Masque of the bed death

Eyes Wide Shut

(1999)

I like to think I'm a pretty smart guy, even a relatively sophisticated film viewer, but all I get out of this is that sex is dangerous--or, specifically, that getting access under false pretexts into a mansion where masked, powerful men dally with masked, commodified women is perhaps not the way to solve the trust issues in your marriage. I may not be smart enough to get this movie, but I could have figured that out on my own, and probably in less than 165 minutes.

Disappointments: (1) this was the U.S. theatrical version with the fig-leaf humans curtaining off the serious fucking, and (2) FORTY-FIVE MINUTES of commercials in the 3½-hour IFC timeslot, plus that annoying shape, size, and sound violation of the closing credits, so that they could show more self-promotion, plus a bad comic going into a coffee shop uninvited and unannounced.