Eyes Wide Shut (1999) Ramble
Eyes Wide Shut (1999) has more meanings and themes than the most famous interpretation, "That's what elites do!"
The whole movie is about patriarchy, and yes, elites (meaning rich people, I know well enough about secret societies to tell you this) benefit from patriarchy in how women are treated.
You can see through the movie, Bill is societally expected to cheat, as he is a man, and staying loyal is treated as him having a good character – even though in a monogamous relationship it is the bare minimum. Yet when Alice even thinks about something like that, his fragile male ego leads him on a path of actively going to the city to cheat.
On his journey we are meeting the archetypes of women – first his "good wife" Alice, who puts up this façade for society to be seen as successful in a life for having a child and a "happy" marriage with Bill – yet as we can see, she is not happy in this position; her dreams (owning an art gallery) went astray.
Then we are met with Marion – she is afraid of being alone, so she is rather in a relationship with a man she doesn't love.
Because single women are by society often seen as "crazy cat ladies", "broken" or something that should be "fixed" by being in a relationship with a man. Yet a man, who is single, is seen as successful on his own (in a movie represented by character Sandor Szavost).
A man who cheats and is flirty is seen as "just being a man"; "he is a conqueror of women's hearts." A woman who does the same is immediately viewed as a whore – sometimes the sticker "whore" gets women by simply existing or being confident in herself or her sexuality.
Then Bill meets with Domino, a prostitute, which is a well-known archetype on its own.
Bill is not concerned about the "party" until it becomes an inconvenience for him, the same as a lot of men are not concerned about patriarchy until it is negatively affecting them personally. He wasn't concerned about the women before he was meant to be put into the same position as they were.
I would also point out the brilliance of the mask – seeing only his eyes – and his lips are pursed together, being silent. The whole imagery of the movie is breathtaking; even with lighting, almost every frame can, through symbols, tell you the story on its own.
And to the elites – they have more power over the system and over people, and therefore they can use women in more vile ways than the average man (portrayed by Bill's character). The secretive façade is also a way to make people feel more exceptional – that is simply a well-known manipulative tactic to make people silent about the abuse.
Overall, I fell in love with this movie, and the things I said are simply my interpretation of this piece of art.
(Disclaimer for younger people following me – don't watch this movie until you are at least around the age of eighteen.)
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