In case You Missed it: ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ is Available for Streaming on Hulu

Vivian Mwikali
Onedio Member
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We're counting the days to the month's end when streaming platforms will make a bunch of new releases, not only originals but also the ones that have been around for some time now.

So, as I was catching up on films available on Hulu’s listing, I came by one of my all-time favorite movies starring Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise, Eyes Wide Shut. Though the classic drama film has gradually made it to my annual Christmas bucket list of movies, I occasionally re-indulge with a glass of wine on hand.

Initially released in September 1999 in the U.K., Eyes Wide Shut is an erotic mystery psychological drama film with a hint of cult action. I never really know what genre to place this movie in. It's one of those absolutely bizarre films that you can't shake off, leaving you yearning to watch it over and over again.

Tom Cruise, starring as Dr Bill Harford, and his wife Alice (Nicole Kidman) share their sexual fantasies, including Alice's contemplation of sleeping with a sailor on their cruise vacation a year earlier. 

Building explicit images of Alice with the sailor in his mind, Bill embarks on the longest and weirdest night adventure, including a visit to a hooker and purchasing a masquerade costume to attend a chilling masked cultic orgy by a secret well-to-do society.

Running for a 400-day film production, Eyes Wide Shut holds the Guinness World for the longest continuous film shoot. Unfortunately, the film's director Stanley Kubrick died only six days after submitting his final cut to Warner Bros Pictures. The movie grossed $162 million in global theatres, making it Kubrick's highest-grossing film.

Critics consensus: “Kubrick’s intense study of the human psyche yields an impressive cinematic work.”

Eyes Wide Shut hosts several masked faces, some unrecognizable, but here are honorary mentions in addition to Kidman and Cruise: Madison Eginton as Helena Harford, Sydney Pollack as Victor Ziegler, Alan Cumming as Hotel Desk Clerk, Todd Field as Nick Nightingale, Julienne Davis as Mandy, Marie Richardson as Marion, Sky du Mont as Sandor Szavost and Thomas Gibson as Carl.