History Film / EyesWideShut

Creator/SydneyPollack plays Bill's friend Victor, who knows more than he's letting on. Creator/LeeleeSobieski appears briefly as the nymphet who tempts Bill at the costume shop.

* ParanoidThriller: After the protagonist infiltrates a mysterious masked orgy and gets exposed, he's feeling increasingly paranoid, believing that he's being pursued by the members of the conspiracy. The movie never clarifies whether; besides, [[ItWasAllADream there are implications]] [[SchrodingersButterfly that the whole story was a dream]].

* QuestForSex: With his wife's fantasy of an affair haunting him, Bill Harford goes on a voyeuristic exploration to deal with his sexual frustration. Probably shouldn't have visited that mansion party though. And in the end, [[spoiler: he never gets it.]]
* RetargetedLust: Alice seemed to be trying to generate this both by bringing up other women with her husband and telling him her fantasies about running off with a sailor, but instead it plunges him into turmoil and doubt. So she eventually [[spoiler: just straight up propositions him.]]
* RiddleForTheAges: [[spoiler: Was there any foul play in Mandy's death? Was she even the same woman as one at the orgy, given that the latter was portrayed by a different actress?]]
* RuleOfSymbolism: The ceremony at the beginning of the "masked ball" is inspired from a Satanic ritual using reversed Orthodox liturgy, naked women as sex slaves and Masonic-like rituals to initiate an orgy. Not to mention the use of passwords.
* SceneryCensor: In order to bring the rating down from NC-17 to R, extra people were digitally inserted into the orgy scene via CGI to cover up genitalia.

* SeriousBusiness: Alice didn't even cheat on Bill. She once fantasized about cheating on him. This revelation rocks Bill to his core and sends him off on his QuestForSex.
* ShameIfSomethingHappened: [[spoiler: Bill is encouraged to stop his "pointless investigation" on the secret society, or else.]]

* SpottingTheThread: It's rather telling to arrive at a fancy party in the middle of nowhere in a taxi when everybody else arrives in a limousine, as well as wearing a different cloak than everyone else and not donning your mask until you've already entered the house.
* {{Streetwalker}}: Domino, who's awfully good looking for a streetwalker.
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: Victor [[spoiler: reassuring Bill that Mandy's death was purely accidental can come off as this.]]

* TwistedChristmas: The story takes place around the holidays, and while things never get too gory or violent, Bill finds himself in a pretty disturbing corner of the world before it's all said and done.
* TheUnReveal: {{Deconstructed|Trope}}: Victor says that [[spoiler: Mandy died of an overdose after being gang-banged at the orgy and that Nick got the crap beaten out of him but is alive and well and that the super-wealthy people at the orgy didn't have them killed and we only have Victor's word on the subject, which is suspect since these answers come in the same breath that he's telling Bill to forget what he saw at the mansion. Because the people at the orgy are the super-rich and super-powerful and that Bill should be grateful that Victor's effectively giving him all the answers he needs to hear, Victor says he has to move on and forget what happened that night.]]
* UnknownCharacter: The only people confirmed to be at the ball are Bill and Ziegler. No one ever takes their mask off, so any number of characters that appear before could potentially be there. A popular theory is that Domino was actually the girl that sacrificed herself to save Bill instead of Mandy; other characters viewers guessed to have been there include Milich's daughter, Sally, and even Alice.
** Also up for debate is the identity of Red Cloak. Besides the guess that it's a separate character, contenders brought up include Sandor, Mr. Milich, or Ziegler.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The ultimate fates of Nick and Domino are never revealed. Ziegler tells Bill that Nick was taken back to Seattle to live with his family and Bill apparently visits Domino's apartment on a day she's not there. However, there is plenty of evidence to discredit both of these claims; it depends on if you think Ziegler and Domino's roommate, respectively, are telling the truth.

