost cheating.
Bill received a call from Marion, Nelson's daughter, a regular customer. Nelson passed away. Just beside Nelson's body, Marion, who was about to get married, confessed to Bill that he wanted to abandon everything and be with Bill. Here and the description of Alice's derailment just now become a pair of "contras." Bill turned from a derailed object to a participant, out of professional ethics, and out of "love for Alice" Bill rejected Marion.
在那段对话中，Alice坦言，这次精神出轨最奇妙的一点在于，她越是想出轨，对Bill的爱也越盛。而Bill则是脑子里越想象Alice出轨的画面，下半身的性欲越无处安放。最开始他半推半就的接受了妓女“Domino”的“邀请”，尽管最后没有成事他依然坚持付150美元。这钱即是他罪恶感的赎罪券，也是划分招妓和出轨的隔离墙，Bill的道德感面对愈来愈烈的本能慢慢后退。随后他脑海中又出现了Alice出轨的闪回，他拨打了先前他拒绝的Marion的电话，就是想约炮，Marion男人接起电话后他最终还是出于他的道德感把电话挂了。当他第二次拜访Domino家时，主动带了礼物，得知Domino不在家后，甚至对Domino室友Sally调起情来。他得知Domino被查出HIV阳性后，不论是出于后怕还是什么，他离开了Domino的家。联想片尾Alice所说的，我们应该感恩，风平浪静的躲过了危险，这可能就是她们躲过的众多危险之一。至此好男人Bill最后一道遮羞布也被撤下，这个晚上奇幻的“精神出轨经历”把他的虚伪道德观击得粉碎，而压垮他的最后一根稻草是他回到家中看到的那个面具。这是他带去里party弄丢的面具，象征着他的道德感和身份，这是他在表世界赖以生存的面具。他是如何获得斗篷和面具的呢，这里也是很值得玩味。因为半夜来访，他先是通过自己的医生执照（身份）获得了俄罗斯商人的信任，然后又通过200美元“购买”到半夜租服装的特权，借由“身份”和金钱，他获得了他需要的“道德外衣”。他被这些包裹从而获得安全感，去到里party中，就和他的后半夜经历一样，在里party对他的审判片段里，红斗篷要求他摘下面具，随后脱去衣服时他的尴尬和无力抵抗，这完全是他道德遮羞布被扯掉暴露其不愿正视的本能的隐喻。这个床头面具意味着他精神出轨真相暴露，他不再能继续伪装下去，他对Alice坦白了一切，这对模范夫妻虚伪生活的窗户纸被最后捅破，正如Ziegler所说，生活依然要照旧，第二天Alice和Bill带着女儿Helena去商店买圣诞礼物，Alice对Bill说一个晚上的真实远远比不上一辈子。Bill和Alice吵架后精神出轨的奇幻夜晚才是这段婚姻真正的样子，Alice这句话哪里是在说那个神秘的party，简直说的就是很多不幸的婚姻的本身。
Speaking of this, it is already clear what happened in this movie. The Bills attended an upper-class birthday party and accidentally broke its ugly side. Alice returned home and became jealous and told the truth about participating in the derailment. , Bill's spirit was hit, subconsciously trying to derail to balance. Evidence of mental derailment was exposed, Bill confessed everything, and the false illusion of a happy marriage was exposed. Finally, Alice and Bill chose to continue their loveless marriage.
Does the party really exist in that? This is where Kubrick is brilliant. The party here is a separate scene that follows the atmosphere and setting of the original book. The party in that scene was a fantasy in Bill's mind who smoked marijuana. In the movie, Bill learns from Nightingale that the party code is Fidelio. This is Beethoven’s only opera. It is about Florence who wanted to expose the warden’s crimes and was falsely accused, and then saved by his self-sacrificing wife. story. In the final confrontation between Ziegler and Bill, Ziegler also pointed out that this is a staged Charade. In the fantasy here, Bill is obviously Florence, what he wants to expose, what he wants to expose out of a sense of morality is the ugliness of the upper class, and the self-sacrificing wife is the mysterious woman in the party. According to Ziegler, This is a false sacrifice. Her death has nothing to do with what Bill did. Contact the previous Alice's evaluation of Bill. This paragraph is probably because Bill saw the news of Amanda's death in the newspaper out of conceited personality. of. But apart from these minutiae parts, the party is of course real. It is the party itself, which is more real than the party in which everyone wears the mask of identity and hypocritical morality. In the table party, the wealthy hunted and the prostitute Mandy almost died in the toilet after taking drugs. After the party, Amanda died at home after taking drugs. In the play, Mandy and Amanda are not the same person, but they represent the same kind of people. Symbol of power and money consumption. Not only Mandy and Amanda, Alice, Domino, the daughter of a Russian businessman, but also the future Helena, are all such people. The middle class represented by Bill. Suppress instinct with a hypocritical sense of morality, and use a sense of morality and identity as a mask to cover the empty and ugly soul.
Finally, there is Alice's dream. The description of this dream is very interesting. First, she said that Bill took her to a strange and desolate place, this place is called marriage. In the middle of the film, Alice and Bill’s daily montage, Bill receives patients in the hospital, Alice dresses herself up at home day after day, dresses up her daughter, and waits for her husband to return home. Compared with the days when she opened a gallery before marriage, it was barren and desolate. Alice Then, I know it's all your fault, and I point out that it was Bill that caused all this. Then Alice narrated that she had come to a garden full of flowers in her dream. The name of the garden was home. It is not difficult to make such a guess by contacting the hanging paintings and furnishings in the Bill and his wife's home. What happened in this home? Alice continued to describe her dream scene, which was similar to what Bill saw at the party. Alice is consumed by power and money just like those beauties in the inner world. Alice retaliated against Bill in a dream, and their marriage has long existed in name.
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