TOM CRUISE AND THE MASTER OF THE MUFFIN

One thing you can say for sure about Stanley Kubrick: the man was a visual genius and never made a film that wasn't lovely to look at. These strengths are on full display in the master's flawed, erotic final masterpiece, EYES WIDE SHUT.

Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman star as Dr. Bill and Alice Harford, a wealthy Manhattan couple about to get a rude awakening in the seemingly sedate state of their union. Pic opens with the pair preparing for a night out. The striking opening shot of the lovely Kidman completely disrobing not only immediately wins over audience affection but sets up what's wrong in the Harford shangri-la. Viewers see this but the doctor doesn't. This is reinforced moments later when Bill walks in on Alice taking a squirt and hardly acknowledges her. The excellent prologue portrays Bill as comfortably turning a blind eye toward his wife's emotional needs. This hubris will later set up pic's central narrative thrust.

From here pic shifts to holiday party at socialite Victor Ziegler's (Sydney Pollack). Bill bumps into old college mate and pianist Nick Nightingale (Todd Field), who will play a significant role later on before disappearing. Bill and Alice separately encounter sexual advances from two mega hot models and a suave, Oscar Wilde quoting Hungarian, respectively, but don't act on them. Bill's potential threesome is interrupted by an emergency call from Ziegler, who viewers discover is not quite the charming man he seems. Night concludes with the couple making whoopee in front of a mirror.

Story shifts to the next evening, where Bill and Alice share a unique heart to heart. Alice's interrogation over Bill's "innocent" flirtation with the models concludes with a compelling and very haunting admission from Alice about her sexual attraction to a man the previous summer. A shocked, SHOCKED Bill is unleashed from there into the heart of a long, provocative night.

Bill's chance for a retort to Alice's startling mea culpa is interrupted by a summons to a patient who has just died. His encounter with the deceased's daughter (A quietly affecting Marie Richardson) is the first in a long line of sexual misadventures Bill undertakes as a measure of cuckolded husband revenge against Alice, including a chance run in with the aforementioned Nightingale and culminating in a nocturnal trip to a solemn, ritualized orgy. The climactic orgy, where Bill is "unmasked" and "saved" by a mystery woman who seems to know a lot more about the good doctor than seems likely, is the film's erotic centerpiece. Night concludes with another disturbing sexual account from Alice, which only drives Bill further into the jealous muck.

From here momentum deflates as pic employs a "Clockwork Orange" story device where Bill returns to scenes of previous evening's escapades. To complicate matters, a stalker appears to shadow his lonely sojourns through the city. The threatened fall out of Bill's participation in the orgy adds tension to pic's third act, especially when "mystery woman" winds up dead. Pic concludes with a visit to Ziegler's which serves to only confuse Bill's and audience understanding of what exactly has taken place; and Bill's confession to Alice, which after some tearful soul searching appears to unite lapsed couple in a stronger, more everlasting bond.

Acting is surprisingly lopsided. While Cruise and especially Kidman are in terrific form, supporting turns from Rade Sherbedgia (As the colorfully shady owner of a costume shop) and Alan Cumming (As the fey concierge at Nightingale's hotel seem out of place in film, while injecting some unexpected but welcome humour in the process. Pollack, "In the Bedroom" director Field, and in particular Richardson are in fine form. Vinessa Shaw appears briefly but memorably as Domino, a hooker Bill almost knocks the boots with.

But EYES WIDE SHUT belongs to our lady grinning soul, Nicole Kidman. Her stirring, soul baring monologues (The premiere confessional about the sailor is a magnetic tour de force) are electric charges of intimate truth and delivered with eerie, slow and seductive determination. It's quite an accomplishment when an actress's voice nearly lulls you to sleep while commanding your utmost attention at the same time. As character who sets film in motion, Kidman delivers a knockout performance every bit the revelation her work in "To Die For" was.

Pic's production values are magnificent. Larry Smith's sumptuous photography bathes the party sequences with an almost hallucinatory glow. Confession scenes are set in ethereal shades of nocturnal blue. Production design by Les Thompkins and Ray Walker is superb. The mock Greenwich Village and orgy sets are particular triumphs, while christmas trees appearing in all sets serve to stubbornly remind viewers of the tangled domesticity Bill finds himself in.

Screenplay by Kubrick and Frederic Raphael (Adapted from Arthur Schnitzler's "Traumnovelle") is fascinating, if a bit opaque for most audiences. While the film's structure is unique, the conclusion leaves a lot to be desired. Too many questions raised by the good doctor's journey either go unanswered or remain dissatisfying, and film's pacing wanes heavily in third act. But Kubrick's direction keeps film hypnotic, tantalizing and always watchable. EYES WIDE SHUT stands as a fitting farewell for a master of cinema who left behind an impeccable legacy.