->''"I do love you and you know there is something very important we need to do as soon as possible."''\\

* NeverTrustATrailer: They did a bad bad thing? Well, if they do, it's offscreen! This [[http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/0096.html famous political analysis]] of the film says "a bunch of middle-school kids who'd snuck in to see it and slunk out three hours later feeling horny, frustrated, and ripped off." All the ''depicted'' sex is totally unsexy, if not censored.
* NiceGuy: Bill has issues and frustrations but is quite balanced for a Kubrick protagonist; he's smooth, polite. generally well-adjusted, a good parent, [[NiceToTheWaiter treats working-class people with consideration]] and eventually comes clean to his wife.
* NothingIsScarier: The whole film, especially the scenes during and after the masked ball, have an overwhelming sense of dread. We know something sinister is going on with the cult and its actions, but we never find out what. Even more disturbing is thinking about what the cult did to the masked woman who sacrificed herself to save Bill, assuming Ziegler was lying. Seeing her led off into the dark makes one think it ''wasn't'' pleasant.

* MalevolentMaskedMen: A fair number of them are present at the "masked ball".
* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: The film flirts with the events being evidence of some wider conspiracy, something supernatural, a bizarre but ultimately earthly series of events or even [[AllJustADream that it never actually happened at all]] without giving clarification on any of them.
* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: ''Maybe''. There are many things worth noticing that aren't drawn attention to. Just one example is the rainbow-named costume store after the models tell Bill he will meet them 'where the rainbow ends'.

* InVinoVeritas: Bill and Alice can only get a bit more honest with each other after smoking a joint. This is an interesting deviation from the original novella, where no psychoactive substances were needed for the game changing confessions.

* LargeHam: Mr. Milich goes full Ham when he catches his daughter with two transvestites in his store.

* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Almost every female character besides Alice is either a deconstruction or a reconstruction.

** Domino is perhaps the clearest example in the film, but Bill is visibly disappointed when he learns about the "hooker" part alongside her "heart of gold", and the possibility is left open that her warmth is just part of her act to snare Bill and other clients.
** Milich's teenage daughter has sex willingly and it seems, not for money with guys much older than her. When Bill meets her again, though, her father is pimping her out. We, however, never hear her speak, and she is a ''child''.
** The woman at the orgy may be, as she seems to sacrifice her life for Bill, whether she is Mandy, Domino, or possibly someone else. However, despite her HeroicSacrifice, she's purely CreepyGood, and it might be sexist to presume that every other woman at the orgy is a prostitute.
* TheIlluminati: Someone is behind the orgy.
* ImpossiblyMundaneExplanation: Invoked in the film and PlayedForDrama, especially in Zigler's explanation.
** Mandy OD'd. After all, she already OD'd once that night alone. But on a night when a woman ''apparently'' sacrificed herself to see Bill?

** The owners of the house sent Bill away with a threatening note just so he'd leave them alone and not reveal the orgy. But, the apparent murder? Maybe just a ritual. Maybe not.

** The issues of being committed to a relationship.
** Hypocrisy and contradiction. The title is a contradiction itself. Eyes Wide and Eyes Shut are combined even though they should cancel each other out due to be two different things.
** Paranoia, whether it's about your wife having an affair or that this sex stuff is more dangerous than just having the worry of getting AIDS.
** The negative nature of dreams. Much of the film can be seen as a nightmare that effects Bill heavily.

* DidIMentionItsChristmas?: It takes place around Christmas and the opening scene is at a holiday party but it overall doesn't play into the story very much.
* DisposableSexWorker: Heavily implied with Mandy, a hooker -according to Victor- who dies under mysterious circumstances, and halfway with Domino, who learns that she's HIV-positive and is never seen again right after Bill meets her.

* FanDisservice: The orgy scene is not exactly sexy. The unhealthy ritual and atmosphere around it give the whole scene a very uncomfortable feeling.
* FilleFatale: Milich's young teenage daughter tries to seduce Bill, even after she gets attacked by her father for sleeping with (or doing something sexual with) two other guys. Ends up getting reconstructed when we see them again, and Milich is now pimping her out.

