It occurred to me that if
DVDExotica were ever to be audited, I'd come up 0%
Kubrick. And then, I don't know if they'd come take me away or what, but I'm getting out ahead of any such eventuality with an in-depth look at his final film,
Eyes Wide Shut. One of the reasons I chose this one is because, for the longest time, it was only available censored in the US, and if you wanted to see it uncut, you had to import a foreign region release. Fortunately, Warner Bros has since corrected that, and reissued it on both DVD and blu. And now I've got both versions here, ready to be scrutinized.
Update 1/27/16 - 12/7/25: And now Criterion is here to give us this film in 4k with their new, highly sought after, 3-disc BD/ UHD combopack special edition! But don't be too quick to throw out your older editions.
I didn't
just pick it because of the censorship thing.
Eyes Wide Shut has an interesting appeal for me. In some ways, it's his most delicate, human story, thanks probably to the source material (it's an adaptation of a 1920's Austrian novel called
Dream Story). It's also fantastic and unnatural, elusive in how it's meaning isn't made explicitly clear. You don't even really know whether
Tom Cruise's journey through the bulk of this film actually happened or was a dream. Although as a psychological exploration, that doesn't really matter much. Just like
Nicole Kidman's infidelity, it emotionally affected her partner just as though it had happened, even though there's no question her story was anything but a dream. The characters and the audience feel the effects of experience regardless. And because it's Kubrick, it's a vivid, stirring experience... even if it's a bit tawdry and ridiculous on the surface. I'd say this is Stanley Kubrick's most exotic film.
So this 1999 film was a new released when it debuted on DVD in 2000 by Warner Bros. It was quickly repackaged in 2001 as part of
The Stanly Kubrick Collection. As I say, it was cut, and you had to order a disc from... well, pretty much any other country, to get a copy of the film uncut. So what's missing from the cut film? Well, in terms of screen time, technically nothing. No shots were removed or trimmed. Instead, they opted for a more dubious, sneaky method of adding CGI characters to shots to basically block the camera's POV from the sex, Here, I'll show you.
 |
| Warner Bros 2001 censored DVD top; Warner Bros 2007 unrated BD bottom. |
This is just one example, there are multiple shots where multiple couples are blocked by multiple CGI characters in robes. This one particular example I've chosen is funny because not only do
they add another hooded figure, but another naked woman on the couch in
front of him, making the unseen sex going on in front of him in the
R-rated cut decidedly kinkier than what we see taking place in the
unrated version. Anyway,
movie-censorship.com actually does a great job breaking down every single shot that's been tinkered with. But in short, all the blocking takes place in this one brief section of the film. Nothing else was changed throughout the movie.
So, right. That's the 2000/ 2001 DVD. Eventually, Warner Bros re-released it on DVD and blu in 2007. The DVD is a 2-disc set, with new extras added to the second disc, whereas it's all fit onto the one double-layer blu. This also gets us into the open matte widescreen debate that's heatedly followed all of Kubrick's DVD releases around, although it isn't really any different than with most any other film. Kubrick shot for a widescreen theatrical framing in mind, but also kept the rest of the frame in mind for future television/ home video screenings. So both are valid in their way, but especially with the switch to widescreen TVs, I think fullscreen ultimately lost out. This is evidenced by how the 2000 and 2001 DVDs are fullscreen, and the 2007 discs went wide. And Criterion's 2025 4k restoration? Widescreen, too.
 |
1) Warner Bros 2001 DVD; 2) Warner Bros 2007 DVD;
3) Warner Bros 2007 BD; 4) 2025 Criterion BD; 5) 2025 Criterion UHD. |
So yes, I guess I follow the mainstream majority in preferring the widescreen theatrical framing. But it's nice to know that the 1.33:1 fullscreen version is available on the older discs for those who want it. It's a question of open/ closed mattes, so the fullscreen actually has additional vertical information, and both have the same amount on the sides.
Transfer-wise, there isn't a huge deal of difference across any of these older discs. If you look at the earlier set of shots I showed of the censorship, you'll notice the lamps have a purple discoloration on the 2001 DVD which is nicely corrected on the 2007 blu; and the HD is naturally a bit cleaner and better compressed. But all three discs seem to be taken from the same old master. It's time for a new one.