* HeKnowsTooMuch: Bill and Nick after the orgy. [[spoiler: It's stated that Nick got the crap beaten out of him by the wealthy men whose orgy he helped Bill crash but no one can locate him. Furthermore, the man who tells Bill this only does so as part of a hard sell to Bill to keep quiet about what he saw, with it heavily implied that bad things will happen to Bill [[ShameIfSomethingHappened if he doesn't forget what he saw.]]]]

* NiceGuy: Bill has issues and frustrations but is quite balanced for a Kubrick protagonist; he's smooth, bland, a good parent, [[NiceToTheWaiter treats working-class people with consideration]] and eventually comes clean to his wife.

* AmbiguousSituation: Pretty much the entire ordeal with the cult. [[spoiler: Was the cult really going to hurt Bill, or was it all an act? Was Mandy actually killed in Bill's place, or did she just coincidentally OD on her own? Was Nick killed after being taken out of the hotel, or did the cult really just fire him and send him home? There's also the nature of the cult, which can either be an actual occult conspiracy, or just a glorified sex party for the world's elites. Ziegler tells Bill that the latter case is true for all of these questions, but can he really be trusted? He doesn't even bring up the Mandy's fate until Bill points out that she coincidentally dies the day after, so he might just be making it all up on the spot.]]

* AmbiguousSituation: Pretty much the entire ordeal with the cult. [[spoiler: Was the cult really going to hurt Bill, or was it all an act? Was Mandy actually killed in Bill's place, or did she just coincidentally OD on her own? Was Nick killed after being taken out of the hotel, or did the cult really just fire him and send him home? There's also the nature of the cult, which can either be an actual occult conspiracy, or just a simple sex party for the world's elites. Ziegler tells Bill that the latter case is true for all of these questions, but can he really be trusted? He doesn't even bring up the Mandy's fate until Bill points out that she coincidentally dies the day after, so he might just be making it all up on the spot.]]

* AmbiguousSituation: Pretty much the entire ordeal with the cult. [[spoiler: Was the cult really going to hurt Bill, or was it all an act? Was Mandy actually killed in Bill's place, or did she just coincidentally OD on her own? Was Nick killed after being taken out of the hotel, or did the cult really just fire him and send him home? Ziegler tells Bill that the latter case is true for all of these questions, but can he really be trusted? He doesn't even bring up the Mandy's fate until Bill points out that she just so happens to die the day after, so he might just be making it all up on the spot.]]

* SexySpectacles: Alice's penetrating gaze from behind her glasses underscores her sexiness when she's clothed.

** Domino looks very beautiful for a dying, drug-addicted prostitute.

** Domino died the night after seeing Bill. She did have AIDS. But then again, AIDS shouldn't kill you that fast, and Bill has already seen someone else supposedly die.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Eyes_Wide_Shut_4165.jpg]]
''[[caption-width-right:350: "Fidelio."]]''

Creator/SydneyPollack plays Bill's friend Victor, who knows more than he's letting on. Creator/LeeleeSobieski appears briefly as the nymphet who tempts Bill at the costume shot.

* JailBait: Milich's teenaged daughter, whom he is pimping out. The meaningful stare she gives to Bill indicates she's pretty OK with being pimped out.

* {{Cuckold}}: In an odd way. Alice admits to her husband that she'd come very close to cheating on him but hadn't gone through with it, but for a long while afterwards, Bill dwells on this as if it had actually happened, and his increasing hurt and anger propel him into the bizarre circumstances he finds himself in as the film progresses.

* NothingIsScarier: The whole film, especially the scenes during and after the masked ball, have an overwhelming sense of dread. We know something sinsiter is going on with the cult and its actions, but we never find out what. Even more disturbing is thinking about what the cult did to the masked woman who sacrificed herself to save Bill, assuming Ziegler was lying. Seeing her led off into the dark makes one think it ''wasn't'' pleasant.