And we finally got one - a 4k restoration taken from the original 35mm camera negative. It's still widescreen, now matted to 1.85:1, but the new scan pulls back a little bit further to show slivers more picture along all four sides compared to the old blu. And it's brighter and more colorful than the past discs, which might be a little controversial in itself. I've been reading the debate forums, Film Twitter, etc. DoP
Larry Smith, who supervised this new restoration, has been giving interviews like
this one, essentially pointing out that Kubrick never got to finalize the timing, meaning there can never be a definitively "correct" look. So we're all just out here with our own opinions. But it's certainly a more attractive image than the older discs, and Smith at least has approved this particular transfer. Admittedly, rhe highlights are a bit blown out on the BDs, but they're okay on the UHDs. Plus, the new 4k scan is just so much finer than the old master. The way these discs capture film grain put other recent Criterions to shame. The UHD is a stunning 95GB encode.
Audio-wise, the original DVD has a 5.1 audio track, but that's it. No subs or anything. The 2007 DVD has the same 5.1 track, but adds optional English subs, plus other language options, specifically a 5.1 mix of the French dub, plus French and Spanish subs. The blu-ray goes a good bit farther, though, including the English and French 5.1 mixes, plus additional 5.1 dubs in Spanish, Japanese, German and Italian. And of more interest is its additional uncompressed PCM 5.1 mix of the audio track, giving us two English options for the first time. Plus, it has a whole host of subtitles options: English, English HoH, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch,
German, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish.
The original 5.1 surround track was remastered for Criterion's new edition, which they give to us in DTS-HD. And they strip away all the foreign language options, but they do still include optional English subtitles.
It's here that I should point out, too, that the 2007 DVD packaging
lies. It reads on the back,
"Selectable in Both Rated and - and for the
First Time Ever in North America - Unrated Versions." But this is simply
not true. The 2007 DVD only features the unrated version. If you had
to leave off one version, at least they went the right way. But still,
you should know, it ain't true. You are never given the option to watch
the R-rated cut, and I ripped the whole disc just to check: the censored
version isn't anywhere on the disc. And it's the same now with the
Criterion: unrated only. Not that I can imagine any fan wanting to go
back to the censored cut, but it would've been neat if they included the
shots with the extra CGI people as a deleted scene, just for the
novelty value.
They didn't include any deleted scenes, but they do have some decent
supplements. Even the old DVD featured some superficial but still
worthwhile on-camera interviews with Cruise, Kidman and
Steven Spielberg, plus some trailers and TV spots.
Those are carried over to the 2007 discs, plus a bunch more. The main feature is a 3-part British television documentary called
The Last Movie: Stanley Kubrick and Eyes Wide Shut. Really only one of the three parts focuses on
Eyes Wide Shut, but it's all interesting for fans of Kubrick as it delves into the rest of his life and career. Then there's
Lost Kubrick: The Unfinished Films of Stanley Kubrick, which is a 20+ minute featurette on some of his work that never got made, including a
Napoleon biopic. And finally, there's a short clip of Kubrick's speech accepting a DGA award.
And here's why I mentioned holding onto your old discs: because most of that stuff has
not been
carried over to the new Criterion release. The interviews with the
stars, the feature length documentary? Gone-zo. All that's made the
transition is the one 20-minute
Lost Kubrick featurette, the DGA awards
clip, the trailer and TV spots. On the other hand, Criterion has
provided a collection of new stuff in their stead.
First, they conducted three brand new on-camera interviews of their own, with Larry Smith, second-unit director Lisa Leone and archivist
Georgina Orgill. They also acquired an archival interview with Stanley Kubrick’s wife, a 2019 featurette interview people like Kubrick's daughter and a Warner Bros executive who worked with him since the 60s, a vintage press conference for the film (which gives us Kidman and Cruise interviews back), and a different feature-length documentary: 2014's
Kubrick Remembered. It's a career overview, interviewing people from Kubrick's personal life to actors like
Vincent D'Onofrio. Plus, there's a 28-page booklet with an essay by author
Megan Abbott and a 1999 interview with
Sydney Pollack.
So Criterion's new set is easily the single best release of
Eyes Wide Shut. But people in the 4:3 camp will still want to hang onto their OG DVDs. And while there are enough special features on the Criterion to satisfy casual viewers, more dedicated fans will want to hang onto one of the older special editions for all those exclusive extras that didn't get preserved.
